WGU C207 Pre-Assessmen Multi Choice Version Data-Driven Decision Making (PVPC)
Analytics is a broad term that refers to a variety of tools that inform managerial decisions. Which term can be used to describe managerial decisions? a. Prescriptive b. Predictive c. Pareto chart d. Biased
a
A company decides to auction excess inventory on an auction website. They have performed a regression analysis to identify how the length of the auction impacts the final price. Which statistic indicates the strength of the relationship between the length of auctions and final price? a. R-squared b. Z-score c. P-value d. F-statistic
a
A county government must reduce spending. It wishes to eliminate incremental budgeting and align budget allocations with each of its units' strategic business objectives. How can the county apply data analytic approaches to attain this goal? a. By benchmarking like strategies of successful counties b. By measuring number of voter complaints per department c. By surveying the county controllers d. By surveying employees on strategy matters
a
A county government wishes to convert government vehicles from gasoline to natural gas. How can the county evaluate the effectiveness of the conversion? a. By estimating the payback period b. By analyzing budgetary impacts of county contracts c. By aligning fund allocations with number of departmental employees d. By conducting best practices research regarding audit performance
a
A doctoral student is surveying chief executive officers (CEOs) to understand their relationships with their governing boards. The student determines the years of business experience for each CEO as well as their rating, on a 10-point scale, of satisfaction with the governing board. Which statistical approach should be used to display the data for analysis? a. Scatter plot b. Median c. Bell curve d. Mean
a
A hardware store has found that there is a 0.25 probability that a customer buys an electrical product, a 0.45 probability that a customer buys a plumbing product, and a 0.10 probability that a customer buys an electrical part if they purchase a plumbing part. Given this information, which statistical rule can be used to determine the probability that a customer buys a plumbing product given that this customer has purchased an electrical product? a. Bayes' Theorem b. Multiplication c. Combination d. Conditional probability
a
A hotel chain is interested in improving its customer service by reducing the amount of time it takes customers to check in. Which analysis technique should they use? a. Flowchart b. Tree diagram c. Network diagram d. Matrix diagram
a
A normally distributed data set has a mean of 10 and a standard deviation of 2. What is the probability that a randomly selected event from the data set will be between 8 and 12? a. 68.2% b. 95.4% c. 99.6% d. 100%
a
A professional services firm is undergoing a business process improvement exercise to improve productivity, staff morale, and client satisfaction. Which technique might the firm use to evaluate the strength of customer service relations? a. Net promoter score b. KPI dashboard c. Balanced scorecard d. Results-based management
a
An analyst used multiple linear regression to explore how Store A's sales ( y) are predicted by Store A's advertising expenditure dollars (variable x1) and the advertising expenditure dollars of Store A's competitor (variable x2). The estimated regression is y = 532 + 80.5 x1 - 35.6 x2. Which scenario would be predicted if x1 is $1,000 and x2 is also $1,000? a. Sales of $45,432 b. Sales of $116,632 c. Sales of $44,900 d. Sales of $44,367
a
An organization is concerned about whether quality control standards are being met and develops a strategy to test quality control metrics. Which step does this represent in the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle? a. Plan b. Do c. Check d. Act
a
How can organizations implement an effective performance management evaluation system? a. By establishing a balanced scorecard b. By surveying employees about management c. By benchmarking against other organizations d. By studying trends in management evaluation
a
In the month of December, there is a strong positive correlation between airline ticket sales and retail sales. Which question should the researcher consider before concluding that the correlation statistic implies that airline sales drive retail sales? a. Does a causal relationship truly exist? b. Are the data biased? c. Is the sample size large enough? d. Does the sample accurately reflect the population?
a
In what way does probability theory inform decision-making for managers? a. By quantifying risk b. By quantifying data c. By quantifying quality d. By quantifying costs
a
This statistical procedure compares outcomes of different drug testing results a. Anova b. Correlation c. Control Charts
a
What is the most important analytic to determine the success or failure of a particular year's flu vaccine? a. Incidence accounting for all new cases b. Cost/benefit comparing the advantages and disadvantages c. Consumer satisfaction survey of all existing cases d. Number of persons who did not get the flu vaccine
a
What is true of cost-effective analysis? a. It analyzes the cost of achieving a quantifiable goal. b. It balances a government budget. c. It is often used in the private but not the public sector. d. It analyzes the cost of intangible assets.
