BSS057-3 Research Methods: Analyzing COVID-19 Impact on UK GDP

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the United Kingdom's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It begins with an introduction to the concept of GDP and its significance, followed by a literature review that examines existing research on the topic. The report identifies a dataset sourced from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) and employs both qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze the data. The quantitative analysis includes statistical tools such as mean, median, mode, and standard deviation to compare yearly GDP before and after the onset of the pandemic. Data visualization further illustrates the negative impact of COVID-19 on the UK's GDP, particularly in 2020. The findings conclude that the pandemic significantly affected the UK's economic performance, leading to a decline in GDP due to business shutdowns and trade restrictions. The report also highlights the challenges faced by the UK economy in managing and increasing GDP during the pandemic, including unemployment and restrictions on international trade.

Problem Based Report

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Literature review.........................................................................................................................4
Identification of data set and methodology.................................................................................5
Quantitative analysis of the data set selected..............................................................................5
Visualisation of data....................................................................................................................7
Findings and conclusion..............................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
GDP or Gross Domestic Product is being referred to as the standard measure relating to
the value added which is being created with the production process within economy. For the
country to grow and develop it is necessary that GDP must be increasing. But in the current
business environment the pandemic has affected the working of the companies to a great extent.
This is particularly because of the reason that due to COVID the businesses were shut and as a
result of this, the GDP and income of the company were also reduced. Thus, the present study
will outline the impact which the current pandemic has created over the GDP of the country.
This is essential for the reason that when the GDP will be decreasing then this will reduce the
working efficiency of the companies and overall country as well. Thus, the present study will
outline the impact whether positive or negative which the pandemic has created over working of
the country will be evaluated.
Research aim
“To analyse the impact of COVID 19 on the GDP of the UK economy”.
Research objectives
 To analyse the concept of GDP
 To evaluate the impact which are result of current pandemic over GDP.
 To examine the challenges which the country is facing due to COVID 19 in managing
and increasing GDP.
Research question
1. What is the concept of GDP and its significance?
2. What is the impact being created by the pandemic over country’s GDP?
3. What are the various challenges which UK economy is facing because of current
pandemic?
Rationale
For the country to operate in proper and effective manner it is essential that income of the
country must be growing. This is necessary because when the income of the country will not be
good then they will not be in position to operate in proper and effective manner. Thus, for
increasing the knowledge relating to the impact of pandemic over the working and operation of
the country. Also, this will increase the knowledge of all decision makers that how they need to
plan and make strategies for the effective working and increasing of GDP.

Literature review
As per the views of Keogh-Brown and et.al., (2020) GDP outlines the income which the
country has generated with the production and other activities of the business. it is necessary for
the country that the GDP is being maintained and continuously increasing so that the operations
of the country will increase. This is very important for the businesses that they must try to
improve the GDP of the country. This is essential for the reason that when the GDP of the
country will not be good then the working and operational efficiency will be reduced. Hence, this
will be affecting the working in negative manner and will reduce the working capability of the
business.
On the other side, Sarkodie and Owusu (2021) argued that the for the country to work
effectively it is necessary that all the income of the country must be increasing. This is
particularly because of the reason that when the GDP will be increasing then this will improve
the standard of living of people. But due to the pandemic the GDP of the country reduced. This is
particularly because of the reason that due to pandemic there was an economic shut down.
Hence, due to this, many different businesses were closed and this reduced the income of the
business. when the income of the business was reduced then this ultimately resulted in decrease
in efficiency of the overall country.
In addition to this, Coronavirus and the impact on output in the UK economy: December
2020 (2021) supported that the current pandemic has affected GDP of the country to a great
extent. This also resulted in many different challenges being faced by the country as well. This is
particularly because of the reason that when the GDP is reduced then the major challenge faced
is the unemployment. This is a major challenge because of the reason that due to pandemic there
was an economic shutdown and due to this many businesses were closed. Thus, it resulted in the
people leaving their job. Thus, as a result of this, there was high unemployment and this resulted
in more problem to the people and country itself.
Along with this, König and Winkler, (2020) articulated that another major challenge
which the country faces due to current pandemic in managing GDP is the restrictions to trade
with other countries. This was a major challenge which the companies in UK faced. This is
particularly because of the reason that due to pandemic the businesses were shut and also the
trade with other countries was restricted. Hence, this affected the working efficiency of the
businesses. The reason underlying this fact is that when the trade with other countries was

