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Quantitative Methods 1 (ECON10005): Quantitative Data Analysis Report


1. Focus of the Assessment

Written communication and collaboration skills are vital for any profession. They are essential for students seeking a career in business or economics. Quantitative Methods provides students with a set of essential tools needed to collect, organise, analyse, interpret and present data. These tools are also crucial for business students to make informed decisions. This assessment task aims to build on that foundation by providing students opportunities to use quantitative techniques learnt in the subject to analyse a real-world problem in economics and business and to enhance and develop written communication skills by translating any finding effectively to technical as well non-technical audiences.


We believe this exercise is beneficial for first-year undergraduate students in many ways.

1.  Use the concepts learnt to solve real word problems: students have the opportunity to use various concepts and techniques learnt in the subject to investigate a real-world problem.

2.  Develop analytical and writing skills: Completing this task, students gain experience to meaningfully translate quantitative analyses and decision(s) to technical as well as non-expert audiences. Students will receive constructive feedback to improve their analytical as well as written communication skills.

3.  Develop collaborative skills: Complete this task as a group assignment and get a valuable opportunity to develop collaborative skills, such as the ability to working with people in different cultures, skills and approaches. Working in groups can sometimes be more difficult than working individually. However, team-work and organisational skills associated with group work are highly valued by employers. With careful management and ongoing communication, you can have a successful and rewarding experience working in a team.


2. Completion and Submission Guidelines

Due dates:

-  The report is due by 10am, Friday 15 October (week 11)- 30 Marks

○  The link to submit your report will be available on Monday 11 October

-  Register your group by 5pm Sunday 10 October using the link provided with the assignment


Instructions:

-  This assignment carries 7% allocated for the data analysis report (10%)

-  This is a Group Assignment. Group size is from 1 to 4, and each group member should be from the same tutorial.

-  Group Work and registration: You should exchange names, phone numbers, and email addresses with your group members straight away. If you have difficulty with a member of your group, you should contact your tutor as soon as possible. Do not leave issues unresolved until just before or after your group assignment is due, remember the group is a team with all students within your group receiving the same mark. Leader of each group must register their group prior to the deadline using the link given above. All group members will receive the same mark for the assignment. All assignments will be checked for plagiarism and collusion. Further information can be found in the Subject Guide as well as the University website: https://academicintegrity.unimelb.edu.au/

-  Deadlines are strict. Any assignments not submitted by the due date and time will be given a mark of zero, unless they have received an extension approval by the faculty. Please read the information about extensions available on the subject guide.

-  Read the Assignment Rubric to get a clear understanding of the expectations.

-  Assignments must be typed and converted into a single PDF document before submitting online via Canvas. Scanned or handwritten assignments will not be marked.

-  Please make sure to include a cover page to the assignment. Names and student IDs of each member of the group must be included on the cover page, along with the tutor’s name.

-  Students must preview their assignment after uploading it on the Canvas to see if they have uploaded the correct/complete assignment, and the formatting matches their original document. Any version of the assignment submitted after the deadline due to formatting issues or submitting an incomplete version will not be accepted.


3. The Task

Dataset

The Excel file your tutor will share with you contains data for few economic and social measures for a group of countries.

Please note: Only use the data file given by your tutor. Each tutor has a slightly different set of data and marking will be done according to that data file. If you use a different data file, you will lose marks. Do not use the data you used for the draft assignment. Also, do not use any additional data you may collect outside this data file.

The columns in the spreadsheet named “Data” are described in the second sheet named “Variables”.


Your Task:

Write a report (word limit: 1000): Use appropriate choices of descriptive and inferential statistics and graphical methods and write a report to a non-expert audience (those who are not very familiar with statistical concepts). Your report can be directed on following aspects.

●  Summarise and discuss interesting features of the social indicators (life quality, social support and life expectancy) and prosperity (as measured by GDP per capita). Also summarise any interesting relationships between them, and ways in which they vary across years (only if data are available for multiple years) and continents (only if continents are available in the data file given).


Include a Glossary and an Appendix:

You are required to include a Glossary of statistical terms used in your report and an Appendix containing details of statistical tests you conducted to your report. Suppose that the Glossary and the Appendix will be read and checked (marked) by a statistician (your tutor) for accuracy.

The total word limit for the report is 1000 words. Tables, graphs, Appendix and the Glossary are exempted from the word limit.


An example for the glossary:

Median: The median is the “middle point" of a set of data that are ordered. By definition, median is the 50th percentile meaning that an equal number of observations lie below and above the median. When data are skewed, the median gives a better representation of central tendency than the mean of a set of data.

An example for the Statistical Appendix:

Describe the steps of hypothesis tests conducted and Confidence intervals constructed and used in the report.


Use the “Assignment Rubric” and the “Tips for Writing Your Quantitative Data Analysis Report” provided below to guide you with this task.


Tips for Writing Your Quantitative Data Analysis Report

  Category   Explanation
  Purpose of the writing
  ●  Why are you writing this text?
  ●  Are you trying to convince, inform, recommend?
  ●  What outcome are you hoping for?
  Your Audience
  ●  Who is your audience?
      (you are writing this report to a non-technical audience)
  ●  What’s their level of knowledge?
  ●  How will they read?
  ●  How will they use the information?
  Quality of your written report
  ●  Make your writing clear and easy to follow.
  ●  Have paragraphs and sentences in a logical order.
  ●  Structure your report well: Suggested Sections:
      ○  Introduction: a narrative to say what you are doing
      ○  Description of Data: Explore and present data. Describe the
      variables and interesting features independently using
      relevant statistics, tables, and charts.
      ○  Analysis and Results: Analyse data to find features such as
      relationships using relevant statistics, tables, and charts and
      discuss them.
      ○  Conclusions/ Recommendations: provide a summary of what
      you did, your findings, and any recommendations
      ○  References (if any)
      ○  Appendix containing a Glossary of statistical terms and
      Statistical Tests (only relevant for the final report)
  Statistical Analysis
  Analyse, interpret and present data effectively
  ●  Use (only) appropriate statistical tools
  ●  Think about a variety of methods to present data
  ●  Think how you use the data, and analysis to make your case