a
When conducting a study that measures an individual's weight, all scales are calibrated prior to use in measurement. Which type of error should this procedure significantly reduce? a. Systematic error b. Omission error c. Random error d. Information error
a
Which approach focuses on eliminating activities that do not add value or satisfy customers? a. Lean Operations b. International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certification c. Six Sigma d. Design for Six Sigma
a
Which approach uses financial, customer, internal business processes, and innovation/learning measures? a. Balanced scorecard b. Key performance indicators c. Results-based management d. Management by objectives
a
Several missing values in a particular field in a dataset were observed. The likelihood of a record having a missing value is correlated to another variable in the dataset. Which two types of error might be introduced into the dataset if the removed record included missing values? a. Systematic error b. Omission error c. Random error d. Typographical error
a, b
A company is trying to increase its online sales revenue by improving its e-mail advertising campaign for repeat customers as well as new customers. Which two variables would be used in determining a campaign to maximize revenue gain? a. Number of purchases per e-mail b. E-mail content c. Spending per purchase d. Cost per e-mail
a, c
A manager of a call center is in charge of creating a staffing plan. The number of calls received per day is normally distributed. Which two statistics would be needed in order to estimate the number of calls that would be received 95% of the time? a. Standard deviation b. Mean c. Median d. Interquartile range
a, c
A medical care provider determines the probability that a patient needs treatment for a broken bone, the probability that a patient needs treatment for a concussion, and the probability that a patient needs treatment for both a broken bone and a concussion. Which two techniques apply in finding the probability that a patient needs treatment for a broken bone and a concussion? a. Intersection b. Union c. Multiplication principle d. Mutually exclusive
a, c
In what two ways are KPI dashboards useful in performance assessment? a. They are visual representations of key areas of focus. b. They show trends that represent organizational results over time. c. They tell managers how to write action plans. d. They inform managers on competitors.
a, c
Which two decision considerations describe fact-based decision making, according to the quality management principles? a. Decisions reduce external bias. b. Decisions have marginal effect on relationships with suppliers. c. Decisions foster trust in plans. d. Decisions use diversity of experience.
a, c
What are two reasons for the increasing use of analytics in organizational decision making? a. Relatively lower cost of computer storage b. Lower availability of statistical experts c. Higher cost of obtaining data d. Higher computer processing power
a, d
Which two items represent steps of results-based management? a. Define resources b. Develop control charts c. Develop four performance perspectives d. Study the long-term effects of the output
a, d
A check sheet indicates that of 100 returned items, 50 were damaged upon delivery, 30 were the wrong size, 10 were of poor quality, 5 were a mistaken order, and 5 were returned due to the customer no longer wanting the item. What is the appropriate way to represent these data? a. Construct a control chart b. Construct a Pareto chart c. Construct a cause-and-effect diagram d. Construct a flow chart
b
A doctoral student is surveying chief executive officers (CEOs) to understand their relationships with their governing boards. The student receives responses to a survey with ten questions that rates the respective relationships. Why would the student measure the standard deviation of responses? a. To create a bell curve b. To measure the spread of the data c. To determine if the data is nonlinear d. To understand the midpoint location of the data
b
A manager is analyzing a dataset that includes information on individual incomes. The manager knows that the dataset is fairly representative of the general population and includes several millionaires. Based on this dataset, which measure of central tendency best represents the middle of the distribution? a. Mean b. Median c. Frequency d. Mode
b
A manager uses a linear regression to examine how the store's retail sales are predicted by advertising expenditures. What will retail sales represent in this regression? a. The independent variable b. The dependent variable c. The control variable d. The predictor variable
b
A national manufacturer is building an overseas factory to be closer to one of its largest markets. Which analysis technique would be appropriate when evaluating location options under risk in order to strengthen the firm's competitiveness in the new market? a. Developing a network diagram b. Developing a decision tree c. Developing a draw flow diagram d. Developing a run chart
b
A research study examined the impact of product advertisement exposure on that product's brand awareness. The appropriate statistical test indicates that the null hypothesis should be rejected with 95% confidence. What can be concluded from this study? a. The advertisement was effective in increasing sales. b. The advertisement was effective in building brand awareness. c. Five percent of the subjects did not like the advertisement. d. Ninety-five percent of the subjects liked the brand.
