data analysis

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MISQ770 Foundation Skills in Business Analysis Assignment Two T1 2020 Version 1 Page 1

MISQ770 Foundation Skills in Business Analysis DEAKIN COLLEGE, in association with

DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND BUSINESS ANALYTICS DEAKIN BUSINESS SCHOOL

FACULTY OF BUSINESS AND LAW, DEAKIN UNIVERSITY

Assignment Two T1 2020

Analysis of Queensland State Election Survey Data

Particulars

• Due: Week 9, 11:59 pm, Sunday 17th May 2020. • Marks: 30%. • Words: 2,000 words or approximate equivalent. • Submission: Two files (Excel, Word) electronically in Moodle .

Email submissions will not be accepted. Note: Do not convert your Word document to pdf format.

• Notes: This assignment is to be completed individually.

Penalties for late submission The following marking penalties will apply if you submit an assessment task after the due date without an approved extension: • 5% will be deducted from the available marks for each day, or part thereof, up to five days. • Work that is submitted more than five days after the due date will not be marked; you will receive 0% for the

task.

Note: 'Day' means calendar day.

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Overview

The purpose of this assignment is to investigate a dataset that has been produced as a result of the survey you conducted on the Queensland State Election. Local media outlets in Queensland have been stating that a major issue in the forthcoming election deals with energy generation1. You now need to interrogate the dataset in order to answer questions posed by your client, an unnamed political party which we will now refer to as Party Alpha. Ultimately, you will need to analyse the data, interpret the results, and then draw appropriate conclusions.

The aims of the assignment are to:

• provide you with some examples of the application of data analysis • test your understanding of the material presented in the relevant topics • test your ability to analyse data and interpret your results • test your ability to effectively communicate your results to others

Before attempting the assignment, make sure you have prepared yourself well. At a minimum, please read the relevant sections of the prescribed textbook and review the materials provided in Topics 1 to 7.

1 “'Incredibly hard': Qld faces uphill battle to reach renewables goal”; Nolan, Rachel. Brisbane Times, 29th February, 2020. https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/incredibly-hard-qld-faces-uphill-battle-to-reach-renewables-goal-20200228-p545cu.html (retrieved 24th April, 2020)

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MISQ770 Foundation Skills in Business Analysis Assignment Two T1 2020 Version 1 Page 2

Scenario

Party Alpha has previously commissioned you, Li Na (Chief Analyst at Survey House), to develop a survey to help them gauge the views of the voting public regarding issues that may influence the outcome of the next “Queensland State Election” due on the 31st October 2020. Now, in order to develop and implement possible policy initiatives, Party Alpha, through their representative Fan Bing Bing (Manager, Public Relations in the party leader’s office), wants you to interpret the data gathered from your survey and then answer several questions.

Fan does not have an analytics background, so it is important that you utilise “plain, easy to understand language” in your answers. If you believe you need to include any technical terms, then you must explain these in a clear and succinct manner.

The questions you need to answer are contained in the following memorandum.

Memorandum

Date: 29 April, 2020 To: Li Na, Chief Analyst, Survey House From: Fan Bing Bing, Manager, Public Relations, Party Leader’s Office Subject: Analysis of Queensland State Election Survey Data

Dear Li,

Please carry out an analysis of the recent Queensland State Election Survey data (contained in the file QueenslandElectionSurvey.xlsx) and prepare a reply to me containing answers to the following questions. I’m aware that a major issue in the upcoming election will be energy generation, so I have concentrated on questions related to that topic.

My specific questions are:

Q1. An Overall View of “Up_Front_Payment” spend per month

Please provide me with an overall summary of the amount Queensland people are willing to pay monthly in order to have a net zero electricity bill sourced entirely through renewable energy (e.g. solar panels with backup battery). A summing up of the variable “Up_Front_Payment” just by itself, would be useful.

Q2. “Up_Front_Payment” vs “Seriousness”

I am interested in how the “Up_Front_Payment” amount people are willing to pay for renewable energy relates to how “Concerned” people are with the current situation regarding Queensland’s stated reliance on coal for electricity generation. In particular, does there appear to be any difference in how much people are prepared to pay monthly on renewable energy compared to the “Seriousness” responses of: Not serious; Slightly serious; Somewhat serious; Very serious, and Extremely serious?

Q3. Queensland State Affordability Measures

(a) Estimate the average “Up_Front_Payment” amount people are willing to pay for renewable energy in Queensland.

(b) Another issue in the upcoming Queensland State Election is a matter of funding for education in the state. Therefore,estimate the proportion of all Queenslanders who believe that funding of “Education” should be the responsibility of the Australian Government.

