A note on Academic Integrity: We are treating this online examination as a time-limited open assessment, and you are therefore permitted to refer to written and online materials to aid you in your answers. However, you must ensure that the work you submit is entirely your own, and for the whole time the assessment is live you must not: ● communicate with departmental staff on the topic of the assessment, except for the exam setter. ● communicate with other students on the topic of this assessment. ● seek assistance with the assignment from the academic and/or disability support services, such as the Writing and Language Skills Centre, Maths Skills Centre and/or Disability Services. (The only exception to this will be for those students who have been recommended an exam support worker in a Student Support Plan. If this applies to you, you are advised to contact Disability Services as soon as possible to discuss the necessary arrangements.) ● seek advice or contribution from any third party, including proof-readers, friends, or family members. We expect, and trust, that all our students will seek to maintain the integrity of the assessment, and of their award, through ensuring that these instructions are strictly followed. Failure to adhere to these requirements will be considered a breach of the Academic Misconduct regulations, where the offences of plagiarism, breach/cheating, collusion and commissioning are relevant - see AM.1.2.1
Please make sure you note the following detailed instructions: ● If you do not submit by the deadline you will score a mark of zero unless you submit in the first 30 minutes after the deadline in which case your mark will be subject to a 5% late penalty. The deadline is not flexible and it may take a while for your file to be processed through the system so make sure you submit in good time to allow for this. ● You must submit your answers as a single pdf file. Please check that all scanned pages are clear and visible before you submit. The Adobe Scan app is a free app that works on all smartphones and can be used to photograph and then connect together all the scans into a single document. Remember to ensure all your pages are in the correct order. ● Please make sure that every page is clearly labelled with the question number. You should number your pages. Page 3 of 9
● The file size limit for anonymised work submitted online is 99MB per file. Please see Compressing File Sizes (Student Guide) for details on reducing the file sizes. If your submission remains too large or if you experience genuine technical difficulties when trying to submit, then you should email your submission to [email protected]. If the assessment is too large to send by email, you may use the University of York Deposit Service. If using this service as the back-up please specify [email protected] as the recipient of the drop-off. Please do not use this backup option if the VLE submission has worked properly and you have received a receipt. ● University policy is that corrections or clarifications to the questions in the exam paper will only be issued within the first hour of the submission window. Therefore if outside the first hour you should answer the question as best as you can and note the assumptions that you have made to allow you to proceed. ● All submissions may be screened for collusion and plagiarism. By submitting your assignment you agree to the University rules on Collusion and Plagiarism. The Department will run submissions through Turnitin wherever possible. For more information visit york.ac.uk/integrity. ● You may make multiple submissions up to the assessment deadline but by default, we will mark your last submission before the deadline. It is your responsibility to make sure your submission is correct. It is recommended that you download the file to check that you have submitted the right document,
Page 4 of 9
Question: [40 marks] Write a consultancy report for GreenBuild Materials investigating factors influencing employee productivity. Your report should include the following sections: A. Introduction (200 to 250 Words): [6 marks] This section should explain the report's purpose and value to the Executive Board. • It should clearly outline your specific hypotheses relevant to the research question. [3 marks] • You need to identify relevant variables from your hypotheses and provide reasons for your chosen research direction. [3 marks]
B. Methodology (200 to 250 Words): [11 marks] • You need to explain the methods / tests you used to conduct the research process - including data cleaning procedures. [5 marks] • You need to provide reasons for each of your choices. [6 marks]
C. Results (250 words): [10 marks] • Present the findings using charts or tables created in SPSS, Excel, Python, or another statistical software. [5 marks] • Use diagrams, graphs, or charts to present the data clearly and visually illustrate productivity scores across shifts, noise levels, and other variables. You should provide a complete picture of the empirical analysis and not pick-and-choose findings based on their significance. [5 marks]
D. Discussion and Reflection (100 words to 150 words): [10 marks] • Interpret the statistical findings to address the research questions, highlighting factors that significantly affect productivity.
E. Conclusion (50 words to 100 words): [3 marks] Page 5 of 9
• Provide actionable recommendations for GreenBuild to improve scheduling, work environments, or employee engagement based on the findings.
