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Mini Study I
In this course you will conduct a mini study. You will survey 50 people through any method you choose to find out information on your topic. You will then calculate the statistics for your data. It is important to remember your mini study should use quantitative values since this is a statistics course so you can complete the required calculations. When you pick a topic, make sure it is something people are comfortable answering and that you only use adults. Complete this worksheet and then begin your survey once it is graded so that you can write up your results in Module 7.
1 State your topic
2 Who is the population for your claim? Justify your statement.
3 What question(s) will you ask in your survey to gather data on your claim? Explain the rationale for each question.
4 What variables will be in your study? What type of variable are they (ordinal, nominal, discrete, continuous, etc)?
5 Where will you post your survey and how will it reach your target population? (Facebook, email, in person, etc)
6 How will you collect your data? (Survey Monkey, Facebook Question, By hand/Excel, etc)
7 What type of sampling method will you use? Justify your choice and cite a reference supporting your decision.
8 What 2 types of graphs that you have learned about are the most appropriate for your data? Justify your statement and cite a reference supporting your decision.
*Hint: think about if your data may have outliers, is quantitative, is categorical vs interval, etc.
9 What 8 descriptive statistics that you have learned about are the most appropriate for your data? Justify your statement and cite a reference supporting your decision. *Hint: think about if the data has outliers, is quantitative, is categorical vs interval, etc. *Note: if you have more than one survey question you can count statistics on EACH*
Topic
The selected topic for this survey is the Causes of high gasoline prices. Gasoline is a fuel made from crude oil and other petroleum liquids. Gasoline is used as an engine fuel in vehicles. Petroleum refineries and blending facilities produce motor gasoline for sale at retail gasoline fueling stations.
"Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, told USA TODAY last week that sanctions put on Russia by the U.S. and European Union severely hindered Russia's ability to sell crude oil, one of the biggest determiners for gas prices. Because the country is one of the biggest energy suppliers, crude oil prices have dramatically risen."
Population
The population for this market research will be U.S. gasoline customers at Sam's Club. Sam's Club is a retail warehouse situated in the United States. Most of its customers use Sam's Club Gas Station since the fuel costs less than the market price (Mendoza et al., 2022). Sam's Club is one of the cheapest stations when it comes to fuel and one of the best eligible gas stations. The primary target customers of the company are adults between 25 – 65 years
Questions
This survey is about gasoline purchasing and gasoline prices.
Q1. In general, do you feel that gasoline prices are:
much too high
high
about right
Q2. Do you feel that Sam's Club has the best price compared to other gas stations?
Yes
No
Q3. What are some reasons this gas station is your favorite?
Convenient location
Lowest prices
Never had trouble with their gas
Force of habit
Q4. How much does your total household spend on gasoline in an average month?
$100 - $200
$300 - $400
over $500
Q5. Which of the following age groups do you fall into?
25-34
35-44
45-49
50-54
55-64
65 or older
Q6. With the gas prices still rising, will you continue to go to Sam's Club regardless of Distance?
Yes
No
Q7. Do you plan to travel by Automobile for Vacation?
Yes
No
Q8. Gender
Male Female
Variables
The variables for the market research will be gasoline prices, costs of refining crude oil, distribution and marketing, and taxes. The variables in my study will be Continuous, ordinal, and nominal. Questions 1, 3, 4, and 5 will be continuous. Questions 2, 6, and will be ordinal. Question 8 will be nominal.
Platform to Post Survey
I have chosen email for my survey because my target Population will be my friends, coworkers, and family. I will be using a Microsoft word survey document to email to my fifty participants. Once the survey is completed, the participants will save the word document and send me the completed survey results.
Sampling Methods
Data collection in the research will involve a monkey survey and a simple random sampling approach. In simple random sampling, each member of a population is equally likely to be chosen as part of the sample. It has been stated that "the logic behind simple random sampling is that it removes bias from the selection procedure and should result in representative samples" [1]. Because I have chosen to use all 50 participants, I will use simple random sampling.
Graphs
I will present my data with a pie chart and bar graph for this survey. I have chosen Quantitative data, which is about quantities; that is, information that can be measured and written down with numbers.
The Pie Chart - A type of graph in which a circle is divided into sectors representing a proportion of the whole.
The Bar Graph - A diagram in which the numerical values of variables are represented by the height or length of lines or rectangles of equal width.
8 Descriptive Statistics
Descriptive statistics, in short, help describe and understand the features of a specific data set by giving short summaries of the sample and measures of the data. The most recognized types of descriptive statistics are measures of center: the mean, median, and mode, which are used at all levels of math and statistics (Hayes, 2022). The descriptive statistical parameters that will be employed in this research include the following;
Mean - To find the mean of a list of numbers, add the numbers, then divide by how many numbers there are.
Median - We try to find a number that splits the data set in half so that half of the data values are less than the median and half are greater than the median.
Mode - The mode of a data set is the value that appears most frequently.
Distribution - which deals with each value's frequency.
Central tendency - which covers the averages of the values.
Standard Deviation - The standard deviation is a measure of variability (it is not a measure of central tendency).
Range - The range in statistics for a given data set is the difference between the highest and lowest values.
Skewness - is a measure of symmetry in distribution.
I have chosen the mean, median, and mode for my data. Often in statistics, we tend to represent a set of data by a representative value which would define the complete collection. This expected value is called the measure of central tendency, and the name suggests that it is a value around which the data is centered. These central tendencies are mean, median, and mode.
References
Hayes, A. (2022). Descriptive statistics. Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/descriptive_statistics.asp
Mendoza, J., & TODAY, U. (2022, March 7). Why are gas prices rising so quickly? And how high are they expected to get? USA TODAY. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2022/03/07/why-gas-prices-rising/9417091002/