EXCEL, DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS, AND VISUAL DISPLAYS

EXCEL, DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS, AND VISUAL DISPLAYS

 

Assignment Overview

 

You are a consultant who works for the Diligent Consulting Group. In this Case, you are engaged on a consulting basis by Loving Organic Foods. In order to get a better idea of what might have motivated customers’ buying habits you are asked to analyze the ages of the customers who have purchased organic foods over the past 3 months. Past research done by the Diligent Consulting Group has shown that different age groups buy certain products for different reasons. Loving Organic Foods has sent a survey to 200 customers who have previously purchased organic foods, and 124 customers have responded. The survey includes age data of past customers who purchased organic foods in the previous quarter.

 

Case Assignment

 

Using Excel, create a frequency distribution (histogram) of the age data that was captured from the survey. You should consider the width of the age categories (e.g., 5 years, 10 years, or other). That is, which age category grouping provides the most useful information? Once you have created this histogram, determine the mean, median, and mode.

 

After you have reviewed the data, write a report to your boss that briefly describes the results that you obtained. Make a recommendation on how this data might be used for marketing purposes. Be sure to conduct adequate research on organic foods industry, organic market analysis, and healthy food industry using IBISWorld database or other databases such as Business Source Complete (EBSCO) and Business Source Complete – Business Searching Interface in our online library. Provide a brief description on the industry background and the consumer changing attitudes and behavior toward healthy lifestyles. Also identify the customer demographics of organic food industry and explain how the customers of Loving Organic Foods are different from this target market.

 

Data: Download the Excel-based data file with the age data of the 124 customers: Data chart for BUS520 Module 1 Case. Use these data in Excel to create your histogram.

 

Assignment Expectations

 

Excel Analysis

 

Complete analysis in Excel using the Histogram function. Please watch the following video which covers how to create a histogram in Excel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL91GrVf3EY

 

If you are not so familiar with Excel, refer to the following link on Excel training videos: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Excel-training-9bc05390-e94c-46af-a5b3-d7c22f6990bb?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US

 

Check the professional market research reports from the IBISWorld database to conduct the industry analysis. IBISWorld can be accessed in the Trident Online Library.

 

IBISWorld Overview (n.d.). IBISWorld, Inc., New York, NY.

 

IBISWorld Forecast (n.d.). IBISWorld, Inc., New York, NY.

 

 

 

IBISWorld Data and Sources (n.d.). IBISWorld, Inc., New York, NY.

 

IBISWorld Navigation Tips (n.d.). IBISWorld, Inc., New York, NY.

 

Written Report

 

Length requirements: 4–5 pages minimum (not including Cover and Reference pages). NOTE: You must submit 4–5 pages of written discussion and analysis. This means that you should avoid use of tables and charts as “space fillers.”

 

Provide a brief introduction to/background of the problem.

 

Provide a brief description of organic food industry and target market characteristics such as their demographics, lifestyles and shopping behaviors.

 

Provide a written analysis that supports your Histogram age groups (bins).

 

Based on your analysis of the histogram data, provide complete and meaningful recommendations as the data relates to Loving Organic Foods’s marketing strategy.

 

Write clearly, simply, and logically. Use double-spaced, black Verdana or Times Roman font in 12 pt. type size.

 

Have an introduction at the beginning to introduce the topics and use keywords as headings to organize the report.

 

Avoid redundancy and general statements such as “All organizations exist to make a profit.” Make every sentence count.

 

Paraphrase the facts using your own words and ideas, employing quotes sparingly. Quotes, if absolutely necessary, should rarely exceed five words.

 

Upload both your written report and Excel file to the case 1 Dropbox.

 

 

 

BUS520 Business Analytics and Decision Making

 

Module 1 SLP

 

EXCEL, DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS, AND VISUAL DISPLAYS

 

Assume once again that you are a consultant who works for the Diligent Consulting Group. You collected only the “Age” of customers in the Module 1 Case scenario. You realized, however, that you need more customer information and collected the following additional variable: “Annual Amount Spent on Organic Food.” You want to conduct additional analysis on this customer database.