Q4. Queensland State Election Views

(a) The report in the Brisbane Times indicated that the proportion of Queenslanders who have already Installed “Solar_Panels” on their homes is no more than 15%. An industry energy group has responded to this report by claiming that the rate has been understated and the true figure is higher. Can you check this industry

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MISQ770 Foundation Skills in Business Analysis Assignment Two T1 2020 Version 1 Page 3

group’s claim?

(b) Another report also commented that Queenslanders were prepared to make a monthly payment (“Monthly_Payment”) up to $210.Please see if this claim is supported by your survey data.

Q5. Relationships

I would like to see whether factors listed below provide any explanation of the amount people are willing to pay up- front (“Up_Front_Payment”) in order to have net zero electricity bills through renewable energy. If so, can you also indicate which factor is the most important?

(a) “Income”

(b) “Age”

Q6. Appropriate Sample Size

Finally, I am concerned that the sample of 400 Queenslanders is too small to provide accurate results as this seems hardly enough data. For another survey we intend to undertake later this year, we would like to be able to:

(a) estimate the proportion of Queenslanders that are Aware or Very Aware of climate change to within 3%, and

(b) accurately estimate the average up-front payment (“Up_Front_Payment”) amount people are willing to pay in order to have net zero electricity bills through renewable energy to within $1,000.

How many Queenslanders would we need to include in another survey just prior to the election to satisfy both of these requirements?

Regards, Fan

Memorandum Requirements

• Your memorandum reply should be no longer than 3 pages.You need to include a Title Page and a Table of Contents.The visualisations you create(i.e.Charts/Graphics and Tables) are only to be placed in the Data Analysis file (i.e. the Excel spreadsheet) and not reproduced in the memorandum.

• Suggested Word formatting for the memorandum: Single- line spacing; no smaller that 10- point font; page margins approx. 25mm, and good use of white space.

• IMPORTANT : Set out the memorandum in the same order as in the originating memorandum from Fan, with each section (question) clearly marked.

• Use plain language and keep your explanations succinct. Avoid the use of technical or statistical jargon. As a guide to the meaning of “Plain Language”, imagine you are explaining your findings to a person without any statistical training (e.g. someone who has not studied this unit). What type of language would you use in that case?

• Marks will be lost if you use unexplained technical terms, irrelevant material, or have poor presentation/organisation.

• All Microsoft Excel output associated with each question in the Memorandum is to be placed in the corresponding tab in the file QueenslandElection_yourstudentid.xlsx

Data Analysis Instructions/Guidelines

In order to prepare a reply to Fan’s memorandum, you will need to examine and analyse the dataset QueenslandElectionSurvey.xlsx thoroughly.

Fan has asked a number of questions and your Data Analysis output (i.e. your charts/tables/graphs) should be structured such that you answer each question on the separate tab/worksheet provided in your Excel document. There are also three extra tabs in QueenslandElectionSurvey.xlsx called CI, HT and SS and you may use the various

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MISQ770 Foundation Skills in Business Analysis Assignment Two T1 2020 Version 1 Page 4

templates contained in these tabs in your “Confidence Interval”, “Hypothesis” and “Sample Size” answers should you wish to do so.

In order to effectively answer the questions, your Data Analysis output needs to be appropriate. Accordingly, you’ll need to establish which of the following techniques are applicable for any given question:

• Summary Measures (e.g. Descriptive Statistics, Inc. Outlier detection). • Comparative Summary Measures (i.e. Descriptive Statistics for multiple values of a variable). • Suitable tables (such as a Frequency Distribution) and charts or graphics (such as Histograms, Box Plots, Pie

Charts, Bar/Column Charts) that will illustrate more clearly, other important features of a variable. • Scatter Diagrams (used to visually establish if there is a relationship between two numeric variables). • Cross Tabulations (sometimes called Contingency Tables), used to establish the relationships (dependencies)

between two variables. • Confidence Intervals. You can assume that a 95% confidence level is appropriate. We use Confidence Intervals

when we have no idea about the population parameter we are investigating. Additionally, we would use Confidence Intervals if we are asked for an estimate. You can use the relevant Excel templates provided in the dataset and copy them to the applicable question tab.

• Hypothesis Tests. You can assume that a 5% level of significance is appropriate. We Use Hypothesis Tests when we are testing a Claim, a Theory or a Standard. You can use the relevant Excel templates provided in the dataset and copy them to the applicable question tab.

• Sample size calculation: You can assume that a 95% confidence level is appropriate. You may include comparisons for 90% and 99% and a recommendation for the appropriate sample size.

• To answer some questions, you may need to make certain assumptions about the data set we are using. Mention these in your data analysis, where relevant. There is no need to mention these in the memo.

Note: There is an Appendix at the end of each Chapter of the Prescribed Textbook which describes the basic Excel steps associated with that Topic. Chapters 1 to 9 are applicable for this assessment.

