For these project assignments throughout the course you will need to reference the data in the ROI Excel spreadheet. Download it here.

Scenario: You have been approached by someone who is trying to figure out whether to pursue a business degree or an engineering degree. The person can afford either one, and the person likes both topics equally well. Your job is to focus on ROI. The central question for you to answer in this course is which major, business or engineering, will give this person the better ROI?

In this data set – the ROI data set – for 2 different majors (Business and Engineering), you are given a sample of the 20 best colleges according to ROI (ROI = Return on Investment) and their ‘School Type’, ‘Cost’, ’30-Year ROI’, and ‘Annual % ROI’.

The Week 8 project is completed in part every week. Each week, one section is due. If you do each week’s project and adjust it if necessary with the feedback, your Week 8 project will go a lot better than if you do not. Open the spreadsheet.

1. Explain what ROI is. Avoid simply stating what the acronym is. Remember that all written answers need to be on a MS Word document.
2. From the spreadsheet, define what each of the four columns is. Go beyond giving the name of the column. For example, what is a 30-year ROI? (#1 and #2 are basically your introductory paragraph to your week 8 project)
3. For each of the 2 majors create a pie chart using the column ‘School Type’. Make sure that the title clearly explains what you are looking at.
4. The textbook discusses classes and class widths in section 2.2. How many classes does it recommend that graphs have? Why? (Be sure to read about classes)
5. For each of the 2 majors create a frequency distribution and histogram using the column ‘Annual % ROI’. Group the classes starting at 6% (0.06), ending at 11% (0.11), and have the class width be a half percent 0.5% (0.005). Make sure that there are NO overlapping bars. For example, if one bar is 0.060-0.064, then the next bar can’t start with 0.064. It would have to start with0.065. This histogram is used again and again… Make sure it is correct. You will have to adjust the table Excel generates.
6. In a highlighted box, interpret your results. Do the samples represent public and private schools equally? What does this mean in terms of the population of schools? Is there a certain histogram bar that is higher than all the others? What does this mean in terms of ROI? These are not the only questions you can use to interpret the results, but they are a push in the right direction. Keep going. What else do you see?

Using the ROI data set:

1. For each of the 2 majors calculate the mean, median, minimum, maximum, range, and standard deviation for the columns ‘Cost’ and ’30-Year ROI’.
2. Define each of the terms in #1, and explain how each can be used to provide information about a data set.
3. When you did the calculations in #1, do these numbers apply to a sample or a population?
4. By hand or with Excel, for each of the 2 majors calculate the probability that a college picked from the column for ‘School Type’ is ‘Public’.
5. By hand or with Excel, for each of the 2 majors find the probability that a college with the ‘School Type’ ‘Private’ has a ’30-Year ROI’ between $1,500,000 and $1,800,000.
6. This is your highlighted box for your project: Use the definitions and explanations in #2 to analyze the data.

What does it mean if there is a greater range in terms of ROI? Does it guarantee a better ROI?

What does it mean if there is a greater standard deviation in terms of ROI? Is that a good thing? Explain.

Which major is looking like it has the better ROI right now? Why?

Are your conclusions here pertaining to a sample or to a population? Why? What are the implications of what the data pertains to?

*** Remember that written portions go on a MS Word document.