Applying Analytic Techniques to Business
In the last assessment, you were asked to prepare the first part of your analytics report by creating graphs and calculating some descriptive statistics. In this assessment, you will write your 5-8 page analytics report by interpreting those graphs and statistics, and explicitly connecting those interpretations to implications in the practical business context.
The first step in creating meaningful information from raw data is to represent the data effectively in graphical format and to calculate any required statistics. The second step is interpreting and explaining those graphs and statistics in order to apply them in the business context.
In the previous assessment, you were asked to create the first part of your analytics report by preparing graphs and calculating some descriptive statistics. In this assessment, you will complete your analytics report by interpreting those graphs and statistics, and connecting those interpretations explicitly to implications in the business context.
In business and applied analytics, oftentimes you are interested in drawing conclusions about a population of interest. However, it may not be feasible or practical to gather data on the entire population. In those cases, data is gathered from a sample or subset of the population. Analyses done on the sample are then used to draw inferences regarding the overall population; this mathematic process is referred to as inferential statistics. In this assessment, we begin discussing the topics of sampling and drawing inferences.
All the inferential statistical techniques and methods covered in this course are considered parametric techniques and require certain assumptions to be used and for the results to be reliable, many of which are assumptions about an underlying distribution. Non-parametric techniques require no assumption about underlying distributions and are often used when the assumptions of parametric techniques are not met. Although these are beyond the scope of this introductory course, they are a great option for additional reading and research.
Analytics projects often result in two distinct types of reports or summaries: one tailored to the executive level, which takes the form of a presentation, and the other, a detailed analytics report, which documents an analysis so thoroughly that another analyst can reproduce the analysis exactly. Many times, the latter type is referred to by other departments or analysts wishing to conduct a similar analysis on similar data or by the same analyst who wants to repeat the analysis on a new or revised set of data. In this assessment, you will learn the essential elements that should be included in a report at this level of detail and you will create your own analytics report addressing the business problem you have been working on.
Scenario
The first step in creating meaningful information to develop a business report for decision making. The business report includes the analyzed raw data, effectively presents the analysis results in text and graphical format, as well as calculate any required statistics.
The second step is interpreting and explaining the graphs and statistics to understand the impact in the practical business context.
In the last assessment, you were asked to create the first part of your business analytics report by introducing a company, analyzing company stock data, developing graphs, and calculating some descriptive statistics.
In this assessment, you will adjust your business report to minimize limitations of one year’s worth of data. You will use the same company for this assessment and you will use 5 years of data!
You will also enhance your introduction or business context section of your business report based on your new graphs and your interpretation of the data graphs and descriptive statistics over a five year period. Your interpretation efforts of graphs and descriptive statistics will explicitly connect in the conclusion area. Conclusions and recommendations are the final effort in the development of a practical business report and should be supported by citations. Remember that opinion is not allowed.
Your Role
Your supervisor has asked you to prepare a report for the quarterly company meeting. The first part of the task was to download the data and create scatterplots and histograms, and to calculate mean, median, and mode of 5 years of stock prices for your report. Now you must analyze and interpret those graphical representations of the company stock and write the report of your findings and recommendations for your supervisor.
You are an analyst using the same company and five years of stock data. Having accessed the company data and placed it in an appropriate graphical format, you must now use descriptive statistics and analysis to develop a report to inform business decisions.
Instructions
After reviewing and integrating your instructor’s feedback on your previous Assessment, complete the report as follows:
For each graph you created, write at least one well supported paragraph interpreting the graph: What does that graph represent? What does the shape of the graph tell you about how the data have changed over time?
For each statistic you calculated, include at least two to three well-supported sentences explaining what the statistic represents:
What does the mean tell you? How do you know?
What does it imply if the median is different from the mean?
What does the standard deviation tell you about the volatility of the data?
Write a new conclusions section in which you explain how these interpretations can be used in the company:
What are some trends about which company leaders should be aware?
How might the information you have provided be used in decision making in the company?
What are other analysts indicating about the stock?
Explicitly connect other analysts’ comments and recommendations to your interpretations to possible impact to the business context
Lastly, should your company invest of partner with the company or stock being evaluated?
Create a 5-8 page report containing:
APA-formatted title page.
1-2 page introduction of your chosen company that you created in your previous assessment.
Section labeled Graphical Representations of Data that includes the four graphs you created as well as your interpretations of the graphs.
Section labeled Descriptive Statistics, with the statistics you calculated as well as your interpretations of the statistics.
One-page conclusion in which you describe the potential business applications of the data and interpretations.
APA-formatted references page (remember to cite the source of your financial data, analyst comments and support for your interpretations).
Example Assessment: You may use the following to give you an idea of what a Proficient or higher rating on the scoring guide would look like:
Assessment 3 Example [PDF].
Additional Requirements
Include APA-formatted in-text citations where appropriate.
Follow the typical double-spaced analytics report format.
Make sure your written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
