Media Industry

Introduction

Mint is the business daily launched by HT Media Ltd. With the collaboration of the Wall Street Journal which is the most authoritative business daily in the world of newspaper for over 100 year. It is the world’s largest and most respected business news platform. The purpose behind mint was the robust growth of the Indian economy as is evident in the growing stock market.

This long-term segment growth opened up an opportunity for a high quality daily newspaper. Although the business newspaper market was mainly dominated by economic times however there was a huge untapped potential for a high quality daily. And this is where HT, in collaboration with the Wall Street Journal, came out with HT Mint. Media Industry Media Industry comprises of newspaper, television, outdoor, magazine, radio, internet and cinema. Indian Media and Entertainment Industry have out performed the Indian Economy & is one of the fastest growing sectors in India.

Total media advertising (ad-spend) in India in 2004 was estimated by TAM Adex India at Rs. 118 billion. Print advertising accounted for the largest share with 46. 0%, followed by television with 41. %, outdoor advertising with 7. 0%, radio with 2. 0%, cinema advertising with 3. 0% and internet with 1%. Although print media in India (newspapers, magazines and niche publications) dominates ad-spend, newspapers’ share of the ad-spend fell as television gained, rising from approximately 40% in 2001 to 41% in 2004 (source: TAM Adex India). In 2004, print media ad-spend grew by 15% and television ad-spend grew by 13%, respectively, compared with 2003 (Source: TAM Adex India). Print media’s share of the ad-spend in India vis-a-vis television may now have stabilized.

The apprehension about the print media being adversely affected by the advent of the Internet as a medium of sharing information seems to have been settled. While newspapers and magazines may have experienced some cannibalization by their digital equivalents, ad-spend in the print media has stabilized over the past few years. Set forth below is a chart that shows the ad-spend by media category in Asia/Pacific in 2000 through 2003.

Indian Print Media

The Indian newspaper industry is intensely competitive, with multiple national and regional players vying for a larger share of the readership, circulation and advertising market.

A strong national brand combined with multi-city operations and a high level of content and product quality are emerging as the key differentiators, because it gives an opportunity to larger non-retail advertisers to reach out to multiple markets and high quality audiences at a low cost, while local advertisers can concentrate on city-specific advertising. Given these inherent advantages associated with having multi-city, large scale operations, the industry has begun to witness a phase of consolidation. We expect this process of consolidation to continue.

The domestic industry at this time does not have foreign or multinational players operating, although that could happen in the future if and when the Government of India changes its foreign investment regulations and restrictions applicable to the print media segment. In addition to intra-segment competition, the Indian newsprint industry is also faced with the competition posed by other forms of media including television broadcasters, magazines, radio broadcasters and websites. Trends indicate that unlike in the global markets, print-ad spend is growing faster than electronic in India.

In the calendar year 2005, print media ad- spend grew by 15% against 12% television as per Industry estimates. Contrary to global trends, both readership and circulation of newspapers are also growing in India. This strong growth trend for the Indian newspaper industry appears sustainable from medium-term perspective. Continued economic growth and increasing literacy is expected to enable players such as HT Media to be bigger beneficiaries in the event of any reversal in newsprint price trends.

Newspaper readership in 2005 was 190 million (Source: NRS 2005), up from 165 million in 2003 (Source: NRS 2003). We believe that daily newspapers are increasingly being bought for their analysis of the news and current affairs and in this context, newspapers are gradually taking on the role of a magazine, thereby adversely impacting the magazine segment.

Format of newspaper

Most modern newspapers are in one of three sizes:

1. Broadsheets: 600 mm by 380 mm (23 by 15 inches), generally associated with more intellectual newspapers, although a trend towards “compact” newspapers is changing this.
2. Tabloids: half the size of broadsheets at 380 mm by 300 mm (15 by 11 inches) and often perceived as sensationalist in contrast to broadsheets. Examples: The Sun, The National Enquirer, The National Ledger, The Star Magazine, New York Post, The Globe.
3. Berliner or Midi: 470 mm by 315 mm (18 by 12 inches) used by European papers such as Le Monde in France, La Stampa in Italy, El Pais in Spain and, since 12 September 2005, The Guardian in the United Kingdom. Newspapers are usually printed on inexpensive, off-white paper known as newsprint.

Since the 1980s, the newspaper industry has largely moved away from lower-quality letterpress printing to higher-quality, four-color process, offset printing. In addition, desktop computers, word processing software, graphics software, digital cameras and digital prepress and typesetting technologies have revolutionized the newspaper production process. These technologies have enabled newspapers to publish color photographs and graphics, as well as innovative layouts and better design. To help their titles stand out on newsstands, some newspapers are printed on colored newsprint.

