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.
OPTIONS BELOW:
Option 1: Manufacturing Database
This database contains six variables taken from 20 industries and 140 subindustries in the United States. Some of the industries are food products, textile mill products, furniture, chemicals, rubber products, primary metals, industrial machinery, and transportation equipment. The six variables are Number of Employees, Number of Production Workers, Value Added by Manufacture, Cost of Materials, End-of-Year Inventories, and Industry Group. Two variables, Number of Employees and Number of Production Workers, are in units of 1000. Three variables, Value Added by Manufacture, Cost of Materials, and End-of-Year Inventories, are in million-dollar units. The Industry Group variable consists of numbers from 1 to 20 to denote the industry group to which the particular subindustry belongs.
Option 2: Hospital Database
This database contains observations for six variables on U.S. hospitals. These variables include Geographic Region, Control, Service, Census, Number of Births, and Personnel.
The region variable is coded from 1 to 7, and the numbers represent the following regions:
1 = South
2 = Northeast
3 = Midwest
4 = Southwest
5 = Rocky Mountain
6 = California
7 = Northwest
Control is a type of ownership. Four categories of control are included in the database:
1 = government, nonfederal
2 = nongovernment, not-for-profit
3 = for-profit
4 = federal government
Service is the type of hospital. The two types of hospitals used in this database are:
1 = general medical
2 = psychiatric
Option 3: Consumer Food
The consumer food database contains five variables: Annual Food Spending per Household, Annual Household Income, Non-Mortgage Household Debt, Geographic Region of the U.S. of the Household, and Household Location. There are 200 entries for each variable in this database representing 200 different households from various regions and locations in the United States. Annual Food Spending per Household, Annual Household Income, and Non-Mortgage Household Debt are all given in dollars. The variable Region tells in which one of four regions the household resides. In this variable, the Northeast is coded as 1, the Midwest is coded 2, the South is coded as 3, and the West is coded as 4. The variable Location is coded as 1 if the household is in a metropolitan area and 2 if the household is outside a metro area. The data in this database were randomly derived and developed based on actual national norms.
Option 4: Financial Database
The financial database contains observations on seven variables for 100 companies. The variables are Type of Industry, Total Revenues ($ millions), Total Assets ($ millions), Return on Equity (%), Earnings per Share ($), Dividends per Share ($), and Average Price per Earnings (P/E) ratio. The companies represent seven different types of industries. The variable Type displays a company’s industry type as:
1 = apparel
2 = chemical
3 = electric power
4 = grocery
5 = healthcare products
6 = insurance
7 = petroleum