ECON940 Assignment: Case study analysis report

Trimester 3, 2022
[100 marks]
Objectives:
To provide students with the opportunity to:
 Demonstrate the use of visualising data in presentation of real-world data
 Demonstrate the use of statistical concepts/techniques in business data
 Demonstrate how to conduct various hypothesis tests and analysis of variance using
computer software such as Excel
 Demonstrate the use of computer software to get necessary statistical output
 Demonstrate the skills of preparation of a managerial report

Background:
Assume you work as a stock market analyst, to provide recommendations to your clients about
stock investment. How would you go about making a reasonable choice among many stocks
available? The objective of your report is to provide general guidelines for your clients to select
a group of stocks, based on statistics evidence on different stock characteristics.

Data File:
The data file “Dataset” is available on Moodle under ‘Assessment 2: Assignment – Case Study
analysis report’ section. It contains two spreadsheets: “Exchanges” and “Data”.
The “Exchange” spreadsheet lists 17 exchanges from Exchange A to Exchange Q.
The “Data” spreadsheet contains information of 7 variables from a sample of 11,900 stocks
from Exchange A to Exchange Q (700 stocks in each exchange). The variables and definitions
are summarized in the following table:
Exchange Unique code for each stock exchange
Stock ID Unique code for each stock
R2020 Annual stock return in 2020
R2019 Annual stock return in 2019
R2018 Annual stock return in 2018
Sector The types of sectors that each stock belongs to. 0 = Energy; 1 = Basic
Materials; 2 = Industrials; 3 = Consumer Cyclicals; 4 = Consumer Non-
cyclicals; 5 = Financials; 6 = Healthcare; 7 = Technology; 8 = Utilities;
9 = Real Estate;
Gender CEO gender type. 1 = Male; 0 = Female

ECON940 Assignment – Trimester 3, 2022

Assignment Tasks [70 marks]:
1. Use Excel to generate a random sample of 5 exchanges from the given 17 exchanges. You
then use the sample data from those 5 exchanges to complete task 2-8. Watch the
“Random sample creation” recording for how to select a random sample of 5
exchanges and create the sample data set for the assignment. Please note that the
recording serves as an example only. Students must follow the instructions in the recording
to generate their own sample data set in Excel. [8 marks]

2. Visually present data and calculate descriptive statistics for the annual stock returns in 2020
based on stock exchanges. Comments on the location, shape and variability of these
distributions. [10 marks]

3. Visually present data and calculate descriptive statistics for the annual stock returns in 2019
based on stock sectors. Comments on the location, shape and variability of these
distributions. [15 marks]

4. Visually present data and calculate descriptive statistics for the annual stock returns in 2018
based on CEO gender. Comments on the location, shape and variability of these
distributions. [5 marks]

5. It is claimed that annual returns of stocks from Basic Materials sector are higher than annual
returns of stocks from Industrials sector in 2020. Test this claim at 5% significance level
(95% confidence level). [8 marks]

6. It is claimed that annual returns of stocks from Consumer Cyclicals sector is higher than
the annual returns of stocks from Consumer Non-cyclicals sector in 2019. Test this claim
at 5% significance level (95% confidence level). [8 marks]

7. It is claimed that companies with female CEO often perform better on the stock market
than those led by men in 2018. Test this claim at 5% significance level (95% confidence
level). [8 marks]

8. It is curious as to whether the stocks in 2020 perform the same way as they did in 2019 and
2018. Test this at 5% significance level (95% confidence level). [8 marks]

ECON940 Assignment – Trimester 3, 2022

Assessment Criteria [20 marks]:

Please complete a business report, including the following sections: Executive summary, Table
of contents, Business problem, Statistical problem, Main analysis, Conclusion and
implications/recommendation. The report should be typed in size 12 with 1.5 line spacing.
There is no margin requirement. The maximum word limit is 3000 words.

 Executive summary: This section summarizes the purpose of business report, and the key
results and recommendation. (Less than 200 words)
 Business problem: This section gives the background of this business report and
summarizes which problems will be examined. (Less than 200 words)
 Statistical problem: This section gives the information of what statistical technique will be
used in the analysis, and what statistical information will be provided. (Less than 200 words)
 Main analysis: This section should include 7 subsections (using sub-headings), covering
assignment tasks 2 to 8.
 Conclusion and implications/recommendation: This section summarizes the key findings
that are relevant to your clients and gives out recommendations. (Less than 300 words)

Format/Submission Requirements [10 marks]:

 Format Requirements:
1. You must produce a signed coversheet and add the coversheet file (PDF or picture file)
to the first page of your report (word document). To do this,
 Place the cursor in the Word document where you want to insert the coversheet
file as an object.
 Select the Insert tab.
 Select Object in the Text group.
 Select the Create from File tab, select Browse, then locate your PDF or picture
file.
The link to an assignment coversheet is here.
https://documents.uow.edu.au/content/groups/public/@web/@gsb/documents/doc/uo
w077733.pdf
2. Excel outputs should be incorporated into your report.
3. Use histogram to visualize the data.

ECON940 Assignment – Trimester 3, 2022

 4. When calculating and reporting the descriptive statistics, coefficient of variations (CV)
should be also calculated and reported.
5. For hypothesis testing, use the six-step approach in Chapter 9.
6. Word limit for each section will be strictly imposed.
7. Use your own words. Reference wherever necessary using the Harvard referencing
style. Please be guided by the UOW Style Guides from http://uow.libguides.com/refcite.
8. Ensure that your document is professionally presented with spell and grammatical
errors checked and eliminated.
9. The use of appendix is allowed.

 Submission Requirements:
1. The assignment is due by 5pm on Friday, 4 November 2022 in Week 10.
2. Do not wait until the last minute to submit your work. Server problems, network
outrages, computer breakdowns, USB failures, and the like will not be considered for
late submissions.
3. Assignment handed in late will be penalised by a deduction of 10% for each day late
(i.e., 10 marks deduction (out of 100) per day late).
4. ECON940 students are required to submit a soft-copy of the completed assignment via
Moodle.
For the submission of the soft-copy,
 Go to ‘Turnitin’ link on ECON940 Moodle site.
 Submit a single excel file (in .xls or xlsx) under the tab "Part I Excel Spreadsheet".
 Submit a single word file (coversheet included) under the tab "Part II Written
Report".
 Under each tab, click "Submit to Turnitin" button.
 Under Submission Title, please use the format:
Your First Name_Student ID (e.g., Sarah_7654321)
 Failure to submit a soft-copy of each part will result in a zero mark for the part
unsubmitted.
5. You are not allowed to collaborate with anyone on this assignment. Sign the declaration
stating that the submitted work is your own on a coversheet.
6. If you fail to meet format/submission requirements, you will be penalised.
7. The marked assignment will be returned before the final exam via Moodle.

ECON940 Assignment – Trimester 3, 2022