MIS 4320 Chapter 3
62) List and describe the three layers of an ideal dashboard.
Answer: 1. Monitoring: Graphical, abstracted data to monitor key performance metrics. 2. Analysis: Summarized dimensional data to analyze the root cause of problems. 3. Management: Detailed operational data that identify what actions to take to resolve a problem.
18) According to Eckerson the most distinctive feature of a dashboard is its three layers of information.
Answer: TRUE
54) Data visualization usually means ________ visualization.
Answer: information
57) When presenting your data analysis it is often helpful to view your analysis as a data rich ________.
Answer: story
14) Data visualization is closely related to the fields of DW management and MIS application development.
Answer: FALSE
15) The Gantt chart (also called a network diagram) is developed primarily to simplify the planning and scheduling of large and complex projects.
Answer: FALSE
2) When we refer to data, we are only referring to information that is well structured.
Answer: FALSE
20) An ideal dashboard would not be transparent to the user.
Answer: FALSE
3) Nominal data refers to measurements.
Answer: FALSE
5) Data preprocessing is generally simple, straightforward, and quick.
Answer: FALSE
6) Normalizing data is a common step in the data consolidation process.
Answer: FALSE
8) Skewness is a measure of symmetry in a distribution.
Answer: FALSE
53) ________ has also single-handedly democratized both the interface conventions and the technology for displaying interactive geography online
Answer: Google Maps
56) ________ are used to show the frequency distribution of one variable or several variables.
Answer: Histograms
51) ________ are typically enterprise-wide agreed upon targets to be tracked against over a period of time.
Answer: Key performance indicators or KPIs
44) ________ data include measurement variables commonly found in the physical sciences and engineering.
Answer: Ratio
48) ________ is collection of mathematical techniques to characterize and interpret data.
Answer: Statistics
11) A data dashboard is any communication artifact prepared with the specific intention of conveying information in a digestible form to whoever needs it whenever and wherever.
Answer: FALSE
1) It is possible to perform analytics without data.
Answer: FALSE
30) This assumption in a regression analysis states that the relationship between the response variable and the explanatory variables is linear. A) linearity B) multicollinearity C) independence D) normality
Answer: A
33) The predecessors to data visualization date back to: A) second century AD. B) 1600's. C) 1800's. D) 1990's.
Answer: A
39) This layer of dashboard information allows for of key performance metrics. A) monitoring B) analysis C) management D) export
Answer: A
35) This figure is often used to explore the relationship between two or three variables (in 2D or 3D visuals). A) line chart B) bar chart C) pie chart D) scatter plot
Answer: D
10) The linearity assumption in a regression model states that the errors of the response variable are uncorrelated with each other.
Answer: FALSE
61) Select and discuss one of the best practices in dashboard design.
Answer: Student selections will vary, but they will discuss one of the following best practices: • Benchmark Key Performance Indicators with Industry Standards • Wrap the Dashboard Metrics with Contextual Metadata • Validate the Dashboard Design by a Usability Specialist • Prioritize and Rank Alerts/Exceptions Streamed to the Dashboard • Enrich the Dashboard with Business-User Comments • Present Information in Three Different Levels • Pick the Right Visual Construct Using Dashboard Design Principles • Provide for Guided Analytics
12) There has been an increase in the use of computing power to produce unified reports.
Answer: TRUE
13) Information is the aggregation, summarization, and contextualization of data.
Answer: TRUE
16) Some charts or graphs are better at answering certain types of questions.
Answer: TRUE
17) There is a growing number of data visualization techniques being used to better portray business results.
Answer: TRUE
19) Dashboards are not a new concept and their roots can be traced at least to the executive information system of the 1980s.
Answer: TRUE
4) Numeric data is an example of structured data.
Answer: TRUE
7) The OLAP branch of descriptive analytics has also been called business intelligence.
Answer: TRUE
9) A time series is a sequence of data points of the variable of interest, measured and represented at successive points in time spaced at uniform time intervals.
Answer: TRUE
34) What made the digital distribution of both data and visualization more accessible to a broader audience? A) the printing press B) the pony express C) personal computers D) the Internet
Answer: D
42) Making data ________ for prediction means that data sets must be transformed into a flat-file format and made ready for ingestion into those predictive algorithms.
Answer: analytics ready
55) The ________ chart is often an enhanced version of scatter plots.
Answer: bubble
43) The ________ data can be subdivided into nominal or ordinal data.
Answer: categorical
52) Key to any successful report are ________, brevity, completeness, and correctness.
Answer: clarity
60) An ideal dashboard requires little, if any, customized ________ to implement, deploy, and maintain.
Answer: coding
45) In data reduction, reducing the number of variables is referred to as ________ reduction.
