Quantitative Methods 2
Order Description
Your assignment answers must be no more than SIX pages in total, including all graphs,
tables of numbers, and written answers. Only undertake appropriate tests and provide
necessary discussions. Providing unnecessary tests or discussions may results in marks
deductions.
QM2 Assignment 1 Summer 2016 Page 1
ECON20003 Quantitative Methods 2
Summer Semester 2016
Assignment 1
Due by: 9am on Monday 25 January, 2016.
This individual assignment must be submitted by 9am on the above due date. Any assignment submitted after the due date or time will be given a mark of zero.
The purpose of this assignment is to give you practice in doing the types of quantitative tasks often undertaken by Commerce graduates, and to give you feedback on your ability to carry out such tasks. Learning how and when to use each quantitative technique is the main objective of this subject.
Your assignment answers must be no more than SIX pages in total, including all graphs, tables of numbers, and written answers. Only undertake appropriate tests and provide necessary discussions. Providing unnecessary tests or discussions may results in marks deductions.
Students should submit their assignment answers electronically using the LMS. Details on how to submit assignments through LMS are provided at the following link:
https://www.lms.unimelb.edu.au/teaching/assessment/turnitin/
It is essential that you include the name of your tutor and your allocated tutorial day and time at the top of your assignment answers in order for your assignment to be graded in a timely manner.
Dr Wasana Karunarathne
Department of Economics
The University of Melbourne
QM2 Assignment 1 Summer 2016 Page 2
Question 1: Users Obtaining Finance News (15 Marks)
Financial decisions are a part of everyday life. Making such decisions can be complicated and complex. Thinking of longer term, planning for retirement, buying a house or investments or making short-term decisions such as choosing the best credit card, insurance policy, people need to be informed to make confident financial decisions.
The excel file Assignment1_data.xlxs contains some data from a survey conducted by a researcher, who studies financial literacy and savings behaviour of people in Australia. The data is explained below:
Age: age of the respondent
Gender: if the person is a male or female (recorded 0 for female and 1 for male)
Read newspaper last month?: recorded value “1” if the person has read a financial section of a newspaper last week, “2” if not)
Listen or watch news last month?: recorded value “1” if the person has watched financial news last week, “2” if not)
Your aim is to understand the type of users seeking to obtain information about finance and the means they used to obtain said information.
Conduct all statistical analyses in this question using a 5% level of significance.
i Using an appropriate graph, present and discuss gender variation in reading and watching financial news (Note: You can use Excel to construct the graph). [2 marks]
ii Suppose that you are interested to know reading and watching financial behaviour of two other groups of people: those who are below age 55 and those who are 55 and above. Using an appropriate graph, present and discuss variation in reading/ watching financial news behaviour of these two age groups.
[2 marks]
iii Do we have sufficient evidence to infer that more people watch financial news compared to read them? [3 marks]
iv Is there sufficient evidence to infer that men read financial section of the newspaper more than women? Use p-value approach. [4 marks]
v Using an appropriate statistical test, infer if there is a statistical difference in reading financial section of the newspaper among two age groups (55 and older and below 55).
[4 marks]
QM2 Assignment 1 Summer 2016 Page 3
Question 2: Success behind a Growth Mindset (15 Marks)
In her ground-breaking research, Carol Dweck, a world-renowned psychologist from Stanford University, found that success is accorded to an individual based on whether they have a growth mindset or a fixed mindset. It is believed that those with a Growth Mindset can develop their abilities through dedication and hard work, while on the contrary, the abilities of those with a Fixed Mindset can only remain at a constant level.
A great believer of the Growth Mindset, a high school principal, decides to investigate the difference in performance of his Year 12 students based on their mindset. He first chooses a group of Year 12 students and presents them with a questionnaire, allowing them to identify if they are either an individual with a Fixed or Growth Mindset. He then divides the students into two groups based on the two respective Mindsets and collects their past Year 11 test results.
Given below are the average test scores for three subjects (Maths, English and Physics) for three terms tests and their standard deviations.
