Quantitative Methods for Business (Reflective Journal)

"Reflection of your group assignment. You need to include statistical theory/concepts that you've applied in your group assignment. You also need to share new things that you've learnt."

I was presented with a group assignment for Quantitative Methods in the 6^th week. Me and my group that consist of three other members to complete two questions that are worth 25% for this assignment. For the first question, we were given a statement “Property prices have been strong in recent years with many urban areas experiencing property price increase while newly launched homes are priced above the RM500 000 mark, according to the Property Market Report statistics. What actually determine house price?” Based on that statement, we were required to choose one type of property in a specific location in Malaysia and obtain a set of at least 60 selling prices together with their sizes. These should be real selling prices of the properties as advertised in sources such as the local newspaper or the Internet. My group members and I decided to conduct our investigation on double-story terrace houses located at Kajang.

For the first part of the question, we were required to use Excel display the summary statistics for both selling price and the size of the properties. At initial stage, it was a challenge for me to answer this question because I was not familiar with the mathematical functions in Excel. However, my tutor Mr. Wellman has provided us with an Excel Guide to help us get through this assignment. The Excel Guide showed step-by-step procedure on how to do various statistics functions. From the summary statistics, I manage to obtain mean, standard deviation, median, sample variance, kurtosis, skewness, range, minimum, maximum, sum count and confidence level. From that data, I needed to find inter quartile range and coefficient of variation for both price and size.

For the second part, we were required to organize the 60 data collected into frequency distribution. The challenges in doing this question is that my group members are I needed to divide the data into appropriate class interval. After several trials and errors, we manage to answer this question. I also learned how to do histogram and ogive using Excel.

Furthermore, using correlation and regression analysis in Excel, I was required to display the output for price and size of the data collected. For this question, I needed to calculate the correlation coefficient, significance test for correlation. I also needed to identify the dependent and independent variable, prepare and scatter plot of a simple regression model and calculate the regression equation. All of these figures were easily derived using the additional add-ins in Excel. 

For the final part if the question, we were required to write a report of not more than 800 words explaining about the data collected, interpreting the graphs and statistics including the best measure of location and spread that should be used for both the selling price and size of property. In the report, I also was required to explain if the assumed independent variable explains well the dependent variable. I was also required to identify other possible factors affecting the dependent variable.

In conclusion, this assignment has made me to explore various functions of Excel and I am also able to understand in detail about various statistic theories. Besides that, I have also understand the importance of team work and how it makes impossible things to seem possible.