For example, the Financial Times is printed on a distinctive salmon pink paper, and the Italian sports newspaper La Gazzetta Dello Sport is printed on pink paper. Sheffield’s weekly sports publication derives its name, the “Green ’Un”, from the traditional colour of its paper, while L'Equipe (formerly L’Auto) is printed on yellow paper. Both the latter promoted major cycling races and their newsprint colours were reflected in the colours of the jerseys used to denote the race leader; thus, the leader in the Giro d'Italia wears a pink jersey.

Introduction to Indian Newspaper Industry

Newspaper is the oldest and the most conventional method of giving news on a wide array of topics to the people at their doorstep. The newspaper industry at the global arena has come a long way from presenting news in black and white to adopting the most innovative of methods, including colored background and text, unique paper materials, etc to depict all kinds of news for readers. The Indian newspaper industry has the record of giving the most number of newspapers to the readers, both at the national as well as at the regional levels.

One of the oldest newspapers of India, The Statesman was founded in 1818. It has been almost two centuries now since the inception of the oldest newspaper in the country. During this period, the Indian newspaper industry has achieved tremendous ground of success for various newspapers that are circulated throughout the country. The most unique fact of the Indian newspaper industry is that newspapers in various regional languages, Hindi, and English are published and circulated throughout the country.

The Indian English newspaper sector is the most published and circulated lot in the Indian newspaper industry. With the newspaper industry as a viable platform for the proliferation of advertising and marketing of public relations, there has been witnessed an impressive explosion of newspapers at all levels. A typical Indian English newspaper serves as an ideal banner for companies who would look forward to advertise their products or services keeping in mind the strength of the readers nationwide.

Since a newspaper is the first thing that most of the citizens of the country go through early in the morning, it stands at an advantage of making its stand in full view of the massive number of readers. The more the readers or viewers of the advertisements, the more impact the advertisements have made in the minds of the people. An Indian English newspaper being the most read newspaper in the country, most of the companies highlighting their services and products for the citizens, targets these newspapers for the showcase . Newspapers act as the ideal method of public relations due to its strength as the best way of communication.

About Ht Media Ltd Founded in 1924 when its flagship newspaper Hindustan Times was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi, HT Media (BSE, NSE) has today become one of India's largest media companies. With a combined daily circulation of 2. 25 million copies and a readership base of 14. 49 million readers, Hindustan Times (English) and Hindustan (Hindi) enjoy strong brand recognition among readers and advertisers, and are produced by an editorial team known for its quality, innovation and integrity. HT Media operates 17 printing facilities across India with an installed capacity of 1. million copies per hour. HT's internet business, under the HindustanTimes. com portal, is primarily a news website with 2 million unique visitors and 100 million page views per month, with a significant share of the traffic coming from outside India. As part of its expansion into electronic media, HT Media, through its subsidiary HT Music and Entertainment Company Ltd. , has entered the FM radio market in key Indian cities through a consulting partnership with Virgin Radio. The channel, Fever 104, is one of the most vibrant on the airwaves and is currently available in Delhi and Mumbai.

HT Media has also launched a national business newspaper, Mint, with an exclusive agreement with Wall Street Journal to publish Journal branded news and information in India. HT Media reported 2007 annual revenue of $245 million. For the fiscal third quarter ended December 31, 2007, the company reported a 13% increase in revenue to $82 million and a 10% increase of profit after tax (PAT) to $9 million from the year-ago quarter. History Hindustan Times was founded in 1924 by Master Sunder Singh Lyallpuri, founder-father of the Akali Movement and the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab.

S Mangal Singh Gill (Tesildar) and S. Chanchal Singh (Jandiala, Jullundur) were made in charge of the newspaper. Pt Madan Mohan Malayia and Master Tara Singh were among the members of the Managing Committee. The Managing Chairman and Chief Patron was Master Sunder Singh Lyallpuri himself. K. M. Panikkar was its first Editor with Devdas Gandhi (son of Mahatma Gandhi) also on the editor's panel. The opening ceremony was performed by Mahatma Gandhi on September 15, 1924. The first issue was published from Naya Bazar, Delhi (now Swami Sharda Nand Marg). It contained writings and articles from C. F. Andrews, St. Nihal Singh, Maulana Mohammad Ali, C. R. Reddy (Dr. Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy), T. L. Vaswani, Ruchi Ram Sahni, Bernard Haton, Harinder Nath Chattopadhyaya, Dr Kichlu and Rubi Waston etc. It has its roots in the independence movement of the first half of the twentieth century. It was edited at times by many important people in India, including Devdas Gandhi (the son of Mahatma Gandhi) and Khushwant Singh. Ownership The Delhi-based English newspaper, Hindustan Times, is part of the KK Birla group and managed by Shobhana Bhartia, granddaughter of GD Birla.