 

SLP Assignment Expectations

 

Complete the following tasks in the Module 1 SLP assignment template:

 

Calculate mean, median, mode, range, standard deviation, and skewness for both variables using the Descriptive Statistics tool in Excel.

 

What are the characteristics of the “average” customer?

 

What are the characteristics of the “typical” customer?

 

Comment on the skewness of the variables: Which variable is most skewed? Which variable is least skewed?

 

Given your answers to question 4 above, which measure of central tendency best describes customers?

 

Comment on additional variables that would be useful to collect in order to analyze customers in greater detail. List at least two additional variables and explain why they are important for this analysis.

 

 

 

BUS520 Business Analytics and Decision Making

 

Module 2 CASE

 

CONFIDENCE INTERVALS AND HYPOTHESIS TESTING

 

Assignment Overview

 

You are a consultant who works for the Diligent Consulting Group. In this Case, you are engaged on a consulting basis by Loving Organic Foods. In order to get a better idea of what might have motivated customers’ buying habits you are asked to analyze a customer database. You realize the database is still incomplete, so you recontact these customers and collect additional information. The database now includes “Annual Amount Spent on Organic Food,” “Age,” “Annual Income,” “Number of People in the Household,” and “Gender.”

 

Case Assignment

 

Using Excel, generate descriptive statistics for these new variables: “Annual Income,” “Number of People in the Household,” and “Gender.”

 

You have much more information about the customers than you did in the Module 1 Case. After you have reviewed the results generated above, write a report to your boss that briefly describes the results that you obtained. Please include the following in your report:

 

The descriptive statistics you generated.

 

Your interpretation of the descriptive statistics and any visual displays or other tools you used to analyze the data.

 

Your recommendation on how this new data might be used for marketing purposes.

 

Comment on whether this new recommendation is different than the one you provided in the Module 1 case. If so, explain why it is different.

 

Compare your statistical results from the new variables with those of the industry.

 

Lastly, your client argues that the amount of money spent on organic food is the same for females and males. You decide to test this at the α = 0.10 level, using a two-sample hypothesis test. You don’t know the population standard deviation, but you assume they are the same. Run this test in Excel and interpret the results. Can you support your client’s claim?

 

Data: Download the Excel-based data file: BUS520 Module 2 Case.

 

Assignment Expectations

 

You can again search the professional market research reports from the IBISWorld database to conduct the industry analysis.

 

IBISWorld Overview (n.d.). IBISWorld, Inc., New York, NY.

 

IBISWorld Forecast (n.d.). IBISWorld, Inc., New York, NY.

 

IBISWorld Data and Sources (n.d.). IBISWorld, Inc., New York, NY.

 

IBISWorld Navigation Tips (n.d.). IBISWorld, Inc., New York, NY.

 

Written Report

 

Length requirements: 4–5 pages minimum (not including Cover and Reference pages). NOTE: You must submit 4–5 pages of written discussion and analysis.

 

Provide a brief introduction to/background of the problem, similar to the introduction/background you provided in Module 1 Case.

 

Provide a brief description of organic food industry and target market characteristics such as their demographics, lifestyles, and shopping behaviors. This should be similar to the description you provided in Module 1 Case, but now you have more variables that you want to ensure you are able to compare to the industry data.

 

Provide a written analysis that addresses each of requirements listed under the “Case Assignment” section.

 

Write clearly, simply, and logically. Use double-spaced, black Verdana or Times Roman font in 12 pt. type size.

 

Please use keywords as headings to organize the report.

 

Avoid redundancy and general statements such as “All organizations exist to make a profit.” Make every sentence count.

 

Paraphrase the facts using your own words and ideas, employing quotes sparingly. Quotes, if absolutely necessary, should rarely exceed five words.

 

Upload both your written report and Excel file to the Case 2 Dropbox.

