Daisy Thomas
01/31/2020
ModuleUnit 6 Business Decision MakingProgramme NameBTEC Level 5 HN Diploma in Business (QCF)Unit codeD/601/0578
In this report, the discussion will be conducted on various types of data, methodology and data collection methods from different sources that will be arranged as per the system for attaining helpful information (Black 2011). This information will help in taking better decisions. Understanding information is very significant in taking effective business decisions. This report also aims at supporting the management to understand the status of the industry. It would also help in understanding how the data can be interpreted so as to derive some fruitful information from it.Task 1: Variety of sources for the collection of data, both primary and secondary1.1 Plan for collecting primary and secondary data for the projectData are details, statistics, charts, photographs, images, etc. Data types are of two types such as qualitative and quantitative data. According to Black (2011), quantitative data implies where data is collected through questionnaire, survey, and trails, etc and all these collected data are in the format of number (Black 2011). It is significant to gather both data types in order to attain the output. Primary data will be gathered through survey method. Primary and secondary data sources will be considered for the purpose of determining the student base and for exploring the lying opportunities for Surrey new school. For collecting secondary data, yearly report related to educational department and Municipal Corporation will be made used along with reports of NGOs, magazines, newspapers. The use of secondary sources will be supportive in exploring the number of schools located in Surrey, their performance, and competition level that is crucial in understanding about opportunities for opening new schools.Simultaneously, in this report market survey will be conducted with the respondents from Surrey local communities. There are different primary sources like survey, focus group, interview and observation, but in this research survey method will be used, as it’s the most reliable evidence in understanding performance of schools and student base through gathering views from local people (Black 2011). Along with this, it will be helpful in checking that whether opening new schools in Surrey will be viable option for Excellent Education or not.1.2 Survey methodology and sampling frame usedA. Survey methodologies and strengths and weaknesses.Questionnaire SurveyQuestionnaire survey includes both open ended and close ended questionnaire, which is developed for identifying the respondent’s answers. The method of questionnaire survey is effective for conducting market research in case of close ended questions. It is due to the reason that there is a need for less efforts and time for completing it (Castellan 2010). There exists high possibility for incomplete answers given by the respondents, which might raise the survey budget as again survey questions will be asked.InterviewAnother methodology for survey is face to face interview with selected respondents. Through this method, personal communication could be conducted with the researchers, which might not be effective in gathering relevant perception, but simultaneously it is helpful in asking follow-up questions as it’s crucial in obtaining valid information (Castellan 2010). This method is quite time taking as huge amount of time is taken for making appointment with respondents.Cross Sectional SurveyIn this survey methodology, views are gathered from the participants in short time, and this methodology is also supportive in conducting survey through applying the mode of data gathering such as questionnaire and interview (Castellan 2010).Online SurveyOnline survey method is the popular method in the era of internet, as in this method, survey is conducted through internet or through sending e-mails to respondents. No personal contact need to be made in this method with respondents (Castellan 2010).In this research, survey through questionnaire will be conducted as it’s the relevant method in Excellent School Education Plc.B. Techniques of SamplingRandom SamplingRandom sampling is one of the easiest methods for choosing the respondents through the targeted population. This method permits that every member of the targeted population should be provided with equal chance of getting selected for the market survey that is even effective and try to avoid the issues of biasness (Davis and Pecar 2013). But the random sampling doesn’t work in the case of huge population size due to the need of lot of time for creating the list for individuals. Along with this, it also creates influence on the quality of survey outcomes due to the existing possibilities of choosing the person who has no knowledge about the issues.Judgement SamplingJudgement sampling is the non-probability method, which chooses the sample according to the judgement. This method is effective in improving the quality and result validity (Davis and Pecar 2013). But at the same time this method needs skills and qualities for selecting population.Convenience samplingThis method is mainly selected for those who has interest in taking part in survey. This method incurs less cost, but it might cause biasness in choosing the participants.Cluster samplingThis method includes selection of respondents through applying simple random sampling (Davis and Pecar 2013). This method is better than stratified sampling as it is effective in getting appropriate respondents for survey, but at the same time it is less precise than random sampling.In this research random sampling method will be selected as it’s helpful for parents and couples living in Surrey local communities.Sampling techniques strength and weaknessStrength- in selecting the appropriate method of sampling, little knowledge about the population is needed. In the case of systematic sampling, subjects are not numbered.Weakness- in case of simple random sampling on requires numbering the components existing in the population set. The cluster sampling requires that each component of the population should be assign to the single cluster (Diggines and Wiid 2010).1.3 Questionnaire to be used to collect data for the project from prospective parents.A survey questionnaire for conducting market research for the prospective parents is given below:I. Personal detailsA. What’s your Gender?MaleFemaleB. How many children’s do you have?123More than 3C. What’s your income level?£8,000-£12,000£12,001-£20,000£20,001-£35,000More than £35,001II: Key QuestionsQuestion 1: Do you have any knowledge about the Excellent School Education?YesNoCan’t SayQuestion 2: Do you think that secondary schools are enough in Surrey?YesNoCan’t SayQuestion 3: Are you satisfied with present school system of children?SatisfiedHighly satisfiedModerateDissatisfiedHighly dissatisfiedII. Factors considered in choosing schoolBelow table depicts the relevant rate level that is required to select school
Task 2: Range of techniques to analyze data effectively for business purposes
2.1 Information for decision making by summarizing data using representative values
The collected data is presented in tabular format, which includes score attained by the students in their internal exams. There were 50 students and their subject scores are mentioned below:
Students NumberScore12023236444552164274683995210481172124313301458152916371736184119552068216022462339245625682630274328482932304031413245335834393559367037333844394640484137426243754440455446454748485749405056
Grouped Data:
2.2 Results analyzed to draw valid conclusions in a business context
Mean, median and mode are referred as measure of average that is supportive in determining the student average performance in internal exams (Joh 2003). Through the support of excel spreadsheet, the mean and median values are determined on the given score of students.
