HI6007 Statistics and Research Methods for Business Decision Making

Question 3.                                                                          

Assume you are a research analyst in an economic consultancy firm. Your team leader has given you a research task to investigate whether the per capita retail turnover in Australia is a good predictor of the final consumption expenditure of the country.

Relevant Variables:

FINAL CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURE: (Trend) in $ Millions; – quarterly data from September 1983 to March 2016.

RETAIL TURNOVER PER CAPITA – (Trend) Total (State) in $;- quarterly data from September 1983 to March 2016.

[Quarterly time series data (for the period September 1983 to March 2016) are from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)]

The data are stored in the file named “ASSIGNMENTDATA.XLSX” in the course website. Using EXCEL, answer below questions:

1. Using an appropriate graphical descriptive measure (relevant for time series data) describe the two variables.                                                                                                    (1 mark)

• Use an appropriate plot to investigate the relationship between FINAL CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURE and RETAIL TURNOVER PER CAPITA. Briefly explain the selection of each variable on the X and Y axes and why?                                                                                 (2 marks)
• Prepare a numerical summary report about the data on the two variables by including the summary measures, mean, median, range, variance, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, smallest and largest values, and the three quartiles, for each variable.