RECENT ASSIGNMENT

ASSESSMENT BRIEF - 3
COURSE: Bachelor of Business/Bachelor of Accounting/ Bachelor IT
Unit Code: QMTH 104
Unit Title: Quantitative Methods
Type of Assessment: Assessment 3 – Group business report
Length/Duration:
2000 words (maximum)
Unit Learning Outcomes addressed: 1. Elucidate basic quantitative concepts and tests in relation to data analysis and educational research.
2. Distinguish between the various elements, observations, values, and variables underlying quantitative analysis and decision-making
3. Achieve a practical level of competence in deploying quantitative models that suit business applications
4. Apply the underlying quantitative tools, concepts and frameworks to make informed and data-driven business decisions.
5. Run a statistical software package that integrates with Excel and interpret its output
6. Understand the handling of data and employ appropriate analyses
Submission Date:
Week 11
Assessment Task: Business reports are practical learning tasks where students apply the theories they have been studying in real-world situations. The students are required to select a topic, collect information (Primary and/or secondary) and prepare a report describing a business problem or incident. This report should consist of (not inclusive) Abstract, Introduction, Objectives, Methodologies, Information Analysis, Findings, Recommendations, References, and Appendices.
Total Mark:
100 marks
Weighting: 25%
Students are advised that submission of an Assessment Task past the due date without a formally signed approved Assignment Extension Form (Kent Website MyKent Student Link FORM – Assignment
Extension Application Form – Student Login Required) or previously approved application for other extenuating circumstances impacting course of study, incurs a 5% penalty per calendar day, calculated by deduction from the total mark.
For example. An Assessment Task marked out of 40 will incur a 2 mark penalty for each calendar day.
More information, please refer to (Kent Website MyKent Student Link POLICY – Assessment Policy &
Procedures – Student Login Required)
ASSESSMENT DESCRIPTION:
This is an ongoing mini-research - group assignment that students need to carry out between weeks 4 – 11. The title of the mini-research is ‘Analysis of key socio-economic factors of OECD Countries. Students need to follow the steps given below. (Note: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
a. Forming groups: Students will be formed as groups (3-4 students) by the lecturer between week 3 and 4. Students MUST enrol in a group within this time frame in order to participate in this assignment task.
b. Data collection: Under the supervision of your lecturer select any 15 OECD countries and collect the following key socio-economic data of those countries as of 2019 – by week 5.
• Per-capita income
• Life expectancy
• Literacy rate
• Unemployment rate
c. Data filtering: After completing the data collection transfer them into an excel sheet – by week 6
d. Data analysing: The data set must be analysed with the help of Microsoft Excel and complete the following activates. By weeks 7-8
Descriptive categorical data analysis
With the help of Microsoft Excel, design bar graphs in order to illustrate the above variables for each country in your sample.
Descriptive numerical data analysis
Prepare a summary of numerical descriptive statistics for each variable using Microsoft Excel.
Confidence interval estimation
Calculate the following parameters for each of the above variables
• The margin of error at a 95% confidence level
• Construct a 95% confidence interval for your population mean
e. Reporting and documentation: Your findings need to be reported according to the format given below
(week 9 -11)
Reporting Format
1. Title page
Design a title page with an appropriate name for your business report, group members name, and student IDs.
2. Executive summary
Here you need to summarise the whole report findings into a smaller paragraph (need to do at the end)
3. Table of contents
Table of contents needs to be generated electronically in Microsoft Word.
4. Introduction
Briefly explain the main theme and significance of the study. At the same time, mention the aims, objectives and the scope of the study.
5. Literature review
Prepare a brief literature review of OECD countries and their socio-economic status. You can find literature searching in google scholar or Ebscohot (can be accessed through Kent moodle) database for this.
6. Method of data collection
Briefly describe your survey questions, nature of your variables, your respondents, sampling strategy and method of data collection. Include your data set in a table with this section or as an appendix.
7. Data Analysis and findings
Descriptive data analysis
Based on your graphs, compare the variables between countries in your sample and provide justifications with your own judgments and appropriate literature references.
Descriptive numerical data analysis
Interpret your key findings (skewness, mean, variance and standards deviation) and provide justifications with a brief discussion supported by appropriate references.