Mean
Formula (∑x_i )/n
Mean= Sum of total observation/total number of observation
Mean= (20+32+64+45…….48+57+40+56)/50
Mean=2337/50
Mean=46.7
Median= ((n+1)/2)^th term
If the number of terms are odd; ((n/2)^th term + (n/2+ 1)term)/2 for even number
Median = [(50/2) term + (50/2+1) term]/2
Median = [25th Term+26th Term]/2
Median =45
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Strengths and weaknesses of measures of average:
MeanMedianModeStrengths
Easy to determinePopular method for measuring performance.
Determine actual valueIt’s not impacted through outlying value
Weaknesses
It’s not effective in large size of sample
It’s not applied in algebraic treatment
It can apply more than 1 modeFails to consider all dataNot applied in further analysis
2.3 Measures of dispersion to inform a given business scenarioRepresentative measures indicate about the location of the data and 2 set of data could have mean, median and mode (Joh 2003). For explaining the difference, descriptive measures are used that indicate the variation and is also known as measures of dispersion. It includes:Range- it’s referred as the difference among the highest and lowest value. This method is easy to calculate, but it only considers the small and large values and ignores other values.Quartile range- it’s the difference among the 3rd and 1st quartile. It doesn’t include all values within the data set; therefore, it’s not the preferred indicator.Variance and standard deviation- Variance measures the distance of observation from mean value; Standard deviation is considered as the square root of variance (Kumar 2010). Both these measures offer helpful information for taking the decision and for making the comparison.There are different statistical measures of dispersion such as standard deviation, range and variance that are supportive in determining how student’s performance is deviated within the class in reference to marks.Variance formula(∑▒(x-x ̅ )^2 )/((n-1) )Standard deviation= Square root of the variance.
In Standard deviation, s is the variance sq root
Variance= (715.02+663.06+…+638.06+798.62)/50
= 8061.52/50
=161.23
Standard Deviation= Square root of (161.23)
= 12.75
2.4 Quartiles, percentiles and the correlation coefficient used to draw useful conclusions in a business context
Quartile tries to present the 2 quarters distribution of middle value. In this lower value of quartile is between 1st and 2nd quarter. The upper quartile is between 3rd and 4th quarter, and middle quarter is known a median. Percentile is the value that divides the sample data of 100and includes observation in equal values (Kumar 2010). Coefficient correlation measures the data set as the mean proportion. It’s the sample ratio for standard deviation, and is explained as percentage. All three measures divide the frequency distribution in different parts (Kumar 2010). According to 50% staff their expected salary is above £40000 and other 50% staff has less than £40000.
Results Interpretation
Measure of Dispersion:
It can be determined from results that student average mark is 46.7. it depicts that most of the students has obtained less than 50% in their exams, and the performance is satisfactory. The median value is 45 that implies similar outcome about student’s performance. It is also determined that low score is 20 and highest score is 75. It is also interpreted that variance and standard deviation values, which mark students score is deviated in class and depicts difference in student’s performance.
Quartiles
Q_(1 )= (n+1)/4
Q_(3 )= 3((n+1)/4)
The value of 1st, 2nd and 3rd quartiles:
The 1st, 2nd and 3rd quartiles are 39, 45, and 56 respectively. It is interpreted that students score in exam is deviated from one another due to difference in students performance.
Percentiles
The above table shows difference in student’s performance in context of marks obtained in internal exams.
Correlation Coefficient
It measures the relationship that is supportive in exploring association among 2 variables.
Correlation coefficient formula:
The value of correlation coefficient is 0.24
It is interpreted from results that there is week relation among 2 variables and there is no effect on sequence of students in exam scores.
Performance Comparison
For making students performance comparison as per the subject score, the hypothetical score is assumed for 50 students. The performance comparison will support in measuring average, percentiles, quartile, measures of dispersion, and correlation coefficient.