restricted then this resulted in decrease in business. Hence, this affected the quantity of the
business as earlier the maximum trade was done with other countries and due to pandemic this
was reduced resulting in decrease in GDP of the country.
Identification of data set and methodology
By referring to the research aim and objective the data set selected was relating to the rate
of GDP over a period of time. This is particularly because the whole study was based on the data
only (Snyder, 2019). In case the data selected is not good and reliable then the research
objectives will not be attained. Thus, the selection of data and methods need to be analysed and
evaluated that in order to prove the aim and objective of the study correct. The complete study is
based on analysis of the data and due to this reason it is very crucial to select the appropriate
data.
In the present case of analysis of impact of COVID 19 over the GDP of the country the
use of combination of qualitative and quantitative methods will be analysed. This is particularly
selected because of the reason that the mix of both methods will be providing more clear and
accurate picture of actual position of research topic. The use of quantitative information will
outline the facts and figures relating to the GDP and its increase or decrease (Zangirolami-
Raimundo, Echeimberg and Leone, 2018). Along with this, the use of qualitative information
will be supporting the facts and figures outlined with help of the quantitative analysis. For the
study to be reliable and accurate it is essential that the quantitative figures are being supported by
the viewpoints of different authors as well. this is essential because of the reason that this will
authenticate the working more and will grab the attention of readers.
Quantitative analysis of the data set selected
The quantitative analysis is being referred to as the analysis of data by using the numeric
information and facts and figures relating to the research topic. It is very important for the
researcher to undertake the working and analysis in better and effective manner (Hassani and
Shahwali, 2020). Thus, the data set was extracted from the website, www.ons.gov.uk. The data
set has been extracted from this website and then the various quantitative tools and techniques
will be applied for analysing the data.
Comparison of yearly GDP before and after COVID
2018.0 2019 2020 2021
Q1 0.2 0.6 -2.7 -1.4

Q2 0.5 0.1 -19.6 5.5
Q3 0.6 0.5 17.4
Q4 0.3 0.0 1.1
mean 0.4 0.3 -1.0 2.1
median 0.4 0.3 -0.8 2.1
mode 0 0 0 0
Standard deviation 0.15811 0.25495 13.1511 3.45
With the help of the above table relating to some statistical tool it is evaluated that the
COVID 19 has affected the GDP to a great extent. This is pertaining to the fact that the pandemic
has affected the working efficiency of the business and due to this, the GDP of country has
reduced. This is pertaining to the fact that when the businesses are not operating well then they
will not earn good money and will not provide to the government then GDP will reduce (Miles,
Stedman and Heald, 2020). Hence, the above table clearly evaluated that the mean GDP of
country for 2018 was 0.4 that is before the COVID 19. But gradually in the year 2019 the
COVID started and there was a reduction in the GDP %.
The above table clearly highlights the fact that in the year 2018 average GDP was 0.4
which reduced to 0.3 in 2019. Further, in the year 2020, the GDP decreased and it was in
negative. This simply implies that the current pandemic has affected the working and operations
of the country to a great extent. All the business was shut and due to this, economic working was
not good and due to this, the GDP of the country declined. Further next year when the impact of
the COVID 19 decreased then at that time the GDP of UK economy increased a little bit. That is,
it simply increased from negative to positive that is from -0.8 to 2.1. Though this is not good but
the country has started increasing its performance and this will be beneficial for the country as it
will increase the performance of the country.
Descriptive statistics of overall data that is from 1955 to 2021
GDP %
Mean 0.58302
Standard Error 0.11773
Median 0.6
Mode 0.6
Standard Deviation 1.91651
Sample Variance 3.67301
Kurtosis 68.2516