Average marks for 3 term tests (standard deviations in parenthesis)
Group
Number of students
Maths
English
Physics
Average marks for all 3 subjects
Group 1: Fixed Mindset
100
63 (11.3)
73 (10.9)
68 (11.1)
68 (11.1)
Group 2: Growth Mindset
150
86 (7.5)
82 (7.1)
91 (7.2)
86 (7.27)
After looking at the data collected, the principal placed his Year 12 students in a series of training sessions to highlight the importance of Growth Mindset. He then ran another survey at the end of the year for the students he had categorised under ‘Fixed Mindset’ and collected their test marks for the same subjects in Year 12. These statistics are given below.
Average marks for 3 term tests (standard deviations in parenthesis)
Group
Number of students
Maths
English
Physics
Average marks for all 3 subjects
Group 1: Fixed Mindset
100
81 (9.1)
83 (8.9)
88 (8.8)
84 (9.21)
Note: Assume that these samples are drawn from normally distributed populations, which have equal variances. You may use EViews to complete this question.
QM2 Assignment 1 Summer 2016 Page 4
i Using relevant data, infer that the average marks in the three subjects (Maths, English and Physics) are statistically different for each group.
[4 marks]
ii Perform a statistical inference to determine if students with Growth Mindset perform better than those who have a Fixed Mindset, on average (again, only use most relevant data).
[4 marks]
iii Is there any statistical evidence suggesting that the series of training sessions were successful (and hence the performance of those with Fixed Mindset improved)?
[3 marks]
iv Briefly explain the difference between the tests you performed in parts i, ii and iii above.
[2 marks]
v Briefly explain why parametric tests are preferred to non-parametric tests, as well as, when and why non-parametric tests are performed instead of parametric tests.
[2 marks]
END OF ASSIGNMENT
Respondent Age Gender Read newspaper last month? Listen or watch news last month?
NS10 50 1 2 1
NS100 48 1 1 1
NS101 48 0 2 2
NS102 47 1 2 2
NS103 53 1 1 1
NS104 47 1 2 1
NS105 44 1 1 1
NS106 50 1 2 2
NS107 49 0 2 2
NS108 61 0 1 2
NS109 43 0 2 2
NS110 40 0 2 2
NS111 79 0 1 1
NS112 61 1 2 2
NS113 70 1 1 1
NS114 62 0 2 2
NS115 45 0 1 1
NS116 52 0 2 2
NS117 59 0 1 1
NS118 58 0 1 1
NS119 58 0 2 1
NS120 57 0 2 1
NS121 81 0 2 2
NS122 45 0 2 2
NS123 58 0 2 1
NS124 72 1 1 1
NS125 53 1 1 2
NS126 59 0 1 1
NS127 49 0 2 2
NS128 59 1 1 1
NS129 55 0 2 1
NS13 68 0 2 1
NS130 49 1 1 1
NS131 47 0 1 1
NS132 60 0 2 1
NS133 49 0 2 2
NS134 59 1 1 1
NS135 55 0 2 1
NS136 45 0 1 1
NS137 53 0 2 1
NS138 41 1 1 1
NS139 60 0 1 1
NS14 58 0 2 2
NS140 60 1 1 1
NS141 55 1 2 2
NS142 42 1 1 1
NS143 57 1 1 1
NS144 59 1 2 1
NS145 51 0 2 2
NS146 47 1 2 2
NS147 54 1 1 1
NS149 60 1 1 1
NS15 54 1 1 1
