Research Method

Chapter 3: Research MethodChecklist:
Population and Sample
The target population for the study will be city dwellers who reside in the suburban areas and in the slums. A random sampling technique will be used to obtain 16 participants, 8 from the suburban areas and the other 8 from the slum areas. This number is more appropriate as other similar studies have also used a similar number to collect information (Tu, 2018). The participants will be aged from 25 to 60 years and data will be collected through focus group and in-depth interviews.
The study population will include members from the middle class families in the urban areas because of the variety of devices they have in their homes, which will help present a better picture of the electricity and water usage, as well as the amount of garbage thrown on a monthly basis. In the rural settings, the target group will also target members from the middle class families based on the above reasons. The individuals will be selected based on the consistency of electricity and water bills to avoid getting significantly inconsistent results. Therefore, the researchers will ask the members in the target population to ensure that they will not be travelling for long holidays or engaging in activities that may significantly interfere with their consumption patterns.
The population is appropriate for the study because it will provide insights on how power and water consumption in urban areas look like compared to a similar consumption in rural areas. Installation of the smart system in both the urban and rural areas will also help determine the impact of the installation by assessing the differences in consumption changes between the rural and the urban population. Focus on this population will also help evaluate the amount of garbage collected for each population to determine the differences in waste matter. Urban areas are popular for excessive power and water consumption characterized by leakages that lead to a lot of wastages. Similarly, these urban centers are popular for excessive wastes that pollute the environment. Installing a smart system will help determine the possibility of saving such wastages and to what extent the intervention will help. A comparision with the rural population will also help assess the area where the IoT has the most impact.
The target sample will be individuals aged 25 to 60 years with families who will always stay home and constantly need the above mentioned resources. Other demographic factors, such as gender, race, and ethnicity will not be considered as they will have no direct impact on the results. to minimize bias, the houses will be identified through a random stratified sampling from the Statistics Department. The households of interest will firs be identified after which they will be chosen randomly. Generally, the sampling process will involve the following steps: a) review of existing data; (b) selection of the zones to be surveyed, (c) familiarization with the master sample on the location of the specific houses, (d) sampling procedure selection and choosing the sample size, its reliability, and precision, € distributing the sample in time and space, (f) selecting the most suitable approach for estimating the population parameters from the sample variables.
This sample is apprprirate since such people tend to have stable families such that even when they are not at home, there will still be people using the resources. The group will be middle income earners with a smart phone that can connect to the IoT sensors. Their ability to effectively use the IoT devices to manage their electricity and water usage will confirm that the devices can reduce resources wastage, which will inturn reduce the bills that t...