It is owned by HT Media Ltd. The KK Birla group at present owns 69 per cent stake in HT Media, currently valued at Rs 834 crore. When Bhartia joined Hindustan Times in 1986, she was the first woman chief executive of a national newspaper. [pic] [pic] [pic] Various brand working under HT media ltd. Hindustan Times: Hindustan Times, the flagship publication from the group, was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi in 1924 and has established its presence as a newspaper with editorial excellence and integrity. Today, Hindustan Times has a circulation of over 1. million and is the fastest growing mainline English newspaper in terms of readership. Hindustan Times, Delhi, is India's largest single-edition daily. In July 2005, Hindustan Times made a successful entry into the commercial capital of India – Mumbai. Hindustan Times is printed in nine centres including Bhopal, Chandigarh, Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Patna and Ranchi. Hindustan Times believes in continuous improvement and providing greater value to its readers and advertisers. It has set many a standards for its competitors and will continue to do so in the years to come.

It is the first smart-age newspaper in India to evolve into a new international size - sleeker and smarter - which ensures enhanced ease of reading and convenient handling. In its endeavour to provide its readers with greater value, Hindustan Times has revamped its existing supplements and added new ones to its portfolio, offering a daily supplement catering to specific target audience. Supplements like Brunch are the first of their kind. The enlarged operations and enhanced look have also paid off with a substantial increase in circulation across the country [pic] Hindustan: Started in 1936 and with a readership of over 10. million, HT Media Ltd. 's Hindi daily, Hindustan, ranks as the 3rd most-read Hindi newspaper all over India. Edited by Ms Mrinal Pande, a noted journalist, academician and writer, Hindustan is known for its fair, unbiased and secular news reporting and analyses. The width and depth of Hindustan's editorial, including the newspaper's acclaimed supplements, is quite unparalleled in the Hindi language newspaper market. Hindustan is also the first and only vernacular newspaper to go all-colour in Delhi and other key markets. This has given Hindustan an un-paralleled edge over competition.

The newspaper has four editions namely Delhi, Lucknow, Patna and Ranchi and nine print locations namely, Delhi, Lucknow, Varanasi, Patna, Muzzaffarpur, Bhagalpur, Ranchi, Dhanbad and Jamshedpur , chandigarh catering to the reading habits of a cross- section of audiences in varying age groups. Hindustan is expanding rapidly in the state of Uttar Pradesh, which is the largest Hindi newspaper market, and where Hindustan was already the fastest growing Hindi daily. Three new editions have been launched (in Meerut, Agra, and Kanpur) in 2006, giving a further boost to its growth and reach within the state.

Hindustan dominates in Bihar with an undisputed readership of over 6 million. Its reader base is twice the size of its nearest competitor in the Hindi daily market of Bihar and Jharkhand (NRS 2003 vs. 2005). With some very exciting expansion plans already underway, Hindustan is all set to become the leading Hindi newspaper in the country. Currently, the Delhi edition of Hindustan is also available online in epaper format. [pic] Consolidating presence in existing businesses Revenue growing regarding Hindustan is more than 30% every year Aggressive expansion of readership base Rapid expansion in UP, Punjab & bihar

There is even a political digest - Day In Politics- for those who want to go beyond the simpler, lighter matter, and seek to know which way the times are moving. Delhi, India and World are your dedicated pages for all the news that matters. Check out the daily science and nature section, Life, The Universe and Everything,or JLT for what's in these days. In case you are bitten by the writing bug, HT Next has the space and readership. Participate in daily debates if you like to lock horns on current affairs, post a message on Plug In if you wish to connect or simply dash off an original poem for My Space, if you have it in you.

There are quizzes for those bent upon winning fabulous prizes, on e-mail or SMS! For the youth of India, this is Where It's At. Kadambini: With a long and celebrated history since its inception in 1960, this monthly Hindi magazine is a one-of-its-own-kind socio-cultural-literary journal. Kadambini is a monthly Hindi magazine published by HT Media Ltd. with a long and celebrated history of 44 years. It is a one-of-its-own-kind socio-cultural-literary magazine, which has survived the demise of many other Hindi magazines in the genre. Its first Editor was Late Shri Balkrishna Rao, a prominent Hindi writer.

