MANAGING DATA FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

QUESTIONS ARE IN BOLD AND OPTIONS. Select The answers from the text that are not in bold.

4. Displaying Quantitative Information

4a. Select the best response to the following question.

What is the advantage of showing numerical data in a table?

• Tables are always consistent and reliably formatted.
• Tables allow for easy comparisons of figures.
• Tables make trends more obvious.

4b. Read the scenarios and answer the questions that follow.

Your team is preparing a report on customer preferences for your online and phone help desk. The team gathered data from a survey of six questions. The short questionnaire was administered by help desk associates during service calls and chats.

The survey asked about customer preferences and also collected zip code, income, gender, and age. Now you want to cross-tabulate the data from the survey.

Online chat is efficient.

	Male	Female	18-24	25-35
Strongly agree	14%	30%	22%	12%
Agree	68%	46%	48%	69%
Disagree	11%	20%	17%	14%
Strongly disagree	7%	4%	13%	5%

(i) This table ______(will not/will) allow you to cross-tabulate and analyze the income and gender of participants

(ii) because

• The table would need additional columns of income information.
• All the data needed to cross-tabulate is included in the table.
• One of the columns does not add up to 100%.

Sandeep is a researcher who has been studying health care costs. He has looked at the average cost of health care for residents of Colorado for the past five years. He is presenting his findings about health care costs over time in a report.

4c.What would be the best type of graphic for Sandeep to use?

• Map
• Bar Chart
• Pie Chart
• Line Chart

4d. What should you do when creating an infographic? Check all that apply.

• Avoid using explanatory text.
• Make sure the graphic tells a clear story.
• Use your design to emphasize the most relevant points.

5. Interpreting Data for the Report Reader

Select the best response to the following question.

5a. When you consider all the facts in relationship to one another, what step in the data interpretation process are you completing?

• Context
• Isolation
• Synthesis

5b. Read the scenarios and answer the questions that follow.

You work in the administrative offices of a 24-hour day care provider. The company currently runs two facilities in town. Both facilities are at maximum capacity. The day care owner has asked you and a coworker to report on the market potential for adding a third location.

Through secondary and primary data collection, you and your coworker have collected the following information on current demand for 24-hour services:

1.	Where the highest number of current and projected customers are located
2.	Which employers would have the largest number of workers needing 24-hour child care
3.	What the projected demand might be over time

You are now interpreting your data to write your report for the owner.

You and your coworker begin looking at data in combination with other data. For example, you begin comparing the zip codes of current day care families, using 2010 census numbers of where families with young children are located and with information from employer interviews about 24-hour operations.

(i) You and your coworker are:

• Isolating the data points
• Placing the data in context
• Redistributing the data

(ii) What should you look for as you make sense of data from your research? Check all that apply.

• Infographics
• Extreme values
• Data that contradicts other data

5c. You manage a pet supply shop and are considering expanding your hours. You survey your customers to find out when they would most likely visit the store and what type of pet they have. You need to present a report on the data to the shops owner.

Of the 213 who answer, 98 say they would prefer weekday evening hours, 65 say Sunday afternoons, and the rest have no preference:

	Sunday Afternoon	Weekday Evenings	No Preference
Cat owners	25	17	37
Dog owners	39	80	12
Other	1	1	17
Total	65	98	50

(i) What is the top trend in the data from your survey of customers?

• Weekday evenings are the preferred option for extended hours.
• The store should stop selling fish food.
• Cat owners prefer to stay home on Sunday afternoon.

6. Chapter 9 Summary

6a. Read the scenario and answer the question that follows.

You work as an intern. You have been asked to research and report on how to use social media to increase participation in a fun running event your company is sponsoring for a local charity.

Which sources would provide you with the most useful information on the demographics and size of your target market for the run? Check all that apply.

• The Census Bureau
• Google Maps
• Registration files
• Past fun run records

6b. Select the best response to the following question.

What should you consider first when evaluating research studies as a secondary data source?

• The conclusions of the study
• The purpose of the study
• The length of the study

6c. Read the scenarios and answer the questions that follow.

You are writing a report to recommend how to improve communication and reduce e-mail overload at your office. You conduct a communication audit as part of your research for the report.

As part of the audit process you plan to send a questionnaire to all employees.

You include the following five questions in your questionnaire.

1. Do you currently receive the majority of your information through e-mail?

____Yes

____No

2. All the information I receive is not very useful in performing my job.

____Yes

____No

3. On a daily basis, how much time do you currently spend communicating via e-mail?____________

4. How much time did you spend last year communicating using a cell phone? ________________

5. How do you currently send the majority of your information?

_____E-mail

_____IM

_____One-on-one meetings

_____Company intranet

(i) The order of these questions is ________ (ineffective/effective)

(ii) because

• Current usage questions should be placed next to one another.
• All of the questions are clearly stated.
• Similar topics are grouped together.

6d. Sheila is the national sales manager for a chain of retail stores that sell beds and bedding. She is preparing a report on annual sales and created this chart to include in the report:

(I) What can Sheila do to improve the chart? Check all that apply.

• Make it a pie chart instead of a bar chart.
• Start the horizontal axis at zero so the differences in the numbers are not exaggerated.
• Change the title to Quilt Sales Fall in Every Region.

(ii) What is one important fact that Sheila may interpret from this data?

• The weather in the West is too hot for quilts.
• Quilts are traditional items that take time to construct.
• Quilt sales have dropped the most in the Southern region.