Integrated Quantitative Analyses

Word length: 3,000 words ± 20%

Value: 40% of your final mark

Please use the SPSS program to analyses the data and make tables

Major skills covered:
Conduct, interpret and produce a well-integrated write-up of quantitative analyses of the dataset within the Worldwide Toy Company scenario.

Your goal in this assignment is to conduct, interpret and write-up analyses suitable for addressing research questions 1 through 5 in the Worldwide Toy Company scenario. These questions focus on the statistical analyses of the quantitative data such as data screening, descriptive statistics, graphs, tables and cross-tabulations, correlations, factor analysis, reliability analysis and relevant inferential statistical procedures (e.g., univariate and multivariate ANOVA, multiple regression and cluster analysis) to evaluate specific hypotheses. You are required to write an integrated story which sets up the context for the research, the research questions and the analyses and provides a well-integrated discussion of the results and their interpretation. Think of this assignment as writing a mini-paper about the quantitative data component of the Worldwide Toys research project. Well-integrated means that the story you tell should be well-organised, well-linked to specific research questions, demonstrate an appropriate balance between textual discussion and use of tables and graphs and lead logically into some clear conclusions.

You will conduct and interpret the actual analyses required for this assignment at the mandatory Intensive School as you acquire skills with SPSS. Your write-up should be in a form that approximates what you might write for a thesis or dissertation chapter. Accordingly, to prepare for this assignment, you might find it useful to look at other Masters and PhD dissertations and theses as well as some published research articles to get a feel for how quantitative analyses are written up. You will have the opportunity to read some example dissertation and thesis Results & Discussion chapters focusing on quantitative data analyses at the Intensive School. External students will have the opportunity to read some example dissertation and thesis Results & Discussion chapters focusing on qualitative data analyses at the Intensive School; internal students will have the same opportunity in normal class meetings.

Your write-up must include three major sub-sections as follows:

• A short (750 words maximum)      integrated discussion of the company restructuring context (the scenario      provides you with some summary data in this regard) in which the research      is being conducted, the research questions being addressed and the      approach taken to collect the quantitative data. Write this section so as      to clearly set the stage for the analyses to come.
• A section presenting and      interpreting the results of your quantitative analyses.
• A section presenting your      overall conclusions from your quantitative analyses.

In your write-up, you will want to include only the most relevant parts of your analyses, cut and pasted or copied from SPSS computer printouts. Any supplementary or more detailed analyses that you may want to refer to should be placed in an Appendix to the assignment and briefly discussed in the text of your write-up.

Presentation and referencing is important in all GSB units. For more details click here.

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Marking Criteria for GSB 658 Assignment # 1

This assignment is worth an aggregate of 100 points total. Each marking criterion is tied to a specific section of the assignment and reflects the quality and coherence of your work and your arguments in each section.  Appropriateness, accuracy and clarity in logic and reasoning for each section will be awarded higher marks.  The percentage of weight allocated to each criterion (shown in the Criterion column) reflects the relative importance of each section to an overall evaluation of your learning thus far in the unit.  The actual mark for each criterion will be assessed against the standard UNE marking ranges (HD, D, C, P and N), but scaled by the percentage weight before aggregation into your final mark for the Assignment.