What Should the Committee Do? Business Briefing The objective of your work is to

What Should the Committee Do?
Business Briefing
The objective of your work is to influence the decisions of the Assessment Committee by providing data-based insights and recommendations.
Background
– You are a member of the Assessment Committee at a business school. There is disagreement on the Committee because different members have different opinions on how the Data & Decisions course should be designed and assessed
– The overall objective of the Assessment Committee is to ensure that the primary focus of the course and the assessment of each course are suitable so that graduates will develop both understanding and confidence in the topic.
– Data & Decisions is an important course in the curriculum. The World Economic Forum has outlined that business school graduates who understand how to make decisions based on data are more likely to distinguish themselves in the workplace. However, Committee members are split on which of two approaches to course design should be used.
– Approach One: Some members believe the course should focus 75% on manipulating data, and only 25% on interpreting data. Further, they believe the best assessment technique is an exam taken one week after the course finishes. They argue that any other approach cannot be effective. This opinion is based on their own past experience, and the firm belief that an exam is the best way to ensure every student learns the material.
– Approach Two: Some members believe the course should instead focus 25% on manipulating data and 75% on interpreting the data for business purposes. These members also believe that the course should be assessed using several different assignments and no exams. They argue that this approach can indeed effectively develop knowledge and confidence.
– The decision is currently at a standstill. The last meeting finished without reaching the required consensus.
– You have discovered that one professor at your school ran a test case, teaching Data & Decisions using Approach Two. The
course was run for a cohort of 35 MBA students.
– The professor collected pre- and post-course data to measure how the course affected student understanding, level of experience, and anxiety about the topics.
Methodology
– One week before the course began, the cohort of 35 MBA students were asked to complete a pre-course survey.
– All students were asked to complete a second survey one day after the course had finished. Some of the original questions
were repeated in the second survey in order to provide a pre-intervention and post-intervention measurement.
Your Personal Objective
– Your objective is to use the data collected from the pre-course and post-course surveys to assess whether or not Approach Two has clear benefits for students.
– You will use the output from your analysis to generate insights and make recommendations to the Assessment Committee.
– In other words, your goal is to influence the Committee so that it decides based on data, rather than the personal experience
of Committee members
– For the purposes of the analysis, you can assume the cohort of 35 MBA students is representative of postgraduate students at your business school.
This is the business briefing. The specific instructions for the assignment are overleaf.
Dr. Amanda Nimon-Peters Not for sharing without permission
Your Task
What Should the Committee Do?
Assignment Briefing
– Your task is to evaluate whether or not teaching Data & Decisions according to Approach Two resulted in a significant improvement for the students, at least in terms of their subjective experience.
– You must provide data-based recommendations that can be sent to all Committee members head of the next meeting. Your proposal must be written on the appropriate section of template for Assignment 2. Unlike Assignment 1, you will be asked only to provide your Objective, Findings and Recommendations.
– When you upload your answers to Assignment 2 you should also upload the Excel spreadsheet that includes your own original analysis (the ‘what should the committee do’ data). Your Excel spreadsheet will not be graded: only the answers will be graded. However, it is an assignment requirement that I see both your own original analysis AND your answers.
– Your Excel analysis must include two paired t-tests, as well as descriiptive statistics and confidence intervals for the three most important variables. These analyses are sufficient to write the report.