IGNOU MMPC-05 - Quantitative Analysis for Managerial Applications

1. Describe briefly the questionnaire method of collecting primary data. State the essentials of a good questionnaire. 2. Discuss the importance of measuring variability for managerial decision-making. 3. An investment consultant predicts that the odds against the price of a certain stock will go up during the next week are 2:1 and the odds in favour of the price remaining the same are 1:3. What is the probability that the price of the stock will go down during the next week? 4. In practice, we find situations where it is not possible to make any probability assessment. What criterion can be used in decision-making situations where the probabilities of outcomes are unknown? 5. A purchase manager knows that the hardness of castings from any supplier is normally distributed with a mean of 20.25 and SD of 2.5. He picks up 100 samples of castings from any supplier who claims that his castings have heavier hardness and finds the mean hardness as 20.50. Test whether the claim of the supplier is tenable.

1. In a railway reservation office, two clerks are engaged in checking reservation forms. On an average, the first clerk (A1) checks 55% of the forms, while the second (A2) checks the remaining. While A1 has an error rate of 0.03, that of A2 is 0.02. A reservation form is selected at random from the total number of forms checked during a day and is discovered to have an error. Find the probabilities that it was checked by A1 and A2, respectively. 2. “Data used in statistical study is termed as either “Primary” or “Secondary” depending upon whether it was collected specifically for the study in question or for some other purpose.” Explain both the sources of collecting the data in brief 3. A fair coin is tossed 400 times. Using normal approximation to the binomial, find the probability that a head will occur a) More than 180 times b) Less than 195 times. 4. “The primary purpose of forecasting is to provide valuable information for planning the design and operation of the enterprise.” Comment on the statement. 5. Write short notes on any three of the following:- a) Methods of collecting primary data b) Decision tree approach c) Central limit theorem d) Opinion polls e) Use of auto-correlations in identifying time series