WGU BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN DATA SCIENCE | STATISTICS
QUANTITATIVE METHODS AND DATA ANALYSIS EXAMINATION
FINAL SEMESTER ASSESSMENT – STATISTICAL INFERENCE, PROBABILITY
MODELS, AND RESEARCH DATA ANALYTICS
ACADEMIC YEAR 2025/2026
What are the five steps of the research process
1. Clarifying the research question
2. proposing research
3. data collection
4. data analysis and interpretation
5. reporting the results
What do you do when clarifying the research question? 3 points
1. change a management dilemma into a research question
2. research the question and formulate it into a specific hypothesis
3. give it an operational definition
operational definition
an operational definition basically describes the idea that you are examining in a very specific
manner
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,What 6 things do you need to consider when proposing the research?
1. purpose
2. methods
3. timing
4. budget
5. delivery
6. legal contract
What 2 things does the budget tell you?
1. it gives percents and factors
2. assigns a cost to each part/task of the research
Definition of Primary research
research that you conduct yourself
secondary research
research that someone else conducted, collected in the past on your topic
What 5 things do you need to consider when designing your research?
1. what instruments might you need?
2. will you need to train personnel?
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, 3. will you pay participants?
4. do you need to seek approval?
5. what special equipment/ software will you need?
what 4 things do you need to consider about data collection?
1. it needs to be submitted according to ethical standards
2. is it concrete and/or abstract?
3. is your data pertinent to your research question?
4. make sure your data fits with the hypothesis and actually answers your question
4 things to consider during data analysis and interpretation
1. check for accuracy and outliers
2. develop summaries
3. look for patterns
4. apply statistical techniques
What should reporting the results do?
it should inform a management decision
4 things to avoid during the research process
1. ill-defined problem
2. unsearchable questions
3|Page
QUANTITATIVE METHODS AND DATA ANALYSIS EXAMINATION
FINAL SEMESTER ASSESSMENT – STATISTICAL INFERENCE, PROBABILITY
MODELS, AND RESEARCH DATA ANALYTICS
ACADEMIC YEAR 2025/2026
What are the five steps of the research process
1. Clarifying the research question
2. proposing research
3. data collection
4. data analysis and interpretation
5. reporting the results
What do you do when clarifying the research question? 3 points
1. change a management dilemma into a research question
2. research the question and formulate it into a specific hypothesis
3. give it an operational definition
operational definition
an operational definition basically describes the idea that you are examining in a very specific
manner
1|Page
,What 6 things do you need to consider when proposing the research?
1. purpose
2. methods
3. timing
4. budget
5. delivery
6. legal contract
What 2 things does the budget tell you?
1. it gives percents and factors
2. assigns a cost to each part/task of the research
Definition of Primary research
research that you conduct yourself
secondary research
research that someone else conducted, collected in the past on your topic
What 5 things do you need to consider when designing your research?
1. what instruments might you need?
2. will you need to train personnel?
2|Page
, 3. will you pay participants?
4. do you need to seek approval?
5. what special equipment/ software will you need?
what 4 things do you need to consider about data collection?
1. it needs to be submitted according to ethical standards
2. is it concrete and/or abstract?
3. is your data pertinent to your research question?
4. make sure your data fits with the hypothesis and actually answers your question
4 things to consider during data analysis and interpretation
1. check for accuracy and outliers
2. develop summaries
3. look for patterns
4. apply statistical techniques
What should reporting the results do?
it should inform a management decision
4 things to avoid during the research process
1. ill-defined problem
2. unsearchable questions
3|Page