 

 

 

BUS520 Business Analytics and Decision Making

 

Module 2 SLP

 

CONFIDENCE INTERVALS AND HYPOTHESIS TESTING

 

Assume once again that you are a consultant who works for the Diligent Consulting Group. You are continuing to work on the analysis of the customer database from Module 1.

 

SLP Assignment Expectations

 

Complete the following tasks in the Module 2 SLP assignment template:

 

Generate a 95% confidence interval for the following two variables by hand: “Annual Amount Spent on Organic Food” and “Age.”

 

Generate a 95% confidence interval for the following two variables using the Excel formula =CONFIDENCE.T(): Annual Income and Number of People in the Household.

 

Interpret the confidence intervals for each of the variables.

 

The client insists the average income of his organic food customers is $150,000. Conduct a hypothesis test at the 0.10 level to test his statement. What is your decision?

 

 

 

BUS520 Business Analytics and Decision Making

 

Module 3 CASE

 

SIMPLE LINEAR REGRESSION

 

Assignment Overview

 

You are a consultant who works for the Diligent Consulting Group. In this Case, you are engaged on a consulting basis by Loving Organic Foods. In order to get a better idea of what might have motivated customers’ buying habits you are asked to analyze the factors that impact organic food expenditures. You opt to do this using linear regression analysis.

 

Case Assignment

 

Using Excel, generate regression estimates for the following model:

 

Annual Amount Spent on Organic Food = α + bAge

 

After you have reviewed the results from the estimation, write a report to your boss that interprets the results that you obtained. Please include the following in your report:

 

The regression output you generated in Excel.

 

Your interpretation of the coefficient of determination (r-squared).

 

Your interpretation of the coefficient estimate for the Age variable.

 

Your interpretation of the statistical significance of the coefficient estimate for the Age variable.

 

The regression equation with estimates substituted into the equation. (Note: Once the estimates are substituted into the regression equation, it should take a form similar to this: y = 10 +2x)

 

A discussion of how this equation in item 5 above can be used to estimate annual expenditures on organic food.

 

An estimate of “Annual Amount Spent on Organic Food” for the average consumer. (Note: You will need to substitute the average age into the regression equation for x, the intercept for α, and solve for y.)

 

Data: Download the Excel-based data file: BUS520 Module 3 Case.

 

Assignment Expectations

 

Written Report

 

Length requirements: 3–4 pages minimum (not including Cover and Reference pages). NOTE: You must submit 3–4 pages of written discussion and analysis.

 

Provide a brief introduction to/background of the problem, similar to the introduction/background you provided in Module 1 and 2 Case submissions.

 

Provide a brief discussion of linear regression analysis, including the value of using this estimation technique.

 

Provide a written analysis that addresses each of requirements listed under the “Case Assignment” section.

 

Write clearly, simply, and logically. Use double-spaced, black Verdana or Times Roman font in 12 pt. type size.

 

Please use keywords as headings to organize the report.

 

Avoid redundancy and general statements such as “All organizations exist to make a profit.” Make every sentence count.

 

Paraphrase the facts using your own words and ideas, employing quotes sparingly. Quotes, if absolutely necessary, should rarely exceed five words.

 

Upload both your written report and Excel file to the Case 3 Dropbox.

 

 

 

BUS520 Business Analytics and Decision Making

 

Module 3 SLP

 

SIMPLE LINEAR REGRESSION

 

Assume once again that you are a consultant who works for the Diligent Consulting Group. You are continuing to work on the analysis of the customer database from Modules 1 and 2.

 

SLP Assignment Expectations

 

Complete the following tasks in the Module 3 SLP assignment template:

 

Create a scatterplot in Excel with “Annual Amount Spent on Organic Food” on the y (vertical) axis and “Age” on the x (horizontal) axis.

 

Insert a trendline.

 

What does the trendline indicate about the relationship between these two variables?

 

Calculate the correlation coefficient for these two variables using the =CORRELATION() formula in Excel.

 

Interpret the correlation coefficient.