Confidance interval estimation
Interpret your findings and provide justifications with a brief discussion supported by appropriate references.
8. Conclusion and recommendations
Provide a brief overview of your collective findings and previous discussions in the report. Finally, provide several recommendations by connecting to your aims, objectives and overall findings.
9. List of references
Minimum five references are required for this assignment task (read ‘general notes for referencing’ below)
ASSESSMENT SUBMISSION:
This assessment is a group activity and students are required to work with their respective groups. No individual submission will be accepted.
You will not receive any marks for this assignment if your group members collectively report against you for nonparticipation or non-cooperation. You have to nominate someone as your group leader to coordinate the assignment submission.
The assignment must be submitted online in Moodle and Turnitin. All materials MUST be submitted electronically in Microsoft Word format. Other formats may not be readable by markers. Please be aware that any assessments submitted in other formats will be considered LATE and will lose marks until it is presented in MS Word. No paper-based or hardcopy submission will be accepted.
Our Academic Learning Support (ALS) team would be happy to help you with understanding the task and all other assessment-related matters. For assistance and to book a one-on-one meeting please email one of our ALS coordinators (Sydney als_syd@kent.edu.au; Melbourne als_mel@kent.edu.au ). For online help and support please click the following link and navigate Academic Learning Support in Moodle. http://online.kent.edu.au/cms/course/view.php?id=437
MARKING GUIDE (RUBRIC):
GENERAL NOTES FOR ASSESSMENT TASKS
Content for Assessment Task papers should incorporate a formal introduction, main points and conclusion.
Appropriate academic writing and referencing are inevitable academic skills that you must develop and demonstrate in work being presented for assessment. The content of high-quality work presented by a student must be fully referenced within-text citations and a Reference List at the end. Kent strongly recommends you refer to the Academic Learning Support Workshop materials available on the Kent Learning Management System (Moodle). For details please click the link http://moodle.kent.edu.au/kentmoodle/mod/folder/view.php?id=3606 and download the file titled “Harvard Referencing Workbook”. This Moodle site is the location for Workbooks and information that are presented to Kent Students in the ALS Workshops conducted at the beginning of each Trimester.
Kent recommends a minimum of FIVE (5) references in work being presented for assessment. Unless otherwise specifically instructed by your Lecturer or as detailed in the Unit Outline for the specific Assessment Task, any paper with less than five (5) references may be deemed not meeting a satisfactory standard and possibly be failed.
Content in Assessment tasks that includes sources that are not properly referenced according to the “Harvard Referencing Workbook” will be penalised.
Marks will be deducted for failure to adhere to the word count if this is specifically stated for the Assessment Task in the Unit Outline. As a general rule, there is an allowable discretionary variance to the word count in that it is generally accepted that a student may go over or under by 10% than the stated length.
GENERAL NOTES FOR REFERENCING
References are assessed for their quality. Students should draw on quality academic sources, such as books, chapters from edited books, journals etc. The textbook for the Unit of study can be used as a reference, but not the Lecturer Notes. The Assessor will want to see evidence that a student is capable of conducting their own research. Also, in order to help Assessors determine a student’s understanding of the work they cite, all in-text references (not just direct quotes) must include the specific page number(s) if shown in the original. Before preparing your Assessment Task or own contribution, please review this ‘YouTube’ video (Avoiding Plagiarism through Referencing) by clicking on the following link: link:
http://moodle.kent.edu.au/kentmoodle/mod/folder/view.php?id=3606
A search for peer-reviewed journal articles may also assist students. These type of journal articles can be located in the online journal databases and can be accessed from the Kent Library homepage. Wikipedia, online dictionaries and online encyclopaedias are acceptable as a starting point to gain knowledge about a topic, but should not be over-used – these should constitute no more than 10% of your total list of references/sources. Additional information and literature can be used where these are produced by legitimate sources, such as government departments, research institutes such as the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), or international organisations such as the World Health Organisation (WHO). Legitimate organisations and government departments produce peer-reviewed reports and articles and are therefore very useful and mostly very current. The content of the following link explains why it is not acceptable to use non-peer reviewed websites (Why can't I just Google?): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N39mnu1Pkgw (thank you to La Trobe University for access to this video).