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increase the power of our sense organs by various physical devices, but they cannot be increased beyond a certain limit. Instruments of measurement are also not hundred percent sensitive. "Least count of an Instrument decides the extent to which it can measure a thing. Limitations of senses and instruments can never allow a researcher to get exact data. Power of senses and instruments can be enhanced but it cannot be enhanced infinitely. "Presence of the observer influences the phenomena" is a statement, which has been made in the context of physical science, but it is truer in the context of social sciences. Whenever you observe any social phenomena, in many of the situations, phenomena are influenced or changed by the presence of observer. Whenever a person is interviewed to explore some facts or information, the moment he/she is interviewed, his/ her behavior is changed. Thus changed or modified behavior, not the real one are recorded for the purpose of research. The researchers have tried to get over this problem by using disguised techniques, yet total success is not guaranteed.
On account of modification of phenomena due to the presence of observer, limitations of senses and instrument of measurement, data are bound to be erroneous. Statistical Tools
Statistical methods are backbone of database research in social sciences. But is this backbone sufficiently strong? Statistics is not an exact science like mathematics; it is a science of averages. A statistical measure for a sample or population may not be correct for any single member of the sample or population; yet it is regarded as valid for whole of sample or population. The average income of a group of people may not be the income of even one member of group.
In calculations also lot of assumption are made, but in actual situation, those assumptions are either not present or not verified to be correct. A simple example will carry this message home:
We wish to calculate mean of 3,4,5,6,7 and 8. The mean is (3+4+5+6+7+8)/6 = 5.5
Let us put the same data in the form of frequency distribution;
S.No 1 2
Class 0-5 5-10
Frequency 2 4
Mid values for class 1 and 2 are respectively 2.5 and 7.5. By simple statistical formula mean will be
Mid value x frequency
Sum of the Frequenies Arhat Vacana, 19 (3), 2007
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