17 COLLECTION AND PRESENTATION OF DATA

1 COLLECTION and PRESENTATION of DataECONOMICSN otesMODULE - 6 PRESENTATION and Analysisof data in Economics 2917 COLLECTION ANDPRESENTATION OF DATAG etting information on various things around us has become a way of life. Informationitself is a major source of knowledge. Without information it is difficult to take development of science and technology the sources of information have increasedand become accessible as well. Books, News papers, magazines, telephone, television,internet and mobile phones etc. are all medium of providing information of various is both qualitative and quantitative in nature. Good, bad, ugly, beautiful,responsible, noble, handsome, educated etc are terms used to describe persons, canbe said to be qualitative in nature. Information on income, expenditure, savings, rate ofgrowth, height, weight, marks secured, population, food production, etc are given inquantitative or numerical terms.

2 In the study of economics quantitative informations aremostly used for completing this lesson, you will be able to: understand the meaning of the term data ; distinguish between various types of data ; distinguish between variables and attributes; identify the areas of an economy where we cannot do without the data ; classify and tabulate data ; understand various forms of PRESENTATION of MEANING AND FEATURES OF DATAData means quantitative information providing facts in an aggregate manner. Theinformation could be on any thing that can be given numerically and useful for decisionECONOMICSC ollection and PRESENTATION of DataMODULE - 6 NotesPresentation and Analysisof data in Economics 30making. It is also called statistical data or simply statistics.

3 data is a plural term. Thesingular of data is the meaning we can give some features of the term statistics or data below withexample.(i) Statistics are the aggregate of factsA single fact cannot be considered as statistics or data . For example, the marks securedby a student of class X in mathematics are 95. This is given as single information whichis simply a fact and not the data . However, the marks secured by all the students of classX of a school, either section wise or in total can be considered data , because it becomesan aggregate of facts. By just telling the marks of one student, we cannot know theperformance of others and accordingly we cannot carry out any analysis to recommendfor their betterment. This means that by giving aggregate of facts, data becomemeaningful as it provides scope for carrying out the table below.

4 It gives the marks secured by all the 18 students of a class inmathematics. By looking at this we can compare the performance of the whole this is an example of the above data we can know the following(i)How many students have secured more than 90? (ii) How many students havefailed? (iii) How many students secured less than 50? On the basis of the answersto these questions, the teacher can take necessary steps to improve the performanceof students wherever needed. So in this way as aggregate of facts data are moremeaningful than any single and PRESENTATION of DataECONOMICSN otesMODULE - 6 PRESENTATION and Analysisof data in Economics 31 (ii) Numerically expressedStatistics or data are always quantitative in nature. Qualitative information such as good,bad, average, handsome, ugly are examples of some attributes, the magnitude of whichcan not be quantified and as such these can not be called statistics or data .

5 When factsare put into a framework of numbers either through counting and calculation orestimation, these may be called data . In the above table marks of students are givennumerically. We can give another example as in table below which shows numberof students admitted in the 1st year in different colleges in an imaginary of StudentsGovt. College409 Savitri College510(iii) data are affected to a marked extent by multiplicity of causesData are not influenced by a single factor but are influenced by many factors. ForExample, rise in prices of commodities may have been due to several causes like,reduction in supply, increase in demand, rise in taxes, rise in wages etc.(iv) Reasonable standard of accuracy100% accuracy in statistics is neither possible nor desirable.

6 What is needed andexpected is only a reasonable standard of accuracy. If a doctor has invented a newmedicine to control cholesterol and statistically he ascertained that 90% of patients haveresponded well and statistically if 95% persons responded to the treatment, it may beconsidered that the new medicine is good and it has reasonable standard of accuracyas the results show that only 90% of patients have responded well and not 100%. Itreflects reasonable standard of accuracy.(v) Predetermined purposeData are collected for a predetermined purpose. Both the above tables serve someimportant purposes. The data in table can be used to evaluate the performance ofstudents in mathematics. data in table can be used to know the situation of highereducation in the city to some extent on the basis of knowing number of young peopleentering IMPORTANCE OF data IN ECONOMICSSome specific areas of economics where the use of data is very important are as follows:ECONOMICSC ollection and PRESENTATION of DataMODULE - 6 NotesPresentation and Analysisof data in Economics 321.

7 In economic planning: The data of the previous years are generally used toprepare future plan. For example, if we have to plan expenditure to be incurred onprimary education for a year, data regarding number of students who were enrolledup to class fifth in previous years and the expenditure incurred during those yearsis important to look at. Forecasting is done on the basis of economic planning. Forexample, if we want to predict the growth of per capita income of a country, the dataon the growth rate of population and the national income are also to be collectedand determine national income: In order to know the state of our economy it isimportant to know the national income besides various other things. But nationalincome can be determined by using certain methods which require quantitativeinformation on various things such as wages and salaries received by workers, rentreceived for use of land and building, interest received for use of funds and profitearned by the entrepreneurs in the economy in the given of government policies: Statistical data are widely used by government toframe policies for economic development of the country.

8 On the basis of data onthe vast number of poor and unemployed people in India, the government had tomake policy to remove poverty and unemployment by enacting National RuralEmployment Guarantee Act. This policy of the government guarantees an unemployedperson at least 100 days of wage employment in a year. In India Census which iscarried out once in every 10 years provide data on male and female population,number of literates, number of workers etc. On the basis of the data on male andfemale population it was found that India has 938 females per 1000 males. In somestates like Haryana there are only 848 females per 1000 males. This is a veryalarming situation because one of the reasons for low female population is killing ofgirl child before its taking birth.

9 On the basis of this data now the government ismaking policy to save the girl QUESTIONS Identify whether following are data or not. Write yes/no in the bracket(i) Miss Monika secured 75% marks in economics( )(ii)Krish is a better player than Hari( )(iii)Lalita secured good marks( )(iv)Number of students in the records of schools are as follows; would you callthese records as data ? COLLECTION and PRESENTATION of DataECONOMICSN otesMODULE - 6 PRESENTATION and Analysisof data in Economics 33 Table ASchool TYPES OF DATAOn the basis of the source of COLLECTION data may be classified as:(a) Primary data and(b) Secondary data (a) Primary dataThe data which are originally collected for the first time for the purpose of the surveyare called primary data .

10 For example facts or data collected regarding the habit of takingtea or coffee in a village by an of collecting primary data1. Direct personal investigation: Under this method the investigator collects thedata personally from the respondent. The person who collect the information iscalled the investigator and the person who gives the responses/answers thequestions asked by the investigator is called a respondent. The data collected in thismanner are therefore most reliable. However, there is a chance that the results areinfluenced by the personal bias and prejudice of the Indirect investigations: Under this method the investigator obtains informationindirectly from a third person who is expected to know facts about the person aboutwhom the enquiry is done.