Spring 2020

Graded Discussion Board

Advanced Research Methods (STAT730)

Due date: June 7th, 2020

Topic: “Basics of Introduction and Literature Review”

Objective of the activity

To familiarize the students with the basics of introduction and literature review

Learning outcome

After attempting this GDB, students will be able to comprehend the basics of introduction and literature review

The premise

After one decade of incessant development, the global economy is fading out of the blue. The global pandemic of covid-19 has reconfigured the world socially, psychologically, economically and environmentally. This sloping situation has changed the way we work, the way we care, and the way we live the life. It is still uncertain about the post-pandemic functionality of the society. It is pertinent to know that who will be the global economic prospect and how quickly the world will recover from this global recession.

Notably, the factor-driven economies will be at the colossal prey in this drive of economic recovery. They were already on the shakier economic settings after 2009’s global recession and now are hard-pressed with respect to health and economic calamity. The trade deficit is widening hence, the external debt has reached the highest levels. There are assumptions that things may quickly go back to normal but still, the developing economies would shrink by roughly 2% and their output would reduce by nearly 3%. They will have a long-lasting damage, lesser credible growth for extended period of time, which will grave the impact on poverty and wide inequality gap. However, the World Bank, and IMF are ramping up their support to the developing economies.

The policymakers of Pakistan have the real challenge to face as they have a very narrow window to limit the pain in less time. They must focus on the timely and prioritized measures especially in case of health sector which is grossly underequipped. The prime focus is and will be to save lives, ensure livability, help the businesses, and guarantee the public services. The unprecedented ways will help the economy to manage the instantaneous response and speed up the revitalization. If the policymakers will not be corresponding as required, the damage will necessitate a much larger response later. Currently, this reckless change has brought the changing work nature to working remotely which is the only viable option left. Or working smartly by adopting all the necessary preemptive measures is somewhat the better option for the world. We must act divisively to lay the foundation for the sustainable solutions to the robust recovery.

Requirements:

Based on the above literature, you are required to develop:

Appropriate research title
Two research questions
The problem statement

Important Instructions:

Your discussion must be based on logical facts.
The GDB will open and close at above specified date and time. Please note that no grace day or extra time will be given for posting comments on GDB.
Use the font style “Times New Roman” and font size “12”.
Your answer should be relevant to the topic i.e. clear and concise.
Do not copy or exchange your answer with other students. Two identical / copied comments will be marked Zero (0) and may damage your grade in the course.
Books, websites and other reading material may be consulted before posting your comments; but copying or reproducing the text from books, websites and other reading materials is strictly prohibited. Such comments will be marked as Zero (0) even if you provide references.
You should post your answer on the Graded Discussion Board (GDB), not on the Moderated Discussion Board (MDB). Both will run parallel to each other during the time specified above. Therefore, due care will be needed.
Obnoxious or ignoble answer should be strictly avoided.
You cannot participate in the discussion after the due date via email.
Questions / queries related to the content of the GDB, which may be posted by the students on MDB or via e-mail, will not be replied till the due date of GDB is over.
For planning your semester activities in an organized manner, you are advised to view schedule of upcoming Assignments, Quizzes and GDBs in the overview tab of the course website on VU-LMS.

Note related to load shedding: Please be proactive

Dear Students,

As you know that semester activities have been started and load shedding problem is also prevailing in our country now a days. Keeping in view the fact, you all are advised to post your activities as early as possible without waiting for the due date. For your convenience; activity schedule has already been uploaded on VULMS for the current semester, therefore no excuse will be entertained after due date of assignments, quizzes or GDBs.

Good Luck!

Question Title Selection of Type of Statistics
Question Description

Fall 2019

Graded Discussion Board No. 2

Advanced Research Methods (STAT730)

Due date: January 26th, 2020

Topic: “Selection of Type of Statistics”

Objective of the activity

To familiarize the students with the selection of appropriate type of statistics.

Learning outcome

After attempting this GDB, students will be able to select the type of statistics.

The premise

Recent wave of tax reforms in Pakistan led majority of people in unrest. The anticipated sales tax gap is ~67% of the total sales tax collection of Rs. 1,715 billion. As per Global Competitiveness Index (GCI, 2018), tax regulations and tax rates are among the most problematic factors of doing business in Pakistan. It is very unfortunate that Pakistan has only 40,000 (approximately) registered sales tax payers.

Considerable losses in tax revenue occurs due to the fraud in sales tax. Even the registered businesses acquire fake purchase invoice (to boost deductible input tax) and sales tax related identity frauds, which is still the daunting challenge to tackle the issue. Weak government writ, fragile institutions, less regulatory quality, ineffective accountability processes, poor rule of law, political instability, and pervasive corruption in Pakistan could be the prime contributors to sales tax gap. However, a workforce having higher level of education, literacy and technology are indispensable for effective implementation of sales tax policies and preventing tax fraud and evasion.

Automation in Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is hence the need of hour to strengthen the system of accountability and transparency, henceforth tax net expansion and minimization of tax evasion. FBR and four provinces therefore, have agreed to announce online portal facility (to file sales taxes) in August 2019, as a part of government’s ease of doing business initiative. This tax reform will ultimately benefit the taxpayers to submit their returns through a single portal. Consequently, this and other tax reforms will multiply the sales tax revenue.

The research objective

The prime objective of the above research was to investigate the impact of tax reforms on sales tax revenue.

Requirement:

First step in statistical analysis is to decide what type of statistics is appropriate for data analysis. After carefully analyzing the above premise and research objective, you are required to identify which type of statistics (descriptive or inferential) is most appropriate to be used for data analysis? Provide at least two justifications to support your choice.

Important Instructions:

Your discussion must be based on logical facts.
The GDB will open and close at above specified date and time. Please note that no grace day or extra time will be given for posting comments on GDB.
Use the font style “Times New Roman” and font size “12”.
Your answer should be relevant to the topic i.e. clear and concise.
Do not copy or exchange your answer with other students. Two identical / copied comments will be marked Zero (0) and may damage your grade in the course.
Books, websites and other reading material may be consulted before posting your comments; but copying or reproducing the text from books, websites and other reading materials is strictly prohibited. Such comments will be marked as Zero (0) even if you provide references.
You should post your answer on the Graded Discussion Board (GDB), not on the Moderated Discussion Board (MDB). Both will run parallel to each other during the time specified above. Therefore, due care will be needed.
Obnoxious or ignoble answer should be strictly avoided.
You cannot participate in the discussion after the due date via email.
Questions / queries related to the content of the GDB, which may be posted by the students on MDB or via e-mail, will not be replied till the due date of GDB is over.
For planning your semester activities in an organized manner, you are advised to view schedule of upcoming Assignments, Quizzes and GDBs in the overview tab of the course website on VU-LMS.

Note related to load shedding: Please be proactive

Dear Students,

As you know that semester activities have been started and load shedding problem is also prevailing in our country now a days. Keeping in view the fact, you all are advised to post your activities as early as possible without waiting for the due date. For your convenience; activity schedule has already been uploaded on VULMS for the current semester, therefore no excuse will be entertained after due date of assignments, quizzes or GDBs.

Good Luck!