#1

The purpose of this assignment to orient students to the key concepts in statistics. This assignment will introduce students to the language of statistics. Students will also get a chance to warm-up on evaluating some basic descriptive statistics using Excel® prior to the course start. 

Assignment Steps

This assignment has an Excel® dataset spreadsheet attached. You will be required to only do one of the three datasets. 

Resource: Microsoft Excel®,

Statistics Concepts and Descriptive Measures Data Set

Download the Statistics Concepts and Descriptive Measures Data Set. 

Choose one of the following datasets to complete this assignment:

Consumer Food

Financial

Hospital

Answer each of the following in a total of 90 words:

For each column, identify whether the data is qualitative or quantitative.

Identify the level of measurement for the data in each column.

For each column containing quantitative data:

Evaluate the mean and median

Interpret the mean and median in plain non-technical terms

Use the Excel =AVERAGE function to find the mean

Use the Excel =MEDIAN function to find the median

For each column containing quantitative data:

Evaluate the standard deviation and range

Interpret the standard deviation and range in plain non-technical terms

Use the Excel =STDEV.S function to find the standard deviation

For range (maximum value minus the minimum value), find the maximum value using the Excel =MAX function and find the minimum value using the Excel’s =MIN function 

Submit your assignment.

Materials:

Statistics Concepts and Descriptive Measures Grading Guide

Statistics Concepts and Descriptive Measures Data Set

Resources

Statistics Concepts and Descriptive Measures Grading Guide

Center for Writing Excellence

Reference and Citation Generator

Grammar and Writing Guides

Learning Team Toolkit

#2

The purpose of this assignment is to develop students’ analytical capabilities to evaluate, analyze, and apply descriptive statistics techniques to real-world datasets. 

Assignment Steps 

Resources: Microsoft Excel®, Case Study: MBA Schools in Asia-Pacific

Review the Case Study: MBA Schools in Asia-Pacific and the Case Study: MBA Schools in Asia-Pacific Data set. 

Prepare a 1,050-word managerial report for your boss.

Use the following questions for guidelines and directions on what to include in the report:

What is the type of data (Quantitative or Qualitative) for each of the columns (variables) in the dataset? If quantitative, is the data discrete or continuous? Neatly summarize your response in a table for all the columns (variables).

Using Excel®, find the mean, median, standard deviation, minimum, maximum, and the three quartiles for each of the quantitative variables identified in part 1 above. Neatly summarize in a table on this document. Comment on what you observe.

What are the minimum and maximum full-time enrollments? Which schools have the minimum and maximum full-time enrollments?

What is the average number of students per faculty member? Is this low or high? What does this mean to prospective applicants who are interested in pursuing an MBA in one of the leading international business schools?

What are the mean, median, and modal ages? What does this mean to prospective applicants?

What is the mean percentage of foreign students? How many and which schools have 1% and 0% foreign students? Which schools have highest percentage of foreign students? Please state these percentages.

What percentage of schools require the GMAT test?

What percentage of schools require English tests such as Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)?

What percentage of schools require work experience? From this percentage, does this appear to be a significant factor in gaining admissions?

What are the mean and median starting salaries? Which schools have the minimum and maximum starting salaries? How much are these minimum and maximum salaries?

What are the mean tuition for foreign students and for local students? Does there appear to be a significant difference? What is the difference between the two means?

How many schools require work experience and how many of them don’t? What is the mean starting salary for schools requiring work experience? What is the mean starting salary for schools requiring no work experience?

How many schools require English tests and how many don’t? What is the mean starting salary for schools requiring English tests? What is the mean starting salary for schools requiring no English tests?

Comment on the skewness for the data on starting salaries:

Plot a histogram and determine the skewness.

Find the skewness coefficient.

Find the mean, median, and mode for starting salaries and compare the three measures to determine skewness.

Finally, use Empirical Rule on the starting salaries and determine whether the salaries follow the Empirical Rule.

Format your assignment consistent with APA format.

Submit your assignment.
Resources

Case Study: MBA Schools in Asia-Pacific Grading Guide

Center for Writing Excellence
Reference and Citation Generator
Grammar and Writing Guides
#3

This assignment has two cases. The first case is on expansion strategy. Managers constantly have to make decisions under uncertainty. This assignment gives students an opportunity to use the mean and standard deviation of probability distributions to make a decision on expansion strategy. The second case is on determining at which point a manager should re-order a printer so he or she doesn’t run out-of-stock. The second case uses normal distribution. The first case demonstrates application of statistics in finance and the second case demonstrates application of statistics in operations management. 

Resources: Microsoft Excel®, Bell Computer Company Forecasts data set, Case Study Scenarios

Write a 1,050-word report based on the Bell Computer Company Forecasts data set and Case Study Scenarios. 

Include answers to the following: 

Case 1: Bell Computer Company

Compute the expected value for the profit associated with the two expansion alternatives. Which decision is preferred for the objective of maximizing the expected profit?

Compute the variation for the profit associated with the two expansion alternatives. Which decision is preferred for the objective of minimizing the risk or uncertainty? 

Case 2: Kyle Bits and Bytes

What should be the re-order point? How many HP laser printers should he have in stock when he re-orders from the manufacturer?

