Project Objective: The objective of this business statistics capstone project is to provide you with an
opportunity to integrate the statistical tools and concepts that you have learned in your business
statistics course. Like all real world applications, it is not expected that through the completion of
this project that you will have utilized every statistical technique that you have been taught in this
course. Rather, an objective of the assignment will be for you to determine which of the statistical
tools and techniques are appropriate to employ for the situation you have selected.
Project Description: You are to identify an issue that is appropriately addressed using multiple
regression analysis. The emphasis of the project should be either to develop a predictive model and/or
a descriptive model (usually both). You are to collect raw data using any appropriate data collection
technique including observation, written or phone survey, experimentation, or through a reputable
secondary source (as described in chapter 1). The number of independent variables for which data is
collected should meet or exceed the minimum that are needed to fully address the central issue of the
project. In most cases this will mean having both quantitative and qualitative variables in your data
set. There is no set sample size requirement, but the sample size should be large enough to provide
sufficient data for the purposes of the analysis (min number of data points = 5 X number of variables).
Typically, the easier it is to acquire the data, the larger the sample size should be. You are
responsible for making sure that the data are accurate. All methods (or sources) for data collection
should be fully documented and described in your report.
Guidelines for Selecting a Project:
The following points are found to be critical success factors for your Semester capstone Project.
Please pay close attention to these points as they will be used as guidelines for grading your project.
The final report should be presented in a professional format using the style or format suggested
below. Creativity of the Project: Choosing a project topic is a challenge for most students. You should
choose a topic related to your work or your area of study in the Business School. Most of all: · You
should not copy Regression projects/topics from class. For example if we do a regression
example for determining house prices, you should NOT do a similar project unless you are aspiring
to be a realtor.
· If someone has already picked a topic, you cannot duplicate it unless it is markedly different in the
emphasis and data collection mechanism. · You need to be original in your data collection method. Do
not just copy something from a website.
For example, if someone collected data about cars from the dealer lots versus a web site, the dealer
lot data collection method would earn more credit. In other words surveys / experiments are
preferred over website downloads.
· You need to use your model to predict something. In other words demonstrate the use of model for
what it is intended to do. It need not be extremely accurate.
Report Writing (Your capstone project should be submitted in the following format):
Your report needs to leave a professional business impression in both writing quality and its physical
appearance. Do not try to make it unnecessary long by leaving lots of white space or large font size.
At the same time you must not leave out vital information from it. Most of all it should be:
· Free of spelling and grammar errors. · Inclusive of all deliverables as described in the syllabus. ·
Single space with a 12-point font size · You should have a cover page with your name(s) and relevant
class information and the title of your project.
· You should have a page of Executive Summary in which you briefly describe what you were trying to
accomplish, what you did, how you did it, what you found and what your recommendations and conclusions
are. · You should have an analysis page with Excel output and description in English what you are
doing. · You should have a conclusion / recommendations page describing what should be done as a result
of your project.
· Please attach all data in an appendix at the end.
The following guidelines will be used in grading your Capstone Projects
· 10 points for presentation – this means that they should have the right names and section numbers on
the cover page and stapled at the top. The name of the Project, the class number and who your
instructor is.
· 20 points for the Executive Summary – this should describe what the project was all about, how you
collected data, (actual data or surveys should be attached in an appendix) what the results were in
summary. Usually one page. · 50 points for analysis – this should include Excel output and a detail
written description (preferably in
English) of what all the numbers from Excel output mean and what should be inferred from them. It
should describe in “English” what this analysis is all about, what hypothesis are getting tested and
where. Which confidence intervals are getting computed where and what they mean individually. · 20
points for Recommendations / Conclusion / Summary – This all can be on the same page. It describes once
again the results and what they imply and any recommendations you may have as a consequence of having
gone through the analysis. What would you do differently if you had more resources?
Recommended Format for Capstone Project write-up.
(You can have up to four classmates work together on the capstone project)
Your capstone write-up should be single space and needs to include the following: 1. Cover Page: Your
name(s), class name & period, the name of the case
2. First Page: This should include Executive Summary. An executive summary is a brief description of
the situation, it describes the problem or challenge at hand, what analysis you did and what results
you
found. It is usually written last. 3. Analysis Page(s): Here you do the analysis using Excel usually.
Paste any Excel output and describe in English “what’s going on”. 4. Conclusion recommendations Page:
It should include what you are recommending based on your analysis. 5. Appendix: Here you can include
data (if you like).