Exam Questions QDA 20-21

Part B:

Below is a data analytics scenario. Please read through the scenario, examine the findings presented
in the Appendix, and answer the two questions that follow.

Following significant lobbying by the Institute for Enterprise and Entrepreneurs, who were
concerned about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the nearly 5 million self-employed, sole-
proprietor business owners in the UK, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
commissioned a marketing analytics company to conduct a survey in January 2021.

The analytics company identified a list of all self-employed, sole-proprietor business owners in the
UK and selected a random sample of 1000 individuals to invite to take the survey. Respondents were
entered into a prize draw for gift vouchers worth £500. Potential respondents were further informed
that five responses would be selected to be developed into case studies that, alongside the overall
survey findings, would be presented to the national media.

The analytics company devised a number of questions to include in the survey about the impact of
the COVID-19 pandemic on the businesses owned by the individual and on the health and wellbeing
of the individual themselves. The survey was conducted in March 2021.

Once the survey responses were received, the head of the survey team at the analytics company
gave the dataset to a new analyst to interrogate. She was asked to identify what were the main
causes of business failure and health-related burnout among this population. The analyst was free to
choose the variables for the analyses from those measured. Below is a summary of the full content
of the survey:

Age (in years)

Gender (male = 0; female = 1)

Experience as entrepreneur (in years)

Geographical location (North = 0; South = 1)

Graduate status (No degree = 0; BSc/BA = 1; MA/MSc = 2)

Personality dimensions:

- Vulnerability. Vulnerability reflects a sensitivity to work stress. Composite measure of

three indicators of vulnerability developed by the agency. An example item is “I often
struggle with high pressure at work, which can affect my sleep”. Each indicator is rated
on a 3-point scale (e.g., 1 = disagree, 3 = agree). Cronbach’s alpha = .65; factor analysis
identifies one latent variable.
- Dedication. Dedication reflects a strong commitment to work. Composite measure of 12
indicators of dedication developed by the agency. An example item is “I even work when
I am on holiday”. Each indicator is rated on a 3-point scale (e.g., 1 = disagree, 3 = agree).
Cronbach’s alpha = .49; factor analysis identifies two latent variables.

Number of businesses owned as of 1st January 2019 (as a count).

 COVID incidence (Did not catch COVID = 0; Caught COVID = 1)

Business Failure: Incidence of business failure since 2019 (No business failed = 0; One (or
more) business failed = 1)

Burnout. Burnout reflects severe psychological ill-health. Composite measure of 12

indicators of health-related symptoms or behaviours from Goldberg (1972; GHQ-12). Each
indicator is rated on a four-point scale (e.g., 1 = less than usual, 4 = much more than usual).
Cronbach’s alpha = .79; factor analysis identifies one latent variable.

Output from the SPSS analyses run by the analyst is presented in the Appendix at the end of this
document.

Please answer the following questions:

Question 3: Fully report the main findings of the analyses conducted. (30 marks)

Question 4: Critically evaluate the strength of the knowledge produced by this analytics project. (20
marks)
Appendix (there are four parts to this appendix spread over 2 pages).

1. Descriptive Information:

2. Correlation matrix:
 3. Logistic regression: (dependent variable = Business Failure)

4. Multiple regression:

End.