School of Business and Law
University of East London
Assessment Guide
Summary
| Individual assessment | Weighting: 50% |
| Maximum word count: 2000 | Submission deadline: 17:00, 27th April 2021 |
Submission procedure:
The individual reports should be submitted electronically through the turnitin system by the deadline date.
Return of feedback and marked work:
Feedbacks of the reports in seminars and the individual reports will be marked in three weeks.
Introduction
Individual Assignment—Data Analysis and Forecasting
Details of the task
Background:
You are working in sales for AutoMobile Inc., a firm of car distributors, who are thinking of expanding into a new market. You have been asked to investigate the factors which determine vehicle ownership in various Asian countries; the most recent data you can find is for 2019, and is as shown in Cars3.xls.
To prepare for a presentation to management about opportunities for sales in Cyprus, carry out the following steps:
- Plot scatter graphs of vehicles per thousand population against income, population, population density and percentage of population in urban areas in the Excel file with which you believe there might be correlation. What do your results suggest? [20%]
- For the variable which is more closely correlated to vehicles per thousand population, calculate the equation of the regression line, and interpret the results. [15%]
- Plot scatter graphs of total vehicle ownership against income, population, population density per km^2 and population in urban areas. What do these graphs suggest? [20%]
- For the variable which is more closely correlated to total vehicle ownership, calculate the equation of the regression line and interpret the results. [15%]
- Which of the two regression equations do you think will be more useful to the company? [10%]
- Data for Cyprus is as follows:
| Income | Population | Population density | % urban |
| 6.71 | 73.7 | 99 | 73.3 |
Use this data and the regression equations calculated in b.) and d.) above to predict the total number of vehicles and number of vehicles per 1000 population for Cyprus . The actual figures are 7.04 million and 105.6 per 1000 population. Explain why your predictions differ from these values. [20%]
Student Assignment Guidelines
In your answers, you should demonstrate your knowledge of and ability to explain
and apply statistics theory. You must justify any conclusion you reach
on the basis of evidence provided by you by reference to, or quotation from, the
course notes, textbooks, other course readings, or any other source you choose to use.
As long as your answers give a good justification and demonstrate your reasoning
ability and your knowledge, you can obtain a good grade. Moreover, you are requested to write and submit a final report of two projects.
Structure
You have been asked to produce a report. It should contain the following:
- Title Page, including the given title in full.
- Abstract (No more than 50 words)
- Contents Page
- Introduction
- Main body, which should also be organised under appropriate headings.
- Conclusion
- Appendices, which should be numbered.
- Make sure you refer your reader to them as required.
- Word count; excluding appendices and reference list
You are not required to provide recommendations.
Presentation
Your work should be word processed in accordance with the following:
- Font style, Lucida Sans, font size 12
- 1.5 line spacing.
- The page orientation should be ‘portrait’
- Margins on both sides of the page should be no less than 2.5 cm
- Pages should be numbered
- Your name should not appear on the script.
- Your student number should be included on every page.
Skills Advice
Refer to your material provided in your skills modules to make sure that you have conformed to academic conventions. Pay particular attention to:
- Your introduction,
- Your conclusion,
- The use of headings and/or signpost words
- Paragraph structure
Do refer to Info skills at http://writeitright.uelconnect.org.uk/home/
and http://infoskills.uelconnect.org.uk/
Referencing.
The university expects students to use Harvard referencing as specified in the book Cite them Right.
- Refer to http://www.uel.ac.uk/lls/support/harvard.htmfor further advice and a link to an online version of Cite them Right
- You should be careful to include citations within your work as well as a reference list at the end. Unreferenced work will fail.
Word Count
Your word count should not include your abstract, contents, reference list or appendices. You should provide your word count at the end of your report.
Exceeding the word count by more than 10% will result in a penalty of 10% of your marks for your work.
If your work is significantly shorter, then you will probably have failed to provide the level of detail required.