He was followed by Late Shri Ramanand Doshi, who was also a well-known literary figure, and during whose tenure Kadambini touched new heights. Its third Editor Shri Rajendra Awasthy was also a known literary figure. Mrs Mrinal Pande took charge as Editor in February 2003. Mrs Pande is a well-known and respected journalist and literary figure in Hindi, as well as English. Associate Editor Shri Vishnu Nagar is also a well-known figure in Hindi journalism and literature. Under Mrs Pande's able guidance and Associate Editor Shri Vishnu Nagar's leadership, Kadambini has scaled new heights of quality, readability and scientific approach.

It is the only Hindi magazine which covers a wide range of subjects including literature, science, history, sociology, politics, films and sports with sincerity and popular appeal. Its every issue becomes a special issue as it focuses in-depth on one important and popular concern apart from its various regular features. It always prefers quality and readability over cheap, popular taste. Its new approach is widely appreciated by common readers as well as the enlightened sections of society. The magazine has created a new space for itself while retaining its old base.

It is the only Hindi magazine, which guarantees that it will not compromise on family values. Kadambini is the only Hindi magazine which covers a wide range of subjects including literature, science, history, sociology, politics, films and sports with sincerity and popular appeal. Nandan: HT Media Ltd. 's children's magazine has a popular appeal both in India and abroad. Ever since its inception in 1964, Nandan has published more than ten thousand stories, three thousand poems, and thousands of other creative pieces during these 40 years.

It has been very popular among children and their families in India and abroad. The magazine was started in November 1964 in the memory of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, with its first issue being dedicated to the late Prime Minister. Nandan triumphs over its contemporaries because its stories are a combination of the best in both our traditional and modern cultural ethos. Nandan believes in shaping the mind and behaviour of our children in a positive way, and to challenge their minds by exposing them to new ideas for the world of science and technology.

From its very inception, Nandan has been privileged to publish the stories, memoirs, excerpts, biographies and poems of many of the greats from the fields of literature and politics, some of whom are Dr Rajendra Prasad, Indira Gandhi, Gyani Zail Singh, V P Singh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, A P J Abdul Kalam, Bhartendu Harishchandra, Premchand, Jaishankar Prasad, Bibhuti Bhushan Bandhopadhyaya, Mohan Rakesh, Kamleshwar, Amritlal Nagar, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, Satyajit Ray, Bhishm Sahni, Ashapurna Devi, Vishnu Prabhakar, Harivansh Rai Bacchan, Shivani, Rajendra Yadav, Khushwant Singh, Krishna Sobti, Manohar Shyam Joshi, Mannu Bhandari, Mrinal pande, Mridula Garg, Taslima Nasrin, Jayant Vishnu Narlikar, Ramesh Dutt Sharma and Kuldeep Sharma.

Nandan has published more than ten thousand stories, three thousand poems, and thousands of other creative pieces during these 40 years. It includes more than 400 world classics for children. Nandan has been conducting story-writing, painting, poetry and crossword contests regularly, which has encouraged lot of interest among children and helped to develop their creativity. Nandan gets more than 5000 responses monthly from all over India and abroad, which is in itself a record.

• Mint: A Business Daily From HT The purpose behind mint was the robust growth of the Indian economy as is evident in the growing stock market. This long-term segment growth opened up an opportunity for a high quality daily newspaper.

Powerful Lineage Regarding Mint

The Wall Street Journal: In India Mint is the business daily launched by HT Media Ltd. With the collaboration of the Wall Street Journal which is the most authoritative business daily in the world of newspaper for over 100 year. It is the world’s largest and most respected business news platform

Features of Mint

Available for six days a week gives you clear ,relevant and well analyzed Indian as well as international business news .

1. Quick Scan – Act as summary of the key stories of the day with the index of company and people
2. Leading the News – A detailed perspective on key news and policy decision affecting business.
3. Corporate News – Financial results mergers acquisitions and everything that buzzing around the corporate corridors.
4. Economy and Politics: Targeted at decision makers, policies and politics that impact business.
5. Market and Media: Best to know latest on consumer behaviors and trends, innovation in media space.
6. On Advertising: Must read for Advertising and market professionals
7. Commodities: Pictorially depicts impact of weather on 4 major commodities of the day.
8. Management: Carries a legal column by AZB and partners, advocates and solicitors, fortnightly column on career.
9. Venture Capital: Get to know the latest venture capital action also get latest on private equity deals with Thomson financial deal counter.
10. The Wall Street Journal: Global news from the largest business publication in the world.
11. Money Matters: Summary of Market & Financial news from India & world plus news and column explaining market movement.
12. 2 pages of views that gives us a complete perspective on issues that matter.

