Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts

Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 2

RES/351

August 25, 2014

Introduction

This paper will explain the differences between two different statistical methods; descriptive statistical and inferential methods. In a nutshell the descriptive statistics describes the large amount of data using charts, tables and graphs but you cannot draw any conclusions with the data. In inferential statistics the data that is used tests the hypotheses and it does draw conclusions. I will also show the different types of data collection instruments, and sampling methods. Before I talk about the two articles to compare, I first want to explain some of the data collections instruments and different sampling methods that can be used. The different data collection instruments can be experiments, observations and recordings of a well-defined event, receiving relevant data from management information systems and giving closed-ended question surveys. There are two main sampling methods which are nonprobability and probability. Complex probability sampling, Systematic sampling and Stratified sampling are good examples as well. Below shows the breakdown of nonprobability and probability methods (What’s the Difference, 2011).

Non probability –

Convenience

Quota

Judgmental

Probability –

Simple random sampling

Cluster

Multistage

Multiphase

The next step in this paper was to choose two different articles and compare the two different methods, descriptive statistics and inferential. The first article that I chose used the inferential method called, “Psychological adjustment and quality of life in children and adolescents following open-heart surgery for congenital heart disease: a systematic review”, written by Beatrice Latal, Susanne Helfricht, Joachim E. Fisher, Urs Beauersfeld, and Markus A. Landolt. It reviewed the “psychological adjustment and quality of life in children following open-heart surgery” (Latal/Helfricht/Landolt, 2011). 

The...