Format your assignment consistent with APA format.
Submit your assignment.
Resources

Expansion Strategy and Establishing a Re-Order Point Grading Guide

Center for Writing Excellence
Reference and Citation Generator
Grammar and Writing Guides
#4

P

urpose of Assignment 

The purpose of the assignment is to develop students’ abilities in using data sets to apply the concepts of sampling distributions and confidence intervals to make management decisions. 

Assignment Steps 

Resources: Microsoft Excel®, The Payment Time Case Study, The Payment Time Case Data Set

Review the Payment Time Case Study and Data Set. 

Develop a 700-word report including the following calculations and using the information to determine whether the new billing system has reduced the mean bill payment time:

Assuming the standard deviation of the payment times for all payments is 4.2 days, construct a 95% confidence interval estimate to determine whether the new billing system was effective. State the interpretation of 95% confidence interval and state whether or not the billing system was effective.

Using the 95% confidence interval, can we be 95% confident that µ ≤ 19.5 days?

Using the 99% confidence interval, can we be 99% confident that µ ≤ 19.5 days?

If the population mean payment time is 19.5 days, what is the probability of observing a sample mean payment time of 65 invoices less than or equal to 18.1077 days? 

Submit your assignment.
Resources

The Payment Time Case Grading Guide

Center for Writing Excellence
Reference and Citation Generator
Grammar and Writing Guides
#5
Purpose of Assignment 

The purpose of this assignment is to develop students’ abilities to combine the knowledge of descriptive statistics covered in Weeks 1 and 2 and one-sample hypothesis testing to make managerial decisions. In this assignment, students will learn how statistical analysis is used in predicting an election winner in the first case. In the second case, students will conduct a hypothesis test to decide whether or not a shipping plan will be profitable. 

Assignment Steps 

Resources: Microsoft Excel®, Case Study Scenarios, SpeedX Payment Times

Develop a 700- to 1,050-word statistical analysis based on the Case Study Scenarios and SpeedX Payment Times. 

Include answers to the following: 

Case 1: Election Results 

Use 0.10 as the significance level (α).

Conduct a one-sample hypothesis test to determine if the networks should announce at 8:01 P.M. the Republican candidate George W. Bush will win the state. 

Case 2: SpeedX

Use 0.10 and the significance level (α).

Conduct a one-sample hypothesis test and determine if you can convince the CFO to conclude the plan will be profitable. 

Format your assignment consistent with APA format. 

Submit your assignment.
Resources

One-Sample Hypothesis Testing Cases Grading Guide

Center for Writing Excellence
Reference and Citation Generator
Grammar and Writing Guides
#6
urpose of Assignment 

The purpose of this assignment is for students to synthesize the concepts learned throughout the course. This assignment will provide students an opportunity to build critical thinking skills, develop businesses and organizations, and solve problems requiring data by compiling all pertinent information into one report. 

Resources: Microsoft Excel®, Signature Assignment Databases, Signature Assignment Options, Part 3: Inferential Statistics

Scenario: Upon successful completion of the MBA program, imagine you work in the analytics department for a consulting company. Your assignment is to analyze one of the following databases:

Manufacturing

Hospital
Consumer Food

Financial 

Select one of the databases based on the information in the Signature Assignment Options. 

Provide a 1,600-word detailed, four part, statistical report with the following sections:

Part 1 – Preliminary Analysis

Part 2 – Examination of Descriptive Statistics

Part 3 – Examination of Inferential Statistics

Part 4 – Conclusion/Recommendations 

Part 1 – Preliminary Analysis

Generally, as a statistics consultant, you will be given a problem and data. At times, you may have to gather additional data. For this assignment, assume all the data is already gathered for you.

State the objective:

What are the questions you are trying to address?

Describe the population in the study clearly and in sufficient detail:

What is the sample?

Discuss the types of data and variables:

Are the data quantitative or qualitative?

What are levels of measurement for the data? 

Part 2 – Descriptive Statistics 

Examine the given data.

Present the descriptive statistics (mean, median, mode, range, standard deviation, variance, CV, and five-number summary).

Identify any outliers in the data.

Present any graphs or charts you think are appropriate for the data.

Note: Ideally, we want to assess the conditions of normality too. However, for the purpose of this exercise, assume data is drawn from normal populations. 

Part 3 – Inferential Statistics

Use the Part 3: Inferential Statistics document.

Create (formulate) hypotheses

Run formal hypothesis tests

Make decisions. Your decisions should be stated in non-technical terms.

Hint: A final conclusion saying “reject the null hypothesis” by itself without explanation is basically worthless to those who hired you. Similarly, stating the conclusion is false or rejected is not sufficient. 

Part 4 – Conclusion and Recommendations

Include the following:

What are your conclusions?

What do you infer from the statistical analysis?

State the interpretations in non-technical terms. What information might lead to a different conclusion?

Are there any variables missing?

What additional information would be valuable to help draw a more certain conclusion?

Format your assignment consistent with APA format. 
Submit your assignment.
Resources

Signature Assignment Grading Guide

Center for Writing Excellence
Reference and Citation Generator
Grammar and Writing Guides