b
A researcher wants to predict test scores based upon hours spent studying. Which type of regression would be more appropriate? a. Weighted least squares regression b. Ordinary least squares regression c. Logistic regression d. Multivariate regression
b
After evaluating manufacturing times for a particular product, a manager determines that the times are spread out across the distribution. The manager has been asked to determine how far, on average, the time is from the mean. Which statistic roughly measures the average distance of a data point from the mean of the distribution? a. Median b. Standard deviation c. Mode d. Arithmetic mean
b
The number of customers that an automobile service shop receives on any given day is normally distributed with a mean of 75 and a standard deviation of 25. On a given day, 125 oil changes are performed. a. 97.5% b. 68.5% c. 99% d. 67%
b
This statistical procedure is used to help understand effective marketing and to spend advertising dollars efficiently a. Anova b. Correlation c. Control Charts
b
What does True Score Theory state about a test without systematic error? a. The observed score is the true score. b. The observed score is the true score plus random error. c. The observed score contains no error. d. The observed score contains no random error.
b
What does this scatter diagram of an organization's retail sales and advertising expenditures indicate? a. The advertising campaign has no relationship to retail sales. b. Increases in advertising expenditures are associated with increases in retail sales. c. The advertising campaign has caused retail sales to increase. d. The advertising campaign has caused retail sales to decrease.
b
What is a description of data mining? a. It identifies causal relationships in large data sets. b. It discovers patterns or trends in large data sets. c. It is typically performed in extraction industries. d. It evaluates the validity of data extraction.
b
Which common analytic measure is used to improve business performance? a. Base period index b. Simple composite index c. SIPOC index d. Consumer price index
b
Which graphical tool is used to illustrate a possible relationship or correlation between two variables? a. Run chart b. Scatterplot c. Box plot d. Histogram
b
Which type of data are the Olympic medals of gold, silver, and bronze examples of? a. Nominal data b. Ordinal data c. Interval data d. Ratio data
b
What are two aspects of data quality management? a. It calculates spurious data. b. It reduces the amount of incomplete data. c. It monitors data input rates. d. It cleans data.
b, d
Which two attributes indicate potential data quality issues when evaluating a set of nominal data? a. Outlier data b. Missing data c. Out-of-range data d. Misspelled data
b, d
A healthcare study follows a particular sample over time to identify how the health habits of teenagers impact their likelihood of acquiring various diseases later in their life in the hope that the healthcare organization will be able to create early prevention programs. Which type of research design does this study describe? a. Double blind study b. Systematic study c. Cohort study d. Experimental study
c
A joint venture is established between two firms to use their core competencies to increase their market share. How would a SIPOC (suppliers, inputs, process, outputs, and customers) diagram benefit the joint venture? a. It tracks financial performance. b. It logs production errors. c. It provides a holistic view of the entire operation. d. It measures client satisfaction.
c
A nonprofit organization ran an e-mail campaign with three different messages to solicit additional donations. What should the nonprofit organization use to determine if the average donation differs for the different messages? a. T-test b. Mean c. ANOVA d. Median
c
A professional services firm wants to track and monitor important financial performance measures of the company (e.g., year-over-year change in revenues and profits). Which performance approach would best meet the company's objective? a. Incidence rate b. True score method c. Results-based management d. Net promoter score
c
A retail store notices a spike in turkey sales every November. Which time series pattern are turkey sales likely to exhibit? a. Trend b. Cyclicality c. Seasonality d. White noise
c
An advertising manager creates a research study by presenting low, medium, or high frequency of the same ad in matched markets. The manager then reports on sales in each market location. What is the term for the different sales in this study? a. The experimental unit b. The treatment c. The response variable d. The intervention
c
An organization develops a new strategic plan and seeks ways to measure its performance over a specific period of time. Which system enables the organization to measure performance based upon established global standards? a. Six Sigma b. Balanced scorecard c. ISO d. The Value Chain
c
The average test score of students taking an exam was 70% with a standard deviation of 8.5%. Which tool should be used to compare a student's score to the group average? a. Regression b. Correlation c. Z-score d. Linear Programming
c
This statistical procedure monitors production process a. Anova b. Correlation c. Control Charts
c
A college is reviewing statistics concerning student retention. The college would like to determine the most important factors that cause students to leave and asks the researcher to display this information using one of the Seven Basic Tools of Quality. Which tool should be used in this case? a. Histogram b. Run chart c. Flow chart d. Pareto chart
d
A researcher concludes that bananas create healthy children because the researcher's notes indicate that children who eat a banana every day are healthy. Which misuse of statistics would this study be an example of if these children also eat a balanced diet and exercise daily? a. Unfounded assumptions b. Lack of blinding c. Faulty operationalization d. Confusion of association and causality
d
A researcher looks at moving average data on store sales and wishes to perform a multiple regression of interest rates and disposable income. What is a particular concern when performing time series multiple regression? a. Multicollinearity b. Heteroscedasticity c. Homoscedasticity d. Autocorrelation
d
A soft-drink manufacturer performs a control chart analysis and the results indicate that the soft-drink bottles are consistently under-filled by a large amount according to specifications. The system was evaluated three months prior and was determined to be stable and filling bottles within accepted limits. What is this consistent under-filling an example of? a. Incapable process b. Common cause variation c. Subjective cause variation d. Special cause variation
d
Given the following data set: 9 12 14 10 8 11 12 What is the mode? a. 8 b. 9 c. 11 d. 12
d
In a statistical process control analysis, sample data are collected from an assembly line and measured to see if they fall within a tolerated measurement range. If an observation does fall within the range, a "yes" is recorded, and if it falls outside the range, a "no" is recorded. Which kind of data do the "yes" and "no" represent? a. Big data b. Biased data c. Variable data d. Attribute data
d
The management for Hospital A conducted a survey of its patients' opinions including gathering demographic data to determine which programs should be pursued during the upcoming fiscal year. Upon analyzing the response on the need for a cosmetic surgery program for the hospital, it was found that there was an r score of 0.75, and a p of 0.03 between a patient's income level and support for the creation of a cosmetic surgery department. Which statement provides an effective strategic decision based on an analysis of the given information? a. There is a weak positive relationship for a cosmetic surgery program as a function of income, and this program should not be developed in high income areas. b. There is a strong positive relationship for a cosmetic surgery program as a function of income, and this program should not be developed in high income areas. c. There is a weak positive relationship for a cosmetic surgery program as a function of income, and this program should be developed in high income areas. d. There is a strong positive relationship for a cosmetic surgery program as a function of income, and this program should be developed in high income areas
d
What does it mean when an individual data point has a z-score of -2? a. The data point is greater than the mean of the data set. b. The sample standard deviation of the data set is negative. c. The data point is equal to the mean of the data set. d. The data point is two standard deviations less than the mean of the data set.
d
What is a disadvantage of a balanced scorecard? a. It can weaken internal and external communication. b. It has difficulty linking an organization's operations with its strategy. c. It weakens organizational alignment. d. It requires significant time and effort to establish a meaningful scorecard.
d
What is a significant disadvantage of KPIs? a. They cannot be connected to external databases. b. They cannot be used for internal benchmarking. c. They do not offer data-driven results. d. They require significant ongoing maintenance.
d
Which key performance indicator can a hotel chain use to measure its ability to meet client tastes and preferences? a. Benchmarking other hotel chains' best practices b. Analyzing national data on tourism for length of stay c. Surveying staff members for customer service recommendations d. Surveying customer satisfaction upon checkout
d
Which phrase is a description of quality assurance? a. Reactive and causal b. Can be replaced by quality control activities c. Recommends corrective action d. Focuses on training
d
