Applied Quantitative Reasoning I Assignment

For each part of this assignment, pretend as though you are writing a brief memo describing your analysis of the data. Your memo should address the topics listed in the question.

The data for this assignment is on included. It is the file DataForAssignment.xls. All of the variable definitions and data information you need are either on this assignment sheet or in DataForAssignment.xls.

There are three parts to the assignment. Do all sections of all parts. The lengths mentioned in each part are hard limits: If you exceed those lengths, I will deduct points . However, you are free to have shorter answers as long as they are clear and complete.

Write up your assignment in Word. Include any necessary graphs and tables in your Word document.

1. ---

   Descriptive statistics (20 points)

The data for questions 1 and 2 are on the School Data sheet of the file DataForAssignment.xls. These data come from the Ohio Department of Education’s interactive Local Report Card website, http://ilrc.ode.state.oh.us/default.asp , which provides data about public schools throughout the state. Specifically, the data are an extract from the School Building Data: School Rating Data 2009-2010. This administrative data includes all schools in the data that are located Cuyahoga county and that have 3 ^rd grade students. The unit of analysis is a school. The first sheet in DataForAssignment.xls gives the definitions for the variables included in the extract.

In this question, I want you to provide descriptive statistics about the percent of 3 ^rd graders at the school who are at or above grade level in reading and the percent of 3 ^rd graders at the school who are at or above grade level in math. These are called proficiency measures.

Your answer should include the following:

• A brief description of the data
• Reference to two measures of central tendency for each of the proficiency measures and a plain English explanation of what they mean in this context
• Reference to one measure of dispersion for each of the proficiency measures and a plain English explanation of what it means in this context
• A comparison between reading and math proficiency of the measures of central tendency
• A comparison between reading and math proficiency of the measure of dispersion
• An easy to read table that includes only the statistics you reference in your write up

Your answer to #1, including the table, should be no more than one page long.

2 . Contingency table (40 points)

This question uses the same data as Question 1, but different variables. For this question, write a short memo describing the State’s ratings of schools and how it varies by region of the county. Your answer to all portions of this question should be in the form of one memo.

1. Briefly describe the data and variables used for this question.
2. Use the data to make a contingency table that shows whether there are differences by region of the county in whether schools’ made adequate progress on their improvement plans. Write one to three paragraphs summarizing your analysis of the contingency table. Your answer should include:
   • a write up that meets the requirements for a good write up discussed in Lecture 5,
   • a comparison that demonstrates the pattern in the contingency table,
   • an easy to read contingency table appropriate to the task at hand,
   • and a clear, well labeled graph of the information in the contingency table.
3. Use the data to make a contingency table that shows how the designation of schools varies across regions of the county. Write one to three paragraphs summarizing your analysis of the contingency table. Write one to three paragraphs summarizing your analysis of the contingency table. Your answer should include:
   • a write up that meets the requirements for a good write up discussed in Lecture 5,
   • a comparison that demonstrates the pattern in the contingency table,
   • an easy to read contingency table appropriate to the task at hand,
   • and a clear, well labeled graph of the information in the contingency table.

Your answer to #2, including graphs and tables, should be no more than three pages long.

3 . Budget t rend analysis with graphs (40 points)

The information on the worksheet "Budget" are drawn from the City of Cleveland’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports from 2007 and 2009. The table shows the amount of revenue the City received by source of revenue. To account for inflation, all dollar amounts are in 2009 dollars. For this part, you are going to use this information to make tables with additional information, make graphs, and write a brief memo describing trends in the City’s revenue.

1. Make one clear, well labeled graph that shows the trend in total revenues over these four years.
2. Make one clear, well labeled graph that shows each category’s percent of total revenues in 2009.
3. Create an easy to read table that shows the percent change from 2006 to 2009 for each revenue category, as well as for total revenues. Note: You only need to calculate the percentage changes for one pair of years, 2006 and 2009.
4. Write a memo describing the trends in the City’s revenues. Your memo should include:
   • the graphs and tables you made for a, b, and c,
   • a description of the trends in total revenue,
   • a description of what the three largest revenue categories are,
   • a description of the two fastest rising revenue categories are (based on percentage change),
   • and a description of the two fastest falling revenue categories (based on percentage change).

Your write up should refer to your graphs and table. You will also want to include the original table in your write up so you can refer to it.

Your answer to #3, including graphs and tables, should be no more than four pages long.

Price: $27.53

Solution: The downloadable solution consists of 10 pages, 1753 words and 8 charts.
Deliverable: Word Document