Skewness -1.7734
Range 37
Minimum -19.6
Maximum 17.4
Sum 154.5
Count 265
Largest(1) 17.4
Smallest(1) -19.6
The above table outlines that descriptive statistics relating to complete data set that is
starting from 1995 to 2021. This provides the data from the time frame and it is analysed that the
average GDP % for all the time frame is 0.58. This simply means that the GDP of the country
over the time is very low and this is not good for the country. The reason underlying this fact is
that when the working of the company is reduced then it will create an impact over the whole
country as well (Heald and Hodges, 2020). The reason underlying this fact is that when the GDP
of the country is not increasing then this will be affecting the working of company to a great
extent. The above analysis also evaluated that the maximum GDP which the country has
witnessed is the 17.4 and the minimum GDP which country has seen is the -19.6. along with this,
it can be analysed that standard deviation of the data is 1.91651 which implies that the dispersion
of the data is low and the deviation of GDP is low.
Visualisation of data
Mean

Median
With the help of the above chart it is clear that the pandemic has affected the rate of GDP
to a great extent. This is particularly because of the reason that when the working of the
companies will not be good then this reduces the GDP of the company. The above chart
evaluates that in the year 2020 the GDP of the country was in negative. This was the time when
the COVID 19 was at its maximum. Hence, due to this, the GDP of the country has gone in
negative which is not at all good condition. This implies that the economy is approaching
towards the phase of recession or the economic downturn which is not at all good for the
country. This is particularly because of the reason that when the GDP is in negative then this
reflects that the working of the companies is not good and they are not much contributing within
the national income of country. The pandemic was the major reason for the reduction in the
GDP.
Findings and conclusion
With the above analysis of quantitative techniques being applicable over the data set it
was found that the GDP is majorly being affected by the pandemic. With the analysis of the data
it is clear that the major reason in the reduction of the GDP is COVID 19. This is supported
Fernandes (2020) as due to the pandemic the businesses were shut and due to this the working of
the country was affected. Hence, in order to improve the GDP of the country, it is essential that
the use of effective marketing strategy must be used. This is necessary because when the proper

marketing will be undertaken then at that time the business will increase. Hence, as a result of
this, the working and GDP of the country will increase a little and will add to better and effective
working of the country.
CONCLUSION
The above report evaluated that the GDP of the country is very essential to be managed
and maintained. The reason underlying this fact is that when the GDO of the country will be
good then this will improve the working of the business. The above study examined that the
pandemic was the major reason for the decline in the rate of GDP. The reason pertaining to the
fact was that the pandemic resulted in the decline in business and as a result of this there was a
decline in value added in government income. Hence, as a result of this, the GDP of the country
declined due the increase in pandemic. In addition to this, the descriptive statistics also
confirmed that the COVID 19 has affected the level of GDP to a great extent. This was evident
as in 2019 the GDP was low and in 2020 it came in negative. Hence, it can be implied that the
pandemic has resulted in the decline of the performance of the company.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Keogh-Brown, M. R. and et.al., 2020. The impact of Covid-19, associated behaviours and
policies on the UK economy: A computable general equilibrium model. SSM-population
health. 12. p.100651.
Sarkodie, S. A. and Owusu, P. A., 2021. Global assessment of environment, health and
economic impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Environment, Development and
Sustainability. 23. pp.5005-5015.
König, M. and Winkler, A., 2020. Monitoring in real time: Cross-country evidence on the
COVID-19 impact on GDP growth in the first half of 2020. Covid Economics. 57. pp.132-
153.
Hassani, K. and Shahwali, D. O. S. T., 2020. Impact of COVID 19 on international trade and
China’s trade. Turkish Economic Review. 7(2). pp.103-110.
Miles, D., Stedman, M. and Heald, A., 2020. Living with COVID-19: balancing costs against
benefits in the face of the virus. National Institute Economic Review. 253. pp.R60-R76.
Heald, D. and Hodges, R., 2020. The accounting, budgeting and fiscal impact of COVID-19 on
the United Kingdom. Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management.
Fernandes, N., 2020. Economic effects of coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) on the world
economy. Available at SSRN 3557504.
Snyder, H., 2019. Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and
guidelines. Journal of business research. 104. pp.333-339.
Zangirolami-Raimundo, J., Echeimberg, J. D. O. and Leone, C., 2018. Research methodology
topics: Cross-sectional studies. Journal of Human Growth and Development. 28(3).
pp.356-360.
Online
Coronavirus and the impact on output in the UK economy: December 2020. 2021. [Online].
Available through: <
https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/articles/coronavirusandtheimp
actonoutputintheukeconomy/december2020>