Reading and Remediation

1.1 Assignment: Reading and Remediation

 

Getting Started

You will watch some videos on basic statistical concepts. Understanding raw data you collect and how to summarize that data into tables is a key skill to begin analyzing data. Pivot tables in Excel are used to summarize raw data into summary tables.

In order to successfully complete this exercise, you should be able to:

• Review videos about statistics fundamentals.
• Practice with the Excel file provided.

Resources

• File: WS1Practice
• File: WS1PracticePowerPoint
• File: WS1Homework
• Video: Introduction
• Video: Branches of Statistics
• Video: Summarizing Data
• Video: Pivot Table
• Video: Frequency Distribution Table
• Textbook: OpenIntro Statistics

Background Information

When analyzing data you must understand the data collected, the type of variables that exist, how to summarize information, and how to provide background on the research questions. This is a reading and remediation activity for Workshop One. You will look at videos to understand concepts of data types and data summarization.

Instructions

1. Watch the following videos—”Introduction,” “Branches of Statistics,” and “Summarizing Data”:
2. Watch the Excel remediation videos:
   1. Pivot Table   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6aXwwnTy6Y&feature=youtu.be
   2. Frequency Distribution Table    https://youtu.be/lKqlMfZsK88
3. An optional supplementary text is the OpenIntro Statistics, and you can read the concepts there.
4. Use the lab file WS1Practice to practice the Excel skills.
5. Study the WS1PracticePowerPoint to see how to build the pivot table in the Excel file.
6. Use the file WS1Homework to demonstrate the Excel skills. Each of the six problems is worth 10 points, for a total of 60 points possible for this assignment.
7. When you have completed your assignment, save a copy for yourself and submit a copy to your instructor by the end of the workshop.

https://brightspace.indwes.edu/content/enforced/140329-4SU2021STAT-535-01A/Course%20Files/openintro-statistics.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=kO7sDBhpPXdCP5E33ZhYBpXg8&ou=105364&_&d2lSessionVal=rkEN33rScYAIAojeSmxJm7zOV&ou=140329

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1.3 Assignment: Two Examples of Misinformation Using Graphs

 

Getting Started

You have looked at graphical misrepresentations of data in the prior activity, and now you will document two recent examples using a Word document. The content will be each of the two graphs and a description of why each graph is misleading.

In order to successfully complete this assignment, you should be able to:

• Document two examples of graphical misrepresentation of data.

Resources

• Internet sources or periodicals or annual reports or graphs from your work/business

Instructions

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.
2. Find two examples of current (within last five years) graphical misrepresentations of data. As the Resources section states, the graphs can be from Internet sources or periodicals or annual reports or graphs from your work/business.
3. Create a Word document named WS1-3Graphs containing:
   1. An image of each graph along with a citation showing its origin
   2. A paragraph explaining how each graph misrepresents data
4. When you have completed your assignment, save a copy for yourself and submit a copy to your instructor by the end of the workshop
5. https://fod.infobase.com/OnDemandEmbed.aspx?lti=1&token=150100&wID=98671&loid=0&w=400&h=300#
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1.5 Assignment: Choose One Research Report Data Set

Getting Started

You will be choosing a data set you wish to analyze for the duration of this course.

In order to successfully complete this assignment, you should be able to:

• Identify a data set file you will be analyzing. Do not choose the Patients data set.
• Communicate the choices to the course instructor.

Resources

• File: SchoolData
• File: NC Births
• File: County Complete
• File: IWU Patients
• File: Research Report Template
• File: Research Report Patients

Instructions

1. Study the data sets to choose from, looking at all the tabs inside the data set.
   1. SchoolData
   2. NC Births
   3. County Complete
   4. IWU Patients
2. Study the example Research Report Patients.
3. Choose a data set from the list above to analyze throughout this course.
4. Download the Research Report Template and save it for your chosen data set.
5. Conduct a search to find three scholarly sources pertaining to your data set. OCLS resources are preferred sources and can be accessed through IWU Resources. Wikipedia is not permitted, as it is not a peer-reviewed, scholarly source.
6. In the template, complete the “Project Background” section only up to the “Information and Literature Review,” no further. The template has instructions in it. This should be written as an academic paper with complete sentences and paragraphs.
7. When you have completed your assignment, save a copy for yourself and submit a copy to your instructor by the end of the workshop. You will add to the document throughout the course. Do not choose the Patients data set.