 

Does the correlation coefficient agree with the slope of the best fit line? Explain.

 

Add the equation for the best fit line on the chart.

 

Does this equation match the linear regression equation from the Case for this module? Explain.

 

 

 

BUS520 Business Analytics and Decision Making

 

Module 4 CASE

 

MULTIVARIATE ESTIMATION AND MODEL FIT

 

Assignment Overview

 

You are a consultant who works for the Diligent Consulting Group. In this Case, you are engaged on a consulting basis by Loving Organic Foods. In order to get a better idea of what might have motivated customers’ buying habits you are asked to analyze the factors that impact organic food expenditures. You performed a simple linear regression analysis in the Module 3 Case. Now, you are adding a layer of complexity to that analysis and including more independent variables in your model.

 

Case Assignment

 

Using Excel, generate regression estimates for the following model:

 

Annual Amount Spent on Organic Food = α + b1Age + b2AnnualIncome

 

+ b3Number of People in Household + b4Gender

 

After you have reviewed the results from the estimation, write a report to your boss that interprets the results that you obtained. Please include the following in your report:

 

The regression output you generated in Excel.

 

Your interpretation of the coefficient of determination (r-squared).

 

Your interpretation of the global test for statistical significance (the F-test).

 

Your interpretation of the coefficient estimates for all the independent variables.

 

Your interpretation of the statistical significance of the coefficient estimates for all the independent variables.

 

The regression equation with estimates substituted into the equation. (Note: Once the estimates are substituted into the regression equation, it should take a form similar to this: y = 10 +2×1 +1×2 +4×3 +0.9×4)

 

An estimate of “Annual Amount Spent on Organic Food” for the average consumer. (Note: You will need to substitute the averages for all the independent variables into the regression equation for x, the intercept for α, and solve for y.)

 

A discussion of whether or not the coefficient estimate on the Age variable in this estimation is different than it was in the simple linear regression model from Module 3 Case. Be sure to explain why it did/did not change.

 

Data: Download the Excel-based data file: BUS520 Module 4 Case.

 

Assignment Expectations

 

Written Report

 

Length requirements: 3–4 pages minimum (not including Cover and Reference pages). Note: You must submit 3–4 pages of written discussion and analysis.

 

Provide a brief introduction to/background of the problem, similar to the introduction/background you provided in Module 1 through 3 Case submissions.

 

Provide a brief comparison of simple linear regression and multiple linear regression.

 

Provide a written analysis that addresses each of requirements listed under the “Case Assignment” section.

 

Write clearly, simply, and logically. Use double-spaced, black Verdana or Times Roman font in 12 pt. type size.

 

Please use keywords as headings to organize the report.

 

Avoid redundancy and general statements such as “All organizations exist to make a profit.” Make every sentence count.

 

Paraphrase the facts using your own words and ideas, employing quotes sparingly. Quotes, if absolutely necessary, should rarely exceed five words.

 

Upload both your written report and Excel file to the Case 4 Dropbox.

 

 

 

BUS520 Business Analytics and Decision Making

 

Module 4 SLP

 

MULTIVARIATE ESTIMATION AND MODEL FIT

 

Assume once again that you are a consultant who works for the Diligent Consulting Group. You are continuing to work on the analysis of the customer database from Modules 1 through 3.

 

SLP Assignment Expectations

 

Complete the following tasks in the Module 4 SLP assignment template:

 

Compare the coefficients of determination (r-squared values) from the two linear regressions: simple linear regression from Module 3 Case and the multivariate regression from Module 4 Case. Which model had the “best fit”?

 

Calculate the residual for the first observation from the simple linear regression model. Recall, the Residual = Observed value – Predicted value or e = y – ?.

 

What happens to the overall distance between the best fit line and the coordinates in the scatterplot when the residuals shrink?

 

What happens to the coefficient of determination when the residuals shrink?

 

Consider the r-squared from the linear regression model and the r-squared from the multivariate regression model. Why did the coefficient of determination change when more variables were added to the model?

 

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