Submission

Your completed assignment should be submitted in two separate files:

• Memorandum (Part A): A Word document of no more than 3 pages that is not to contain any charts/tables/graphs. (Note: Do not submit a pdf document in lieu.). Please name your Word document QueenslandElection_yourstudentid.docx

• Data Analysis (Part B): An Excel document containing separate tabs/worksheets with charts/tables/graphs for each question. Please note that all interpretations should be presented in your “Memorandum” and the Excel document should only contain your intermediate analysis and final output. Please name your Excel document QueenslandElection_yourstudentid.xlsx

The assignment is to be submitted to Moodle before 11-59 pm, Sunday 17th May 2020. Please ensure you include your name and student details in your Word document as well following the above file naming convention. Failure to follow this convention may lead to a delay in receiving feedback and marks.

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MISQ770 Foundation Skills in Business Analysis Assignment Two T1 2020 Version 1 Page 5

Marking Rubric

Poor

Needs Improvement

Satisfactory Good Very Good Excellent

Data Analysis (Marks: 16)

0 points 4.8 points 8 points 9.6 points 11.2 points 16 points

This part relates to the various visualisations in the form of charts, tables & graphs etc. created by Li which formed the basis of her response to Fan.

Uses irrelevant or inappropriate techniques to analyse the data, or the Data Analysis and visualisation tools were used to analyse the data but in an incomplete or inaccurate manner.

Uses some appropriate data analysis and visualisation tools to analyse the data but there are many errors in the analysis.

Uses appropriate data analysis and visualisation tools to analyse the data but there are several errors in the analysis.

Uses appropriate data analysis and visualisation tools to analyse the data but there are some errors in the analysis.

Comprehensive analysis of the data using appropriate techniques, but there are some minor errors in the analysis.

Uses data visualisations to understand the patterns in data.

Skilful and comprehensive analysis of data using many different techniques.

Uses data visualisations to produce novel insights.

A very poor presentation of the analysis, or the analysis does not follow principles of good graphical display.

The presentation of the analysis needs improvement.

The presentation of the analysis is satisfactory.

The presentation of the analysis is of a respectable standard.

The analysis is well organised and follows principles of good graphical display.

An excellent presentation of the analysis.

0 – 4.7 Marks 4.8 – 7.9 Marks 8 – 9.5 Marks 9.6 – 11.1 Marks 11.2 – 12.7 Marks 12.8 – 16 Marks Memorandum (Marks: 12)

0 points 3.6 points 6 points 7.2 points 8.4 points 12 points

This part is the written response by Li to the questions posed by Fan.

Does not communicate any of the main findings of the analysis in an accurate and/or useful way, or the interpretation and communication of findings is at a basic level.

Explains some of the main findings of the analysis accurately which only enables the reader to draw a few reasonable conclusions.

Explains most of the main findings of the analysis accurately and enables the reader to draw several reasonable conclusions.

Explains nearly all of the main findings of the analysis accurately and enables the reader to draw mostly reasonable conclusions.

Provides detailed and accurate descriptions of the most important features of the analysis along with appropriately qualified conclusions.

Provides outstanding descriptions and conclusions that are carefully considered and insightful.

The written communication is unprofessional or difficult to follow and contains numerous errors.

The written communication is not very easy to follow and/or it contains too many errors.

The written communication is clear and easy to follow but it contains minor errors.

The written communication is clear and easy to follow and generally free of errors.

The written communication is professional, easy to follow and has a good structure.

The written communication is very professional, logical and easy to follow.

0 – 3.5 Marks 3.6 – 5.9 Marks 6 – 7.1 Marks 7.2 – 8.3 Marks 8.4 – 9.5 Marks 9.6 – 12 Marks Overall Assignment Presentation (Marks: 2)

0 points

No attempt has been made to follow the assignment Requirements/ Instructions/ Guidelines.

0.6 points

Little attempt has been made to follow the assignment Requirements/ Instructions/ Guidelines.

1 point

Most of the assignment Requirements/ Instructions/ Guidelines have been followed.

1.2 point

Majority of the assignment Requirements/ Instructions/ Guidelines have been followed.

1.4 points

All of the assignment Requirements/ Instructions/ Guidelines have been followed.

2 points

All of the assignment Requirements/ Instructions/ Guidelines have been dealt with meticulously.

Poorly presented

Unsatisfactorily presented

Satisfactorily presented

Good presentation

Very good presentation

Faultless assignment presentation

0 – 0.5 Marks 0.6 – 0.9 Marks 1 – 1.1 Marks 1.2 – 1.3 Marks 1.4 – 1.5 Marks 1.6 – 2 Marks