Score in Subject 1Score in Subject 2Measures of AverageMean46.743.8Median4543.5Measure of DispersionMinimum2016Maximum7578Range5562Variance164.4328.4Standard Deviation12.818.1QuartilesFirst Quartile3926.25Second Quartile4543.5Third Quartile5657.25Percentiles25th Percentile2346.2550th Percentile4543.575th Percentile5657.25Correlation CoefficientCorrelation Coefficient0.240.05
It is noted from the results that students’ average marks in class are more as compared to other subjects. It can be measured that correlation coefficient value is high in subject 1 as compared to other subjects, which shows strong relations then other subjects. It can be concluded that student performance in exams is not so good.Task 3: Information in appropriate formats for decision making in an organizational context3.1 Graphs using spreadsheets and draw valid conclusions based on the information derivedTables are good as it presents huge information, but it’s challenging to explore the patterns. Therefore, graphs and charts are prepared for presenting the data. Graphical methods can be bar charts, line charts, scatter graph, and pie charts.Line ChartThis graph makes use of line instead of bar or either circles. It can be drawn easily and could analyse the trends and even make predictions.
Bar Chart- it depicts the number of observation in various categories, and every category presents the separate bar and bar length is mainly proportionate to number of observation (Luton 2010).
Below is the graphical presentation of data that includes number of bed rooms and houses in 3 streets of a city.
Pie chart: In pie chart every slice presents single category. These graphs are simple, but show only less data.
3.2 Tend lines in spreadsheet graphs to assist in forecasting for specified business information
Scatter diagram is drawn by the use of 2 variables, and in this commission is drawn against the year (Spann 2014). Commission is the plot at y axis and year is at x axis. This diagram presents relationship of 2 variables whether they are correlated positively or either negatively. In this case, this diagram is helpful in checking whether there is an increase in children’s age that effect on weight or not.
Age12334456Weight911.514.51516.51718.519.5
The graph shows positive relation among weight and age of babies.
3.3 Business presentation using suitable software and techniques to disseminate information effectively
Task 4: Software-generated information to make decisions in an organization
4.1 Information processing tools
Information processing tools are known as processor and these are tangible and non-tangible equipment, which are made use for arranging the data like serves, ATM’s, database, methodologies, computers, internet, websites, computers, and networks. In the company, budgets, cash flow statement, project plan as well as investment appraisal are termed as information tools (Spann 2014). In capital budgeting, there are various methods of investment appraisal, which are helpful in checking the viability of capital investment as well as financial feasibility of the project.
Net Present Value (NPV)
NPV is referred as the technique of discounted cash flow, in which all the expected outflow and inflow of cash is discounted at the company’s cost of capital for the purpose of determining the current value (Spann 2014). NPV is referred as variation among current value of expected flow of net cash at certain cost of capital for certain duration. This method considers the time value of money, investment project lifeline, and financing cost for exploring best project in context of profitability (Spann 2014).
Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
IRR is a technique for discounted cash flow as it determines the expected investment rate of return. This method relies over the cost of capital, value for money and life of project for assessing the investment viability (Vona 2012). IRR method is effective in understanding expected investment arte of returns for assessing the capital investment profitability in the project.
4.2 Project plan for an activity and determine the critical path.
This section includes the plans for helping the functions of mobile service projects, it includes:
Product quality assurance
Validation and verification of plan
Operational and product support functions
Budget, work packages and schedules
Budget of the mobile service project= £40,000
Duration of the project= 40 days
Project Network
Critical path:
The table shows that in path 2, the duration of project completion is high as compared to path 1. It shows the projects critical path that is, A-C-D-E-F-G-H-I
4.3 Financial tools for decision making
Speedy Filters plc deals in car repairing and maintenance services. Presently, the firm is planning to start its new mobile service business, in which they will also offer home delivery facility. The estimated initial cost will be £40,000 for purchasing 4 tools and vehicles. The technique of appraisal for this project is given below:
NPV
Calculation of NPV:
NPV permits to have comparison for potential projects according to cost of financing that is effective in determining economic option.
IRR
The project NPV value is £30,084, and value of IRR is 37.9%. it is estimated that through value position of NPV there are some important prospects for the project in order to enhance the business profitability. Therefore, management should adopt better option for starting their mobile service project.
Conclusion
In business decision making, various sources of gathering the data is used and different business cost are analyzed and presented. It also applies the wide range of techniques for understanding data. Through using various graphs valid conclusion are shows that are based on the data and even lead towards preparing information report.
References
Black, K. 2011. Business Statistics: For Contemporary Decision Making. USA: John Wiley & Sons.
Castellan, C.M. 2010. Quantitative and Qualitative Research: A View for Clarity. International Journal of Education, 2(2), pp. 1-14.
Davis, G. and Pecar, B. 2013.Business Statistics Using Excel. London: OUP Oxford.
Diggines, C. and Wiid, J. 2010. Marketing Research. South Africa: Juta and Company Ltd.
Joh, S. W. 2003. Corporate governance and firm profitability: evidence from Korea before the economic crisis. Journal of Financial Economics, 68(2), pp. 287-322.
Kumar, R. 2010. Research Methodology: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners. (3rdedn). UK: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Luton, L.S. 2010. Qualitative Research Approaches for Public Administration. New York: M.E. Sharpe.
Spann, D.D. 2014. Fraud Analytics: Strategies and Methods for Detection and Prevention. USA: John Wiley & Sons.
Vona, L.W. 2012.Fraud Risk Assessment: Building a Fraud Audit Program. Canada: John Wiley & Sons.
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