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1.2 Discussion: Application of Microeconomic Principles

Getting Started

Understanding the principles of microeconomics gives you the tools for understanding your economic world and how to interpret events that will either directly or indirectly affect you. It provides analytical tools for studying the market, management decision making, and planning on future economic activity.

Upon successful completion of this discussion, you will be able to:

• Apply the principles of microeconomics to management decision making.

Resources

• Textbook: Economics for Managers
• File: Ch01.ppt
• File: Ch02.ppt
• Media: Sony Stock Stumbles

Background Information

The reading material in this workshop is foundational for the rest of this course. You will gain an understanding of some of the basic concepts of economics and begin to apply them to particular cases and draw implications for future trends.

Instructions

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.
2. In Economics for Managers, read:
   1. Chapter 1
   2. Chapter 2
3. Read the Wall Street Journal article and the Case for Analysis on pages 17-18 in Chapter 2.
4. Download and review the Ch01.ppt and Ch02.ppt PowerPoint files.
5. View the media Sony Stock Stumbles.  https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/15/sony-playstation-5-production-cut-report.html
6. Navigate to the threaded discussion and post an entry that answers the following questions:
   1. Explain the opportunity cost Sony faces and apply the concept of opportunity cost to the tradeoffs we make.
   2. Explain when coping with scarcity during the current CO-19 pandemic and the tradeoffs we all must make.
7. Your initial post should be 400 to 600 words in length and include two academic sources that are properly cited. It is due by the end of the fourth day of the workshop.
8. Now conduct a critical analysis of a posting by two of your classmates by the end of the workshop.
   1. The topic of your discussion response should be your classmate’s posting and should be written as if you were reviewing his or her posting in an academic journal. Your discussion response should, therefore, answer the following questions as applicable:
      1. Were your classmate’s arguments articulate and logical? Were the facts correct?
      2. Was the interpretation your classmate provided reasonable and consistent with experts in the field? Was your classmate consistent with both the substance and intent of his/her references?
   2. The focus for your critical analysis is not whether or not you agree with your classmate, but how well his/her position was presented. Each response should be at least 200 words in length and cite two academic sources.  Please strive to make your discussion responses ones that cause iron to sharpen iron

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1.3 Discussion: Demand Elasticity

 

Getting Started

It is one thing to understand textbook concepts, but another to be able to apply those concepts to studying your own workplace and utilizing that knowledge to make forecasts and recommendations for the future. In this workshop you will gain a broader understanding of demand elasticity and your own firm’s stimulation of demand.

Upon successful completion of this discussion, you will be able to:

• Describe how demand may shift inward or outward.
• Describe the concept of elasticity.
• Apply elasticity concepts to your own work situation.

Resources

• Textbook: Economics for Managers
• File: Ch03.ppt
• Media: Supply and Demand
• Media: Changes in Supply and Demand

Background Information

This information and exercise build on concepts learned in earlier parts of this workshop.

Instructions

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.
2. Read Chapter 3 (and refer to Chapter 2) in Economics for Managers regarding demand shifts and elasticity. As you read, think about how an increase in the demand for some particular good or service is greeted by the providers of that good or service.
3. Download and review the Ch03.ppt PowerPoint file.
4. View the following media:
   1. Supply and Demand
   2. Changes in Supply and Demand
5. Then examine your own workplace or some other organization with which you are familiar and determine how it seeks to increase demand for its product.
6. Navigate to the threaded discussion and post an entry that answers the following questions:
   1. How do firms attempt to stimulate demand (shift demand outward)? Defend your answer with a detailed evaluation that demonstrates clear, insightful critical thinking.
   2. If a firm successfully builds brand loyalty for its products, what happens to the elasticity of the product? Hint: Think about consumers’ views of substitutes. Defend your answer with a detailed evaluation that demonstrates clear, insightful critical thinking.
7. Your initial response should be 400 to 600 words in length and include two academic sources that are properly cited.  It is due by the end of the fourth day of the workshop.
8. Now conduct a critical analysis of a posting by two of your classmates by the end of the workshop.
   1. The topic of your discussion response should be your classmate’s posting and should be written as if you were reviewing his/her posting in an academic journal. Your discussion response should, therefore, answer the following questions as applicable:
      1. Were your classmate’s arguments articulate and logical? Were the facts correct?
      2. Was the interpretation your classmate provided reasonable and consistent with experts in the field? Was your classmate consistent with both the substance and intent of his/her references?
   2. The focus for your critical analysis is not whether or not you agree with your classmate, but how well his/her position was presented. Each response should be at least 200 words in length and cite two academic sources.  Please strive to make your discussion responses ones that cause iron to sharpen iron.