NS150 55 1 1 1
NS151 54 0 2 2
NS152 40 1 1 1
NS153 46 1 2 2
NS154 54 0 2 2
NS155 44 1 1 1
NS156 44 0 2 2
NS157 52 1 1 1
NS158 56 1 2 2
NS159 47 0 2 1
NS16 63 1 2 1
NS160 54 0 1 1
NS161 45 1 1 1
NS162 52 1 2 1
NS163 60 0 2 2
NS164 53 1 2 1
NS165 53 0 2 2
NS166 57 0 2 2
NS167 47 0 2 2
NS168 44 0 2 2
NS169 42 0 2 2
NS17 41 1 1 1
NS170 56 0 2 1
NS171 44 1 1 1
NS172 54 1 2 1
NS173 55 0 2 1
NS174 43 0 2 1
NS175 51 1 2 1
NS176 49 1 1 1
NS177 50 1 2 2
NS178 47 0 2 2
NS179 41 0 2 2
NS18 56 0 2 1
NS180 47 0 2 2
NS182 40 0 2 1
NS183 47 0 2 2
NS184 40 0 2 1
NS185 50 0 2 1
NS187 47 1 2 2
NS188 49 0 1 1
NS189 41 0 2 2
NS19 66 1 1 1
NS190 49 1 2 2
NS191 59 0 2 1
NS192 47 0 2 1
NS193 60 1 1 1
NS194 56 1 2 2
NS195 53 0 2 1
NS196 55 1 1 1
NS197 48 0 2 2
NS198 44 0 2 2
NS199 55 1 1 1
NS20 55 0 1 1
NS200 56 1 2 2
NS201 60 1 2 1
NS202 58 0 1 1
NS203 51 0 2 2
NS204 40 1 1 1
NS205 58 0 2 2
NS206 42 0 2 2
NS207 52 0 2 1
NS208 46 0 2 2
NS209 40 1 1 1
NS21 54 1 1 1
NS210 45 0 2 1
NS211 47 0 1 1
NS212 60 1 1 1
NS213 47 1 1 1
NS214 40 0 1 1
NS215 40 0 2 2
NS216 52 0 1 1
NS217 47 0 2 2
NS218 40 0 1 2
NS219 57 0 2 2
NS220 40 1 1 1
NS220 40 0 2 2
NS221 46 1 2 1
NS23 51 1 2 2
NS24 57 1 2 2
NS25 67 1 1 1
NS26 49 1 1 1
NS27 65 1 2 2
NS29 55 1 2 1
NS3 57 1 1 1
NS30 72 1 1 1
NS31 59 0 2 1
NS32 55 1 2 2
NS33 82 1 2 2
NS34 43 1 2 2
NS35 62 0 2 1
NS36 68 1 2 2
NS37 43 0 2 1
NS38 41 1 2 2
NS39 55 0 1 1
NS4 57 0 2 1
NS40 51 0 2 2
NS41 62 1 2 1
NS42 51 0 2 2
NS43 43 1 2 2
NS44 50 1 2 1
NS45 53 0 2 1
NS46 71 1 1 1
NS47 48 1 1 1
NS48 76 0 2 2
NS49 40 1 1 1
NS5 71 1 1 1
NS50 71 0 2 2
NS51 59 1 1 1
NS52 49 0 2 2
NS53 47 0 2 2
NS54 66 1 1 1
NS55 64 1 1 1
NS56 46 0 2 1
NS57 49 1 2 2
NS58 43 1 1 1
NS59 71 0 2 2
NS60 46 1 1 1
NS61 64 1 1 1
NS62 80 1 1 1
NS63 54 0 2 2
NS64 42 1 1 1
NS65 56 0 2 2
NS66 42 1 1 1
NS67 43 1 1 1
NS68 68 1 1 1
NS69 69 0 2 1
NS7 43 1 1 1
NS70 72 0 2 1
NS71 67 1 1 1
NS72 49 0 2 2
NS73 59 1 2 2
NS74 69 1 2 1
NS75 51 0 2 2
NS76 48 0 1 1
NS77 48 1 1 1
NS78 40 1 2 2
NS79 48 1 2 1
NS8 51 0 2 2
NS80 61 1 1 1
NS82 58 0 2 1
NS83 48 1 2 1
NS84 48 1 2 1
NS85 43 0 2 2
NS86 78 1 2 2
NS87 46 0 1 1
NS88 64 1 2 2
NS89 66 0 2 2
NS90 54 0 2 2
NS91 52 0 1 1
NS92 41 0 2 2
NS93 50 0 2 2
NS94 53 1 2 1
NS95 58 1 1 1
NS96 46 0 1 1
NS97 69 1 2 1
NS98 42 0 1 2
NS99 64 1 2 1
Average marks for 3 term tests (standard deviations in parenthesis)
Group Number of students Maths English Physics Average marks for all three subjects
Group 1: Fixed Mindset 100 63 (11.3) 73 (10.9) 68 (11.1) 68 (11.1)
Group 2: Growth Mindset 150 86 (7.5) 82 (7.1) 91 (7.2) 86 (7.27)
Average marks for 3 term tests (standard deviations in parenthesis)
Group Number of students Maths English Physics Average marks for all three subjects
Group 1: Fixed Mindset 100 81 (9.1) 83 (8.9) 88 (8.8) 84 (9.21)