Answer: dimensional
63) Describe the use of both Gantt and Pert charts.
Answer: • A Gantt chart is a special case of horizontal bar charts used to portray project timelines, project tasks/activity durations, and overlap among the tasks/activities. By showing start and end dates/times of tasks/activities and the overlapping relationships, Gantt charts provide an invaluable aid for management and control of projects. For instance, Gantt charts are often used to show project timelines, task overlaps, relative task completions (a partial bar illustrating the completion percentage inside a bar that shows the actual task duration), resources assigned to each task, milestones, and deliverables. • The PERT chart (also called a network diagram) is developed primarily to simplify the planning and scheduling of large and complex projects. A PERT chart shows precedence relationships among project activities/tasks. It is composed of nodes (represented as circles or rectangles) and edges (represented with directed arrows). Based on the selected PERT chart convention, either nodes or the edges can be used to represent the project activities/tasks (activity-on-node versus activity-on-arrow representation schema).
64) Discuss how data can be classified.
Answer: At the highest level of abstraction, one can classify data as structured and unstructured (or semistructured). Unstructured data/semistructured data are composed of any combination of textual, imagery, voice, and Web content. Unstructured/semistructured data will be covered in more detail in the text mining and Web mining chapter. Structured data are what data mining algorithms use and can be classified as categorical or numeric. The categorical data can be subdivided into nominal or ordinal data, whereas numeric data can be subdivided into intervals or ratios.
23) These contain codes assigned to objects or events as labels that also represent the rank order among them. A) numeric data B) ordinal data C) interval data D) nominal data
Answer: B
25) Eliminating duplicate data is typically a part of which data preprocessing step? A) Data Consolidation B) Data Cleaning C) Data Transformation D) Data Reduction
Answer: B
29) This assumption in a regression analysis states that the explanatory variables are not correlated. A) linearity B) multicollinearity C) independence D) normality
Answer: B
32) This type of report may include color-coded traffic lights for different performance levels. A) metric management report B) dashboard report C) balanced scorecard report D) none of these
Answer: B
36) This figure portrays project timelines, project tasks/activity durations, and overlap among the tasks/activities. A) PERT chart B) Gantt chart C) histogram D) bubble chart
Answer: B
38) Which of the following is not a best practice in dashboard design? A) validate the dashboard design by a usability specialist B) disregard guided analytics in lieu of a detailed manual C) present information in three different levels D) enrich the dashboard with business-user comments
Answer: B
40) This layer of dashboard information provides summarized dimensional data. A) monitoring B) analysis C) management D) export
Answer: B
22) To satisfy this requirement, this data has variables that are defined at the lowest (or as low as required) level of detail for the intended use. A) data source reliability B) data accessibility C) data granularity D) data currency
Answer: C
28) Which of the following is not a measure of central tendency? A) mean B) median C) range D) mode
Answer: C
31) This type of report presents an integrated view of success in an organization. A) metric management report B) dashboard report C) balanced scorecard report D) none of these
Answer: C
37) The combination of visualization and predictive analytics is referred to as: A) visualization+. B) predictive analytics+. C) visual analytics. D) advanced histograms.
Answer: C
50) ________ makes no a priori assumption of whether one variable is dependent on the other(s) and is not concerned with the relationship between variables.
Answer: Correlation
21) To satisfy this requirement, this data is recorded at or near the time of the event or observation so that the time delay—related misrepresentation is minimized. A) data source reliability B) data accessibility C) data granularity D) data currency
Answer: D
24) These contain measurements of simple codes assigned to objects as labels, which are not measurements. A) numeric data B) ordinal data C) interval data D) nominal data
Answer: D
26) Reducing a data set's volume can be a portion of which data preprocessing step? A) Data Consolidation B) Data Cleaning C) Data Transformation D) Data Reduction
Answer: D
27) What measure is used to characterize the peak/tall/skinny nature of the distribution? A) skewness B) standard deviation C) whisker plot D) kurtosis
Answer: D
47) Measures of ________ are the mathematical methods used to estimate or describe the degree of variation in a given variable of interest.
Answer: dispersion
58) An ideal dashboard would provide ________ to underlying data sources or reports, providing more detail about the underlying comparative and evaluative context.
Answer: drill-down or drill-through
41) Automated data collection systems are not only enabling businesses to collect more volumes of data but also enhancing the data quality and ________.
Answer: integrity
49) Logistic regression is a very popular, statistically sound, probability-based classification algorithm that employs supervised ________.
Answer: learning
46) Data are ________ between a certain minimum and maximum for all variables to mitigate the potential bias.
Answer: normalized
59) Specialized display ________ allow easy visual comparison of information with a minimum of set up when using a dashboard.
Answer: widgets