Mint on Saturdays

1. Last Week. Next Week: Update on what happened last week and what will make difference in the coming week.
2. Lounge: Read exclusive columns by Vir Sanghvi and Shoba Narayan and all about book’s , trends , travel and technology , painting and health and every Saturday columns by Jared Sandberg . style pursuits , insider play ,business lounge ,cover ,travel ,books, flavors.
3. Mint Market Watch: Pull out from Tuesday to Saturday with the largest listing of mutual fund in business daily. On Monday mint have campaign on strategy , marketing advertising and management and column by Jack and Suzy Welch.

Articles from Kellog , Oxford and Wharton . Readership and Circulation Profile of Mint. Second largest business daily in Delhi and Mumbai on readership basis . On an average Mint have Circulation of 100000 copies per day in Delhi, Mumbai , Bangalore , Chandigarh and Pune. The Mint have exclusively its presence in all major airlines, airports and 5 star hotels in Mumbai , Delhi and all premium clubs, restaurants etc.

Mint as an ideal platform for advertising:

1. Benefits that an advertiser could derive from advertising there product in Mint are .
2. Reaches the right target audience.
3. The Berliner format and clean layout ensures that advertisement is get noticed in more better way.
4. Innovative and flexible advertising options.

Types of advertisement in Mint are.

• Corporate Advertisement.
• Lifestyle Brand.
• Airlines
• Mint is a great hit between consumer durables
• A hit among the real estate and infrastructure advertisers.
• Hit in automobile industry.
• And also acts as a leading platform for financial announcements.

Research Design

Research design is different from the method by which data are collected. Many research methods texts confuse research designs with methods. It is not uncommon to see research design treated as a mode of data collection rather than as a logical structure of the inquiry. But there is nothing intrinsic about any research design that requires a particular method of data collection. Although cross-sectional surveys are frequently equated with questionnaires and case studies are often equated with participant observation (e. g. Whyte's Street Corner Society, 1943), data for any design can be collected with any data collection method. How the data are collected is irrelevant to the logic of the design.

Failing to distinguish between design and method leads to poor evaluation of designs. Equating cross-sectional designs with questionnaires, or case studies with participant observation, means that the designs are often evaluated against the strengths and weaknesses of the method rather than their ability to draw relatively unambiguous conclusions or to select between rival plausible hypotheses.

Types Of Research Design

Descriptive research

Although some people dismiss descriptive research as `mere description', good description is fundamental to the research enterprise and it has added immeasurably to our knowledge of the shape and nature of our society.

Descriptive research encompasses much government sponsored research including the population census, the collection of a wide range of social indicators and economic information such as household expenditure patterns, time use studies, employment and crime statistics and the like. Descriptions can be concrete or abstract. A relatively concrete description might describe the ethnic mix of a community, the changing age prole of a population or the gender mix of a workplace. Alternatively the description might ask more abstract questions such as `Is the level of social inequality increasing or declining? ', `How secular is society? ' or `How much poverty is there in this community? ' Accurate descriptions of the level of unemployment or poverty have historically played a key role in social policy reforms (Marsh, 1982).

By demonstrating the existence of social problems, competent description can challenge accepted assumptions about the way things are and can provoke action. Good description provokes the `why' questions of explanatory research. If we detect greater social polarization over the last 20 years (i. e. the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer) we are forced to ask `Why is this happening? ' But before asking `why? ' we must be sure about the fact and dimensions of the phenomenon of increasing polarization. It is all very well to develop elaborate theories as to why society might be more polarized now than in the recent past, but if the basic premise is wrong (i. e. ociety is not becoming more polarized) then attempts to explain a non-existent phenomenon are silly. Of course description can degenerate to mindless fact gathering or what C. W. Mills (1959) called `abstracted empiricism'. There are plenty of examples of unfocused surveys and case studies that report trivial information and fail to provoke any `why' questions or provide any basis for generalization. However, this is a function of inconsequential descriptions rather than an indictment of descriptive research itself.

Explanatory research

Explanatory research focuses on why questions. For example, it is one thing to describe the crime rate in a country, to examine trends over time or to compare the rates in different countries.

It is quite a different thing to develop explanations about why the crime rate is as high as it is, why some types of crime are increasing or why the rate is higher in some countries than in others. The way in which researchers develop research designs is fundamentally affected by whether the research question is descriptive or explanatory. It affects what information is collected. For example, if we want to explain why some people are more likely to be apprehended and convicted of crimes we need to have hunches about why this is so. We may have many possibly incompatible hunches and will need to collect information that enables us to see which hunches work best empirically. Answering the `why' questions involves developing causal explanations.

