Question

Research Methodology

You are tasked to conduct a research on 'Socio Economic impact of covid-19 in Namibia. Answer the following questions.

1. In not more than four lines, write the statement of the problem.

2. Outline any three specific objectives of the study.

3. Specify both the null and alternative hypotheses to be tested

4. In not more than 8 lines discuss and motivate the appropriate research design of the study.

5. Specify the type and source of data to be used.

6. Your friend suggested that, this research require primary data, in not more than four lines, discuss the key limitation of primary data.

7. Contrary to your friend suggestion in 5) above, Loise argues that this study can be done using survey data on covid-19 that has need released recently by the Namibia statistics agency, In not more than lines discuss the estimation process of survey data.

Answer 1

1.

The coronavirus pandemic has had far reaching implications which are not only limited to the health sector but also economic and social sector combined. A lot of people were left out of jobs and a lot of others were left with minimal pay. This paper focusses on these impacts of the pandemic and attempts to analyse the extent to which the socio-economic variables have been affected during the pandemic.

2.

The objectives of the study can be -

a. To analyse the impact of the pandemic on the income of the formal sector

b. To analyse the impact of the pandemic on the income of the informal sector

c. To analyse the impact of the pandemic on the level of employment in the economy

d. To analyse the challenges in the availability of goods and services during the pandemic

3.

The hypothesis can be as follows -

a. H0: There is no significant difference between the income of the formal sector workers before and during the pandemic

H1: There is significant difference between the income of the formal sector workers before and during the pandemic

b. H0: There is no significant difference between the income of the informal sector workers before and during the pandemic

H1: There is significant difference between the income of the informal sector workers before and during the pandemic

c. H0: There is no significant difference between the level of employment before and during the pandemic

H1: There is no significant difference between the level of employment before and during the pandemic

The last objective will be descriptive and no hypothesis testing is required.

4.

Research design

This research will employ the following elements of research design:

a. Data type: Quantitative (for the first three objectives) and Qualitative (for the last objective)

b. Data collection: Both primary and secondary data will be required for this analysis

c. Analysis: Simple t test for difference of means can be used for the first three objectives and a desciptive analysis can be used for the last objective

d. Methodology: The first three objectives can be analysed easily by colelcting data and runnig the test required. The last objective needs a questionnaire to be able to identify what are the challenges that are being faced by the people in order to get access to the essential goods and services in the period of the pandemic with the lockdowns and the fear of infection.

5.

a. Data type: Quantitative (for the first three objectives) and Qualitative (for the last objective)

b. Data collection: Both primary and secondary data will be required for this analysis

c. Data sources: The data on employment and income can be obtained from secondary souces, however, the most relaible data will be avialble through pirmary collection by interviewing the people, especially in the informal sector. Data on availability of services and access to these services has to be collected primary.

6.

Primary data collection can be very time consuming as it involves personally conducting interviews and sorting the data into valid formats for the purpose of the analysis. Primary data collection can also suffer from certain biases on the part of the researcher or the participant being interviewed. This causes ill-representation of the data which will cause the research results to be incorrect and mis-leading.

7.

Using the survey data can also be a relevant data source for the research as the data collected by the government sources will be reliable. This data can be used for the variables of income during the pandemic for the formal and the informal sector, and can also be used to check the employment levels for the same. These variables can be extracted from the database and cleaned accordingly to be used.