Quantitative Methods: WATS Assessment 1



Quantitative Methods: WATS Assessment 1

Introduction

In this paper we will be discussing the project management tasks. Mainly we will discuss network diagram, and Gantt charts. Education research has moved away largely from the numbers approach in recent years, and the emphasis has been on qualitative methods. However, the use of numbers can be a very useful tool, either as part of a larger project that employs many different methods or as a basis for a complete piece of work. With the use of sophisticated software packages such as SPSS it is relatively easy to deal with the computation side of things and it is possible to come up with numerous tables and charts almost instantly once your data is installed. However, it is very important that the underlying principles of statistical analysis are understood if sense is to be made of the results spewed out by such a package in terms of your research.

Discussion

Network Diagram

A network diagram is essentially a flow chart that includes all of the project elements and how they relate to one another. It is widely used because it is easy to read and not only depicts the sequence of activities in the project, but also shows parallel activities and the links between each activity. Network logic is the collection of activity dependencies that make up a network diagram for a particular project. In other words, certain tasks are dependent on one another to complete the project. This creates a logical stream of events that will lead to completion of the project.

Building Your Network Diagram

No matter what the scope of the project is, unless it's a one- or two-person operation with few individual tasks involved, it's helpful to have something on paper. Build yourself a little network diagram and use it as your guide. If nothing else, it will give you a sense of accomplishment as you color in each task en route to your conclusion. Anyone who has ever tried a serious diet (one approved by a doctor and not a fad diet) knows the benefit of celebrating milestones along the way to achieving their project goal. If your goal is losing twenty pounds in a month, then every five pounds lost may serve as a milestone along the way.

The network diagram doesn't place tasks in order of what is more important or more costly to complete. Sometimes the most important task (which might be judged by difficulty to accomplish, significance to other tasks being completed, or simply by time or cost) comes at the beginning of the project and everything else is the icing on the cake. In other projects, all the preliminaries, such as planning the wedding, lead to the main event.

While a diet is a uniquely individual project, you can set it up for yourself horizontally on a network diagram just as you would for any business, community, or home-based project. To set up the diagram, you take the list of all the tasks involved and see which ones must ...