ICAR AIEEA-PG (Master's admission and PG scholarship) · India · National Testing Agency for ICAR
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersHow to design, run and report a study: problems, hypotheses, measurement, questionnaires, sampling, analysis and writing up. Examined in agribusiness, agricultural economics and extension PhD entrance papers alike.
In the exams: Research methodology units of agribusiness management PhD entrance and fellowship examinations, agricultural economics PhD entrance and fellowship examinations and agricultural extension PhD entrance and fellowship examinations (heavy in all three)
ICAR AIEEA-PG Group 06 (Social Sciences), Unit I statistics basics
Scales of measurement, sampling methods, measures of central tendency and dispersion, tests of significance, correlation and regression at an introductory level.
How our questions for ICAR AIEEA-PG spread across the units of Research Methodology. Difficulty: 28 easy, 12 medium, 0 hard.
| Univariate analysis | 6 | |
| Hypotheses | 5 | |
| Questionnaire design | 4 | |
| Sampling design | 4 | |
| Types of research and the research process | 3 | |
| Measurement scales: nominal to ratio, Likert | 3 | |
| Sample size determination | 3 | |
| Data editing, coding and tabulation | 3 | |
| Report writing | 3 | |
| Formulating the research problem | 2 | |
| Sampling and non-sampling errors | 2 | |
| Multiple regression and logistic regression | 2 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
A researcher compares yields of farmers who adopted drip irrigation five years ago with those who did not, having had no control over who adopted. This design is best called
C. ex post facto research
The cause (adoption) has already occurred and was not assigned by the researcher, which is the defining feature of ex post facto research. A true experiment needs random assignment; action research involves the researcher in changing practice; a time series follows one unit over many periods.
Further reading: Kothari and Garg, Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques
In the hypothesis 'extension contact increases adoption of integrated pest management', adoption of IPM is the
B. dependent variable
Adoption is the outcome being explained, so it is dependent; extension contact is the independent variable.
Further reading: Kothari and Garg, Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques
The hypothesis 'members of producer companies receive higher prices than non-members' calls for
B. a one-tailed test because the alternative states a direction
A directional alternative (higher) puts the whole critical region in one tail. The number of groups does not decide tails; the direction of H1 does.
Further reading: Kothari and Garg, Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques
Farm size measured in hectares is on which scale?
A. Ratio
Hectares have equal units and a true zero, so ratios are meaningful (4 ha is twice 2 ha). Interval scales lack a true zero.
Further reading: Kothari and Garg, Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques
Which statistic is the appropriate measure of central tendency for a nominal variable such as the crop grown?
D. Mode
Nominal categories have no order, so only the mode is meaningful. The median needs ordering; the means need interval or ratio data.
Further reading: Kothari and Garg, Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques
Temperature in degrees Celsius is an example of
B. an interval scale
Equal units but an arbitrary zero: 20 degrees C is not twice as hot as 10 degrees C.
Further reading: Kothari and Garg, Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques
Which error decreases as the sample size increases?
D. Sampling error
Sampling error falls with sqrt(n). The others are non-sampling errors that do not shrink with n and may grow with a larger, less supervised survey.
Further reading: Cochran, Sampling Techniques
For a strongly right-skewed variable such as household income, the best single measure of central tendency is usually the
B. median
The mean is pulled up by a few large incomes; the median is resistant. The range measures dispersion, not location.
Further reading: Kothari and Garg, Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques
The degrees of freedom for a chi-square test of independence in a 3 x 4 contingency table are
A. 6
Working: (r - 1)(c - 1) = 2 x 3 = 6. 12 is the number of cells; 11 is cells minus one. 7 adds rows and columns (3 + 4).
Further reading: Siegel and Castellan, Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences
A Durbin-Watson statistic close to 2 indicates
B. no first-order autocorrelation
DW ranges from 0 to 4; about 2 means no first-order autocorrelation, near 0 positive and near 4 negative.
Further reading: Gujarati and Porter, Basic Econometrics
Ten here, 40 in the app. The Laisha app has every practice question we have written to ICAR AIEEA-PG in this subject, marked as you go, with timed papers, a jump-to-unanswered list and a certificate when you pass at 70 per cent.
Free for ten days, then one subscription of US$10 a month. We would rather say so here than have you find it later.
An AI operating system for agriculture: free guides, manuals and tools written for every country.