Causal explanations argue that phenomenon Y (e. g. income level) is affected by factor X (e. g. gender). Some causal explanations will be simple while others will be more complex. For example, we might argue that there is a direct effect of gender on income (i. e. simple gender discrimination) (Figure 1. 1a). We might argue for a causal chain, such as that gender affects choice of eld of training which in turn affects. Causal People often confuse correlation with causation. Simply because one event follows another, or two factors co-vary, does not mean that one causes the other. The link between two events may be coincidental rather than causal.

There is a correlation between the number of re engines at a re and the amount of damage caused by the re (the more re engines the more damage). Is it therefore reasonable to conclude that the number of re engines causes the amount of damage? Clearly the number of re engines and the amount of damage will both be due to some third factor such as the seriousness of the re. Similarly, as the divorce rate changed over the twentieth century the crime rate increased a few years later. But this does not mean that divorce causes crime. Rather than divorce causing crime, divorce and crime rates might both be due to other social processes such as secularization, greater individualism or poverty.

Why to select Descriptive Research Design?

Descriptive studies are also called observational, because you observe the subjects without otherwise intervening. The simplest descriptive study is a case, which reports data on only one subject; examples are studies of an outstanding athlete or of an athlete with an unusual injury. Descriptive studies of a few cases are called case series. In cross-sectional studies variables of interest in a sample of subjects are assayed once and analyzed. In prospective or cohort studies, some variables are assayed at the start of a study (e. g. dietary habits), then after a period of time the outcomes are determined (e. g. incidence of heart disease). Another label for this kind of study is longitudinal, although this term also applies to experiments.

Case-control studies compare cases (subjects with a particular attribute, such as an injury or ability) with controls (subjects without the attribute); comparison is made of the exposure to something suspected of causing the cases, for example volume of high intensity training, or number of cigarettes smoked per day. Case-control studies are also called retrospective, because they focus on conditions in the past that might cause subjects to become cases rather than controls. A common case-control design in the exercise science literature is a comparison of the behavioral, psychological or anthropometric characteristics of elite and sub-elite athletes: you are interested in what the elite athletes have been exposed to that makes them better than the sub-elites.

Another type of study compares athletes with sedentary people on some outcome such as an injury, disease, or disease risk factor. Here you know the difference in exposure (training vs no training), so these studies are really cohort or prospective, even though the exposure data are gathered retrospectively at only one time point. They are therefore known as historical cohort studies. We are working in a very wide area so we need to observe the facts in their actual condition, so we are using Descriptive Research.

Sampling

You almost always have to work with a sample of subjects rather than the full population. But people are interested in the population, not your sample.

To generalize from the sample to the population, the sample has to be representative of the population. The safest way to ensure that it is representative is to use a random selection procedure. You can also use a stratified random sampling procedure, to make sure that you have proportional representation of population subgroups (e. g. sexes, races, regions). Selection bias occurs when the sample is not representative of the population. More accurately, a sample statistic is biased if the expected value of the statistic is not equal to the value of the population statistic.

A typical source of bias in population studies is age or socioeconomic status: people with extreme values for these variables tend not to take part in the studies. Thus a high compliance (the proportion of people approached who end up as subjects) is important in avoiding bias. Journal editors are usually happy with compliance rates of at least 70%. Failure to randomize subjects to control and treatment groups in experiments can also produce bias: if you let people select themselves into the groups, or if you select the groups in any way that makes one group different from another, then any result you get might reflect the group difference rather than an effect of the treatment.

For this reason, it's important to randomly assign subjects in a way that ensures the groups are balanced in terms of important variables that could modify the effect of the treatment (e. g. age, gender, physical performance). Randomize subjects to groups as follows: rank-order the subjects on the basis of the variable you most want to keep balanced (e. g. physical performance); split the list up into pairs (or triplets for three treatments, etc. ); assign subjects in each pair to the treatments by flipping a coin; check the mean values of your other variables in the two groups, and reassign randomly chosen pairs to balance up these mean values. Human subjects may not be happy about being randomized, so you need to state clearly that it is a condition of taking part.

Types Of Sampling Random sampling

Random, or probability sampling, gives each member of the target population a known and equal probability of selection. The two basic procedures are: 1 the lottery method, e. g. picking numbers out of a hat or bag 2 the use of a table of random numbers.