Supplementary Evidence Requirement You must include supplementary evidence, such as graphical data or tables generated in SPSS or another statistical software, to enhance clarity and support your findings. Evidence may include histograms, bar charts, box plots, correlation matrices, or ANOVA output tables.
Note: The instructions are outlined as follows:
Case: GreenBuild Materials - Manufacturing Efficiency Consultancy Report for GreenBuild Materials: Investigating the Effect of Workplace Factors on Employee Productivity GreenBuild Materials is a leading company in sustainable construction, operating multiple manufacturing facilities across the region. Recently, the Board of Directors has raised concerns about variable productivity levels among employees across different shifts and environmental conditions. They believe that factors such as shift type, noise exposure, workplace temperature, employee satisfaction, and salary may significantly impact productivity, affecting overall efficiency. To gain a clearer understanding of these factors, GreenBuild conducted a survey among their manufacturing workforce. The data collected will help the company identify the most influential factors on productivity, enabling the Board to implement targeted changes to optimize employee performance and satisfaction. Some key questions they are interested in exploring include: • How do different shift types (morning, afternoon, night) impact productivity? • Is there a relationship between noise level exposure and employee productivity? • Does workplace temperature affect productivity levels? Page 6 of 9
• What is the correlation between employee satisfaction and productivity? • How does annual salary relate to productivity scores? You may be able to think of other important questions the company should be asking that can be answered by this data set. Marks will be awarded for deeper insights and additional exploration of the dataset. Dataset overview: The dataset comprises responses from 120 employees across GreenBuild’s facilities, with data collected on the following key variables: • Employee ID: Unique identifier for each participant. • Age: Age of the employee. • Gender: Gender of the employee. • Shift Type: Type of shift (Morning, Afternoon, Night) worked by the employee. • Noise Level Exposure: Noise exposure level in the workplace (Low, Medium, High). • Workplace Temperature (°C): Average temperature in the employee’s work area. • Employee Satisfaction: Satisfaction level on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 indicating “highly/Very satisfied.” • Productivity Score: Productivity score based on performance evaluations on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is the highest productivity score. • Years at Company: Duration of employment at GreenBuild. • Training Hours Last Year: Training hours completed in the past year. • Workload Intensity: Perceived job intensity (Low, Moderate, High). • Annual Salary (£): Annual salary of the employee in British pounds (£).
Page 7 of 9
Instructions for Candidates: Your task is firstly to explore which variables relating to salary are the most important, then statistically analyse the dataset gathered by the Board of Directors and use the findings from your analysis to write a report for the Executive Board. Your statistical analysis should follow these steps: Instruction: Step 1: Formulate Appropriate Hypotheses: • To answer the research question, you will need to select relevant hypotheses - there is a strong recommendation to propose three hypotheses in total. This step will be important in shaping your statistical analysis and guiding the investigative journey. Step 2: Identify relevant variables from your hypotheses: • You need to identify what the relevant variables are for your selected hypotheses. These variables will play a crucial role in shaping the study's focus and analytical framework. Step 3: Complete Data Cleaning: • Before the analysis phase, rigorous data cleaning procedures are essential to ensure the dataset is accurate, reliable, and ready for scrutiny. This preparatory step should fix any dataset discrepancies or anomalies that might affect the validity of the findings. Step 4: Identifying and applying statistical tests for analysis: • The core of the research process involves systematically conducting statistical tests and analysis to assess the validity of the formulated hypotheses. This step is central to uncovering empirical evidence and gaining a better understanding of the research question. Step 5: Interpret the results: Page 8 of 9
• The insights derived from the analysis, whether significant or not, will require effective interpretation. Use diagrams, graphs, or charts to clarify / visualise the findings. Step 6: Write your Report. • The report must be between 800 to 1000 words. This word count ensures a concise yet thorough presentation of the research process, findings, and implications. Note: Graphical evidence such as graphs and tables are excluded from the word count. Additional information: ● No references are required. ● You must add supplementary evidence such as graphical data from SPSS or any statistical tools you used for this data analysis. ● Cover page, contents list, figures, appendices, and references are excluded from the total word count.