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1.4 Assignment: Analyzing Elasticity

 

 

Getting Started

Economic calculations are used by businesses, governments, and individuals to make decisions based on expected outcomes. This assignment builds upon the previous assignment by requiring you to calculate the price elasticity of demand and analyze its effects on price changes.

Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be able to:

• Measure the price elasticity of demand and supply.
• Analyze the effects of price elasticity of demand on price changes.

Resources

• Textbook: Economics for Managers
• Media: Changes in Supply and Demand

Background Information

Antonio’s Mexican Restaurant operates a regional chain of 55 Mexican-American fast-food shops in the Midwestern United States.  Their business model centers on prepared food that is sold ala-carte to customers.  The shops have a small dining area, enough to accommodate 12 customers.  However, the success of the shops has always been in their ability to quickly fulfill prepaid online and app-driven orders at a separate “drive-up/grab and go” location at the shops.  The process results in orders consistently fulfilled in less than 30 seconds, with no onsite payments to slow down the line.

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 forced the closure of all 55 of the shops’ indoor dining areas.  Such an event would have shaken the very foundation of most restaurants of this type, but Antonio’s experience with “grab and go” gave the company a competitive edge as the pandemic unfolded.  During the second quarter of 2020, sales were 30% higher than the same quarter of 2019.  In response to the increased demand, Antonio’s added a second drive-up window to all of its shops with a very aggressive third-quarter construction program.  Sales continued to climb through the remainder of 2020 and through the first quarter of 2021.

Antonio’s Mexican Restaurant operates a regional chain of 55 Mexican-American fast-food shops in the Midwestern United States.  Their business model centers on prepared food that is sold ala-carte to customers.  The shops have a small dining area, enough to accommodate 12 customers.  However, the success of the shops has always been in their ability to quickly fulfill prepaid online and app-driven orders at a separate “drive-up/grab and go” location at the shops.  The process results in orders consistently fulfilled in less than 30 seconds, with no onsite payments to slow down the line.

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 forced the closure of all 55 of the shops’ indoor dining areas.  Such an event would have shaken the very foundation of most restaurants of this type, but Antonio’s experience with “grab and go” gave the company a competitive edge as the pandemic unfolded.  During the second quarter of 2020, sales were 30% higher than the same quarter of 2019.  In response to the increased demand, Antonio’s added a second drive-up window to all of its shops with a very aggressive third-quarter construction program.  Sales continued to climb through the remainder of 2020 and through the first quarter of 2021.

Instructions

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.
2. In your textbook, Economics for Managers, review:
   1. Chapter 2, “Demand, Supply and Equilibrium Prices”
   2. Chapter 3, “Demand Elasticities”
3. Review the media: Changes in Supply and Demand
4. Antonio’s is struggling to try to keep up with demand for its regionally popular tacos, burritos, and Southwestern salads.  They have hired you as an economic consultant to assist them with some important pricing issues facing the firm’s 55 restaurants.  Their questions are the following:
   1. We are perplexed with the outcome of certain price changes at our restaurants.  Prior to the pandemic, we sold our Mexican combo, consisting of one beef or chicken taco, one beef or chicken burrito, and one small cup of refried beans for $5.95.  At that time, our average shop was selling 600 Mexican combos each week.  Once the pandemic hit, our commodity inputs rose in price as did the cost of our labor.  We hesitantly raised the price to $6.95, anticipating a major reduction in the weekly quantity of demand.  To our amazement, average sales per store only declined by 15 combos per week.  Please calculate the coefficient of price elasticity of the combo meal using the Midpoints Formula.
   2. As a budding economist, what can you conclude about the price elasticity of our combo meals?  Did our combo meals prove to be elastic or inelastic in nature?  Explain.
   3. Senior management has directed shop managers to listen very closely to customers as it relates to this and other price changes at the shop.  Without exception, our customers enjoy our products so much, they often state that even after the increase, “they would purchase the combo meals at one dollar more, without hesitation.”  What does this information infer to you relative to the “pricing power” we have with our combo meals?  What does this infer in terms of the combo’s “consumer surplus?”
   4. management is stunned by their consumers’ lack of price responsiveness to the combo meals.  Understanding that our reduction in sales has been minimal, and the fact that consumers continue to speak so highly of the combo meals, does this suggest that Antonio’s might consider another price increase to the $7.25 to $7.75 range?  Explain your rationale for your conclusion on future pricing.
5. Complete the case study by addressing each of the four questions and posting your analysis with a Word or similar file.  Show all work on the calculations.

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