Systematic sampling

Systematic sampling is a modification of random sampling. To arrive at a systematic sample we simply calculate the desired sampling fraction, e. g. if there are 100 distributors of a particular product in which we are interested and our budget allows us to sample say 20 of them then we divide 100 by 20 and get the sampling fraction 5. Thereafter we go through our sampling frame selecting every 5th distributor.

In the purest sense this does not give rise to a true random sample since some systematic arrangement is used in listing and not every distributor has a chance of being selected once the sampling fraction is calculated. However, because there is no conscious control of precisely which distributors are selected, all but the most pedantic of practitioners would treat a systematic sample as though it were a true random sample.

Stratified samples

Stratification increases precision without increasing sample size. Stratification does not imply any departure from the principles of randomness it merely denotes that before any selection takes place, the population is divided into a number of strata, then random samples taken within each stratum. It is only possible to do this if the distribution of the population with respect to a particular factor is known, and if it is also known to which stratum each member of the population belongs.

Examples of characteristics which could be used in marketing to stratify a population include: income, age, sex, race, geographical region, possession of a particular commodity. Stratification can occur after selection of individuals, e. g. if one wanted to stratify a sample of individuals in a town by age, one could easily get figures of the age distribution, but if there is no general population list showing the age distribution, prior stratification would not be possible. What might have to be done in this case at the analysis stage is to correct proportional representation. Weighting can easily destroy the assumptions one is able to make when interpreting data gathered from a random sample and so stratification prior to selection is advisable.

Random stratified sampling is more precise and more convenient than simple random sampling. When stratified sampling designs are to be employed, there are 3 key questions which have to be immediately addressed:

1. The bases of stratification, i. e. what characteristics should be used to subdivide the universe/population into strata?
2. The number of strata, i. e. how many strata should be constructed and what stratum boundaries should be used?
3. Sample sizes within strata, i. e. how many observations should be taken in each stratum?

Bases of stratification Intuitively, it seems clear that the best basis would be the frequency distribution of the principal variable being studied.

For example, in a study of coffee consumption we may believe that behavioural patterns will vary according to whether a particular respondent drinks a lot of coffee, only a moderate amount of coffee or drinks coffee very occasionally. Thus we may consider that to stratify according to "heavy users", "moderate users" and "light users" would provide an optimum stratification. However, two difficulties may arise in attempting to proceed in this way. First, there is usually interest in many variables, not just one, and stratification on the basis of one may not provide the best stratification for the others. Secondly, even if one survey variable is of primary importance, current data on its frequency is unlikely to be available.

However, the latter complaint can be attended to since it is possible to stratify after the data has been completed and before the analysis is undertaken. The only approach is to create strata on the basis of variables, for which information is, or can be made available, that are believed to be highly correlated with the principal survey characteristics of interest, e. g. age, socio-economic group, sex, farm size, firm size, etc. In general, it is desirable to make up strata in such a way that the sampling units within strata are as similar as possible. In this way a relatively limited sample within each stratum will provide a generally precise estimate of the mean of that stratum.

Similarly it is important to maximise differences in stratum means for the key survey variables of interest. This is desirable since stratification has the effect of removing differences between stratum means from the sampling error. Total variance within a population has two types of natural variation: between-strata variance and within-strata variance. Stratification removes the second type of variance from the calculation of the standard error. Suppose, for example, we stratified students in a particular university by subject speciality - marketing, engineering, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, history, geography etc. and questioned them about the distinctions between training and education.

The theory goes that without stratification we would expect variation in the views expressed by students from say within the marketing speciality and between the views of marketing students, as a whole, and engineering students as a whole. Stratification ensures that variation between strata does not enter into the standard error by taking account of this source in drawing the sample. Number of strata The next question is that of the number of strata and the construction of stratum boundaries. As regards number of strata, as many as possible should be used. If each stratum could be made as homogeneous as possible, its mean could be estimated with high reliability and, in turn, the population mean could be estimated with high precision.

However, some practical problems limit the desirability of a large number of strata: 1 No stratification scheme will completely "explain" the variability among a set of observations. Past a certain point, the "residual" or "unexplained" variation will dominate, and little improvement will be effected by creating more strata. 2 Depending on the costs of stratification, a point may be reached quickly where creation of additional strata is economically unproductive. If a single overall estimate is to be made (e. g. the average per capita consumption of coffee) we would normally use no more than about 6 strata. If estimates are required for population subgroups (e. g. by region and/or age group), then more strata may be justified.

Once strata have been established, the question becomes, "How big a sample must be drawn from each?"

Suppose that, once again, we had stratum A and stratum B, but we know that the individuals assigned to stratum A were more varied with respect to their opinions than those assigned to stratum B. Optimum allocation minimises the standard error of the estimated mean by ensuring that more respondents are assigned to the stratum within which there is greatest variation. Quota sampling Quota sampling is a method of stratified sampling in which the selection within strata is non-random. Selection is normally left to the discretion of the interviewer and it is this characteristic which destroys any pretensions towards randomness. Quota v random sampling

The advantages and disadvantages of quota versus probability samples has been a subject of controversy for many years. Some practitioners hold the quota sample method to be so unreliable and prone to bias as to be almost worthless. Others think that although it is clearly less sound theoretically than probability sampling, it can be used safely in certain circumstances. Still others believe that with adequate safeguards quota sampling can be made highly reliable and that the extra cost of probability sampling is not worthwhile. Generally, statisticians criticise the method for its theoretical weakness while market researchers defend it for its cheapness and administrative convenience. Main arguments against: Quota sampling It is not possible to estimate sampling errors with quota sampling because of the absence of randomness.

Cluster and multistage sampling

Cluster sampling

The process of sampling complete groups or units is called cluster sampling, situations where there is any sub-sampling within the clusters chosen at the first stage are covered by the term multistage sampling. For example, suppose that a survey is to be done in a large town and that the unit of inquiry (i. e. the unit from which data are to be gathered) is the individual household. Suppose further that the town contains 20,000 households, all of them listed on convenient records, and that a sample of 200 households is to be selected. One approach would be to pick the 200 by some random method.

However, this would spread the sample over the whole town, with consequent high fieldwork costs and much inconvenience. One might decide therefore to concentrate the sample in a few parts of the town and it may be assumed for simplicity that the town is divided into 400 areas with 50 households in each. A simple course would be to select say 4 areas at random (i. e. 1 in 100) and include all the households within these areas in our sample. The overall probability of selection is unchanged, but by selecting clusters of households, one has materially simplified and made cheaper the fieldwork.

A large number of small clusters is better, all other things being equal, than a small number of large clusters. Whether single stage cluster sampling proves to be as statistically efficient as a simple random sampling depends upon the degree of homogeneity within clusters. If respondents within clusters are homogeneous with respect to such things as income, socio-economic class etc. , they do not fully represent the population and will, therefore, provide larger standard errors. On the other hand, the lower cost of cluster sampling often outweighs the disadvantages of statistical inefficiency. In short, cluster sampling tends to offer greater reliability for a given cost rather than greater reliability for a given sample size.

Multistage sampling

The population is regarded as being composed of a number of first stage or primary sampling units (PSU's) each of them being made up of a number of second stage units in each selected PSU and so the procedure continues down to the final sampling unit, with the sampling ideally being random at each stage. The necessity of multistage sampling is easily established. PSU's for national surveys are often administrative districts, urban districts or parliamentary constituencies. Within the selected PSU one may go direct to the final sampling units, such as individuals, households or addresses, in which case we have a two-stage sample. It would be more usual to introduce intermediate sampling stages, i. e. administrative districts are sub-divided into wards, then polling districts. Area sampling

Area sampling is basically multistage sampling in which maps, rather than lists or registers, serve as the sampling frame. This is the main method of sampling in developing countries where adequate population lists are rare. The area to be covered is divided into a number of smaller sub-areas from which a sample is selected at random within these areas; either a complete enumeration is taken or a further sub-sample.

Aerial sampling

A grid, such as that shown above, is drawn and superimposed on a map of the area of concern. Sampling points are selected on the basis of numbers drawn at random that equate to the numbered columns and rows of the grid.

It is important that the group selected be representative of the population, and not biased in a systematic manner. For this reason, randomization is typically employed to achieve an unbiased sample. There may often be factors which divide up the population into sub-populations (groups / strata) and we may expect the measurement of interest to vary among the different sub-populations. This has to be accounted for when we select a sample from the population in order that we obtain a sample that is representative of the population. This is achieved by stratified sampling. A stratified sample is obtained by taking samples from each stratum or sub-group of a population.

When we sample a population with several strata, we generally require that the proportion of each stratum in the sample should be the same as in the population. Stratified sampling techniques are generally used when the population is heterogeneous, or dissimilar, where certain homogeneous, or similar, sub-populations can be isolated (strata). Simple random sampling is most appropriate when the entire population from which the sample is taken is homogeneous. Some reasons for using stratified sampling over simple random sampling are:

• the cost per observation in the survey may be reduced;
• estimates of the population parameters may be wanted for each sub-population;
• increased accuracy at given cost.

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Media Industry. (2018, Jan 28). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/media-industry/

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