HELLENIC OPEN UNIVERSITY

MASTERS DEGREE PROGRAMME IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Module: ADVANCED QUANTITATIVE METHODS FOR MANAGERS
(MBA60)
Academic Year: 2015-16
2nd Written Assignment (WA2)
NEW SUBMISSION DATE: 12 / 01 / 2016
As already mentioned in the 1st WA, during the 90s, in the context of European
Community funding programs, 250 vocational training institutes (schools) were
established throughout a European Union member country. The Ministry of Higher
Education investigates the behaviour of annual operational expenses of the
vocational schools and how they relate with the number of trainees and the
population of cities they are operating.
The attached file VOCATIONAL_TRAINING_SCHOOLS_B.XLS gives the following
data of a random sample of 92 vocational training schools during the last fiscal year:
The annual operational cost per Trainee (in )
The number of students per vocational school, and
The population of the city they are established
Use the aforementioned data set in order to:

Subject 1 (10%)
Classify the schools, as follows:
Size of School: Codes: 1: students <= 50, 2: 51-100 students, 3: > 100 students
Size of City:

Codes: 1: Population <= 20.000, 2: 20.001-50.000, 3: > 50.000

Subject 2 (20%)
2.1 Set up a 99% confidence interval estimate of the population mean of the Annual
Operational Cost / Trainee.
2.2 The Secretary of Higher Education insists that due to fiscal problems, the annual
operational cost / trainee should be restricted to 1.400. On the basis of your
results, do you think that the Secretary has reasons to complain about annual
operational cost / Trainee? Explain.
2.3 Does the population of the annual operational cost / trainee have to be normally
distributed here? Explain.
2.4 Suppose that you used a 95% confidence interval estimate. How would your
answers to 2.1 and 2.2 be affected?

HELLENIC OPEN UNIVERSITY

MASTERS DEGREE PROGRAMME IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Subject 3 (20%)
The creditors of the country (IMF-EU-ECB) require that total annual operational cost
of the vocational schools must be less than 37 millions to avoid budget deficits.
Given that there are 25.000 trainees in total in the country; does the country satisfy
the creditors requirements?
3.1 State the null and the alternative Hypotheses
3.2 Test the hypothesis at = 5%
3.3 On the basis of your results, are creditors requirements satisfied as far as the
total annual operational cost is concerned?
3.4 Set up a 95% confidence interval estimate of the total annual operational cost of
vocational schools.

Subject 4 (20%)
A very important issue regarding the viability of vocational schools is the size of the
schools (number of trainees per school).
4.1 Find an unbiased point estimate of the proportion of large schools (with more
than 100 trainees).
4.2. Find a 95% confidence interval for the proportion of large vocational schools.
4.3 According to the Statistical Authorities, the total number of students attending
vocational courses is 25.000. Set up a 95% confidence interval estimate of the
population number of trainees registered in large vocational schools.

Subject 5 (15%)
Do the data support the hypothesis that the percentage composition of schools
according to their size is the same in all city sizes?
5.1 State the null and the alternative Hypotheses
5.2 Test the hypothesis at = 1%
5.3 What is your conclusion?

HELLENIC OPEN UNIVERSITY

MASTERS DEGREE PROGRAMME IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Subject 6 (15%)
A final question, for which the Secretary of Higher Education asks for an answer, is if
there is any difference between the Average Annual Operational Cost / Trainee of
two specific groups of schools: Medium size schools (51-100 students) and large
schools (> 100 students). Estimate the 95% confidence interval of the difference of
the two Average Annual Operational Cost / Trainee using the relevant data in the
attached file. Explain your findings.
2

Note: Use the Z statistic with standard error of (Mean1-Mean2) = (s1 /n1 + s2 /n2)

1/2

HELLENIC OPEN UNIVERSITY

MASTERS DEGREE PROGRAMME IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Assignment guidelines

It is important that the coursework reflects your knowledge rather than it being
simply an accumulation of information.
The assignment should be well structured and easy to read.
The assignment should clearly present all aspects and perspectives of the
subject area, i.e.:
o
efficiently develop all necessary elements
o
refer to actual case studies or statistics if required
o
present reasonable argumentation
o
omit irrelevant material
All questions are compulsory. The assignment, including possible diagrams,
tables, references etc., should not exceed 5000words. For every additional 1000
words there will be a penalty of 0.5 points.
Each question accounts for a percentage of the total mark. This is clearly
marked at the beginning of each question.
The assignment is due on 12/01/2016. Please note that no assignment will be
acceptable after this date as the electronic submission system
automatically locks at 23:59 on the last day of submission.
You should submit your assignment via http://study.eap.gr (or
http://study.hou-wue.eu if you attend the HOU-WUE MBA Programme)
using your username and password.
You may use any of the following file formats:
o
Microsoft Word or / and Excel 97-2003 (*.doc / *.xls).
o
Microsoft Word or / and Excel Open XML (*.docx / *.xlsx)
o
Note: Interpretation of results and other text must be submitted ONLY
in Word format.
Other document formats or read only file formats such as Portable Document
Format (*.pdf) are not acceptable formats for the submission of your assignment.
Please pay attention to the proper naming of your assignment. The file should be
named as follows: Surname-Initial-WAnumber-YourClass. For example, if
your name is Peter Drucker, you are sending in your 3rd assignment, and you
are in ATH1 Class, then you should name your file as follows: Drucker-P-WA3ATH1. Assignments that fail to comply with this requirement will receive a lower
mark in the presentation grade.
Copying is considered cheating and is not acceptable in any form. Copying large
parts or whole paragraphs of text found in any of the sources used for an
assignment (printed books, academic articles, or electronic media of any
kind) is totally unacceptable. It is considered plagiarism and leads to a
severe penalty for the student(s) involved. Students should cite all sources
from which they take data, ideas or words, whether quoted directly or
paraphrased.
Good luck!!