Submission to Turnitin of Work Submitted for Assessment
Our policy on the use of Turnitin recognises the educational desirability that all of our students should enjoy the opportunity to self-submit their work to Turnitin (before submitting for assessment). We also recognise that Turnitin Originality Reports will sometimes assist in the identification of plagiarised work submitted for assessment.
Work that is submitted to Turnitin generates a Turnitin originality report, showing which parts of it have been reproduced from which sources. The system compares submissions to material that is to be found: on the world-wide web; in its database of previous submissions; and in its growing number of databases of published articles. You should not assume that a Turnitin originality report with a low similarity index is evidence that the piece of work concerned is free from plagiarism.
Our policy provides that a Module Leader may decide, in accordance with the policy of RDBS, that all student submissions for a particular component of assessment should be submitted to Turnitin, provided that the relevant Module Guide includes a notice to that effect.
Notice is hereby given that all submissions of reports for this Module must be submitted to Turnitin. Detailed guidance on how to submit your work to Turnitin will be made available on this Module’s UEL Plus site.
If you fail to submit your report to Turnitin, in accordance with the guidance on the UEL Plus site, you will be awarded a mark of 0 for the component.
Submission
The material that you submit to Turnitin will be marked. The deadline applies so you are advised not to submit after 17:00, because it could take some time for your submission to upload, and the delay could cause the work to be received after 17:00. A late submission will receive a mark of 0.
Please be aware that the Turnitin site will advise you that late submissions are accepted. This is only for the purposes of allowing students who are claiming extenuation to submit their work.
Please read the material in the submission folder and make sure that you attach the feedback sheet as requested and save the document using the format for the name of the document as specified.
Assessment criteria
There is more than one approach to answer the questions. Different students will therefore have their own view of answering the questions and how much weight to give any particular element. Whatever their approach, students will need to plan their answers carefully, in order to provide a succinct answer to the questions, within the word limit (2000). In their answers students should demonstrate your knowledge of and ability to explain and apply statistics theory. They must justify any conclusion they reach on the basis of evidence provided by them by the course notes/textbooks. As long as their essay gives a good justification for the answer and demonstrates their reasoning ability and their knowledge, they can obtain a good grade. At all stages they should explain their reasoning in a way that shows their understanding of the theory and empirical studies of the following lecture notes/textbooks:
- From Week 1 and Week 6 lecture notes
Students’ answers should be written in an academic manner, presenting their view carefully, justifying their view with rigour and discussion. When they present a relevant theory in your justification, it is good, where possible, to demonstrate your understanding of it by using a simple equation or diagram. In their assessment they could include a brief outline of theory needed in this assessment. They should use the example presented in the question to demonstrate they points. Students are also encouraged to do their calculation in Excel and show their numerical results in the assessment.
The weighting of assessment criteria can be summarised as follows:
Assessment criteria Weight
Application of appropriate quantitative techniques 30
Logical sequence and development 10
Evidence of background reading 10
Appropriate depth of analysis 10
Presentation and interpretation of economic/financial information 30
Use of supporting data/evidence 10
Total mark 100
The report is submitted at 17:00 on 27th April 2021. No late reports will be accepted after that day.
Extenuating Circumstances
Extenuating Circumstances are circumstances which:
- impair your examination performance in assessment or reassessment, or
- prevent you from attending for assessment or reassessment, or
- prevent you from submitting assessed or reassessed work by the scheduled date
If you need to apply for extenuating circumstances please find the relevant information at:
www.uel.ac.uk/qa/documents/extenuatingcircumstances.doc
Re-assessment Work
You will need to retrieve this assignment if any of the following occur during the semester:
- You fail to achieve 40% or more for this assignment
- You fail to achieve 50% for the module and you failed to achieve 40% or more for this assignment.
You will be expected to complete a similar piece of work for your second attempt. Your assignment brief will be available on UEL Plus.
Student Appeals
Students who wish to appeal against Field and ward Boards decisions can find the relevant information at:
