Month: November 2014

Some Tips to Write More Effectively

Often we find a lot of tips and guidelines available for writing more effectively. There are various means and ways in which one can become more effective writer. One important and the most practical tip here would be to separate the writing into different phases. A lot of people , particularly in the academics are … Continue reading “Some Tips to Write More Effectively”

Often we find a lot of tips and guidelines available for writing more effectively. There are various means and ways in which one can become more effective writer. One important and the most practical tip here would be to separate the writing into different phases.

A lot of people , particularly in the academics are sometimes in th starting stage of learning effective writing skills. They are often seen juggling with a lot of balls at the same time and they get entrapped in doing a lot of activities simultaneously. These activities could be rephrasing, working on the structure of the text, getting more clarity on the arguments, verifying the literature, and thinking about the different content.

It is certainly understandable and believable that the effectiveness and efficiency of the work would suffer when one person would be engaged in so many things simultaneously. It would make the brain of the person spin and the situation would be virtually impossible to handle. So the key to success here and the most useful tip would be to split the entire writing work.

To begin with, one needs to prepare and preparation means thinking about the structure, literature , the quality and type of audience and the kinds of goals one is wanting to achieve and know the deadlines that have been set. The preparation is like a pre approach, which is one much before one starts writing.

If the preparation is good, by the end of it the design would be ready and the  deeper the detailing of  the design, the easier become the further steps of writing. It is indeed very helpful for yourself to not just write down few key words but also but make a detail list of the table of contents. It could also be called a construction plan. A lot of books can be found where one may find means and tips to do the same.

The next stage is the stage of free writing.  The writer should write as fast as possible. The focus should not be on being able to produce perfect sentences or paragraphs but to actually complete or to say it better, fill up your design much faster.  Working on grammar, style and other intricacies is for the next or latter phase.  At the revision stage the correction of the text begins and the writer would start looking at the structure of the text as a whole. It is indeed a surety,  that working on this pattern would make the writing more efficient.

Blunders in Data collection approach taken up by researchers

The process of research is flooded with a lot of problems and hazards that need to be considered. The novice or amateur researchers find it very challenging to take care of the problem areas of research, when they have out in so much energy and effort into the process. Some of the common errors that … Continue reading “Blunders in Data collection approach taken up by researchers”

The process of research is flooded with a lot of problems and hazards that need to be considered. The novice or amateur researchers find it very challenging to take care of the problem areas of research, when they have out in so much energy and effort into the process. Some of the common errors that the researchers make are:

Lack of challenge and interest generating content in the data collection tool/questionnaire: Sometimes it does happen that the researcher chooses a problem with a biased perspective but it lies beyond the interest of the scientific community. In that case it fails to generate new knowledge or insight for the investigated phenomenon. A whole lot of effort is invested in the research process from beginning till the end and hence it should be ensured that the research process does not go futile and real problems are dealt with instead of the hypothetical ones.

Following short lived trends: A very common mistake is this one, where often a researcher is seen undertaking studies that have more popularity and a very short span of shelf life and in the end the complete effort of the study becomes a waste as the topic does not hold much relevance after some duration. So many times it is seen that the fads die down much before the completion of  the research. Timeless topics are the best choice and researchers should be careful and aspire to choose such topics that stand strong in the test of time.

Unsighted data mining: Most of the novice researchers are seen going ahead with the process of data collection to begin with and keep the planning process for later. It is dangerous and hazardous for research to not know the means in which the data will be used before collecting it. A chain of other steps are necessary before the data collection is done and if that is not done, the data comes out to be irrelevant, not perfect and completely useless.  The researcher must imperatively understand this that huge quantity of data is not a compensation for unplanned technique and poor execution.

Becoming familiar with commonly used terms in Marketing Research

Taking up Marketing Research involves working with those professionals who make use of a variety of terms that are used to elaborate the various steps of the research process.  Closed Ended Questions:  These are the survey questions that expect the respondent to choose from a variety of questions. This is quite like a multiple choice … Continue reading “Becoming familiar with commonly used terms in Marketing Research”

Taking up Marketing Research involves working with those professionals who make use of a variety of terms that are used to elaborate the various steps of the research process.

  •  Closed Ended Questions:  These are the survey questions that expect the respondent to choose from a variety of questions. This is quite like a multiple choice question option.
  • Data: The actual measurement that one gets from research is called the data
  • Focus Groups: A small kind of a group discussion that is led by a moderator
  • Mean: This is basically used to identify the centre of a data set. Usually a numerical data set. It is also called the average and is calculated by taking out the sum of all the numbers and dividing them by the total number of numbers
  • Median: it is the true centre of a numerical set of data. It is also the middle ranked value or score.
  • Mode: the value that occurs most often in the  numeric data set is called the mode
  • Non probability Sample: A research sample that reflects the information only to these people who have the inclination to respond.  There is unknown chance of selecting certain people in the population
  • Open ended questions: a question where the respondent gets the freedom to write the answer in his own words and no choose from the list of limited options
  • Probability sample: this is a more scientific sample and gives that information which can be proved with minimal scope for error. The questions reflect anything but the truth because of the circumstances in which they are asked.
  • Reliability: The accuracy and precision of the information that has to be measured
  • Response Bias:  a tendency that may  be conscious or sub conscious but leads to untruthful responses to the questions
  • Response Rate:  It is the total number of conversions in terms of successful data collection divided by the respondents who were asked to participate in the first place.
  • Test Marketing: It is a controlled experiment that mirrors  the precise conditions of the market
  • Validity: the degree to which the accuracy of the score is captured by the information that is sought
  • Variable: those factors that can change from one person to another and have the acope of subjectivity in data collection

 

Tips for students learning the basics of Statistics

1. To begin with, distributive practice is better than the massed practice. This means that instead of devoting extended hours in one day, one or two hours each day should be kept aside, preferably at the same time. This can be called as the cardinal principle of studying statistics. 2. At least once after few … Continue reading “Tips for students learning the basics of Statistics”

1. To begin with, distributive practice is better than the massed practice. This means that instead of devoting extended hours in one day, one or two hours each day should be kept aside, preferably at the same time. This can be called as the cardinal principle of studying statistics.

2. At least once after few independent sessions, the learner should study in quads of students. The reason being, a vocal interchange and interpretation of concepts and skills helps to further cement up the understanding of the concepts of statistics.

3. The concept of memorizing formulae does not imply in statistics. A seasoned instructor may never recommend this to the learner. The approach should be to study the concept, repeatedly. The formulae can always be looked up in the book once it is known which technique to imply.

4. Practice should be done in all varied dimensions in terms if exercises and problems. Statistics cannot be learnt by just by reading from the book. Skills need to be practiced repeatedly.

5. Statistics have a whole lot of recurring themes. There are some handful skills that need to be mastered and need to be emphasised upon.

6. The learner has to recognise that the entire statistics is more than the addition of its individual parts. It is essential to see the forest and not lose sight because of the trees.

7. Do not become a victim of any kind of anxiety related to maths or statistics. If at all that be the case, counselling sessions should be attended voluntarily to take up the subject head strong and confidently.