Descriptive Statistics AnalysisDescribe the Sun Coast data using the descriptive statistics tools discussed in the unit lesson. Establish whether assumptions are met to use parametric statistical proc

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Sun Coast Remediation Course Project Guidance

Background

To help make a connection between business research and its use in the real world, this course will use an iterative course project. Throughout the term, you will serve as the health and safety director for Sun Coast Remediation (Sun Coast).

Sun Coast provides remediation services to business and governmental organizations. Most of their contracts involve working within contamination sites where they remove toxic substances from soil and water. In addition to the toxicity of the air, water, and soil their employees come into contact with, the work environment is physically demanding and potentially contributory to injuries involving musculoskeletal systems, vision, and hearing. Sun Coast genuinely cares about the health, safety, and well-being of their 5,500 employees, but they are also concerned about worker-compensation costs and potential long-term litigation from injuries and illness related to employment.

Health and Safety Director Task

Sun Coast hired you last month to replace the previous health and safety director, who left to pursue other opportunities. This is a critical position within the company because there are many health and safety-related issues due to the nature of the work.

Throughout the term you will use your knowledge of research methods to bring the proposal to fruition. You will conduct a literature review, develop research questions and hypotheses, create the research design, test data, interpret data, and present the findings. Each unit will accomplish one of these tasks. It has already been decided that the business problems will be best addressed using a quantitative research methodology. You will not collect any data for this project. All data will be provided for you.

Statistical Tools

You will conduct the data analysis using Microsoft Excel Toolpak. See the links below for more information.

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/load-the-analysis-toolpak-in-excel-6a63e598-cd6d-42e3-9317-6b40ba1a66b4

https://www.excel-easy.com/data-analysis/analysis-toolpak.html

Sun Coast Remediation Course Project Sections

Since this is a quantitative research study, there are specific steps that should be followed. The following is a template that will help you develop your project. (It is also provided as a separate template in Unit VII.) Use this information to guide your completion of the course project. See the templates provided in each unit to properly format your assignments in proper APA style.

Insert Title Here

Insert Your Name Here

Insert University Here

Table of Contents

Include the table of contents here. There is a tool for creating a table of contents on the References tab of the Microsoft Word tool bar at the top of the screen.

Executive Summary

The executive summary will go here. The paragraphs are not indented. It is formatted like an abstract.

Sun Coast Remediation Course Project

Introduction

Senior leadership at Sun Coast has identified several areas for concern that they believe could be solved using business research methods. The previous director was tasked with conducting research to help provide information to make decisions about these issues. Although data were collected, the project was never completed. Senior leadership is interested in seeing the project through to fruition. The following is the completion of that project, and includes statement of the dilemmas, literature review, purpose statements, research methodology, design, and methods, research questions and hypotheses, data analysis, and findings.

Statement of the Problems/Dilemmas

There were six business dilemmas identified.

Particulate Matter (PM)

There is a concern that job-site particle pollution is adversely impacting employee health. Although respirators are required in certain environments, particulate matter (PM) varies in size depending on the project and job site. PM between 10 and 2.5 microns can float in the air for minutes to hours (e.g. asbestos, mold spores, pollen, cement dust, fly ash), while PM less than 2.5 microns can float in the air for hours to weeks (e.g. bacteria, viruses, oil smoke, smog, soot). Due to the smaller size of PM less than 2.5 microns, it is potentially more harmful than PM between 10 and 2.5 since the conditions are more suitable for inhalation. PM less than 2.5 are also able to be inhaled into the deeper regions of the lungs, potentially causing more deleterious health effects. It would be helpful to understand if there is a relationship between PM size and employee health. Air quality data have been collected from 103 job sites, which is reflected in PM size. Data is also available for average annual sick days per employee per job-site.

Safety Training Effectiveness

Health and Safety training is conducted for each new contract that is awarded to Sun Coast. Data for training expenditures and lost-time hours were collected from 223 contracts. It would be valuable to know if training has been successful in reducing lost-time hours and, if so, how to predict lost-time hours from training expenditures.

Sound-Level Exposure

Sun Coast’s contracts generally involve work in noisy environments due to a variety of heavy equipment being used for both remediation and the clients’ ongoing operations on the job sites. Standard ear-plugs are adequate to protect employee hearing if the decibel levels are less than 120 decibels (dB). For environments with noise-levels exceeding 120 dB, more advanced and expensive hearing protection is required, such as ear-muffs. Data have been collected for the primary variables that are believed to contribute to excessive noise. It would be important if these data could be used to predict the dB levels of work environments before placing employees on site.

New Employee Training

All new Sun Coast employees participate in general health and safety training. The training program was revamped and implemented six months ago. Data is available for two Groups; a) Group A employees who participated in the previous training program, and b) Group B employees who participated in the revised training program. It is necessary to know if the revised training program is more effective than the prior training program.

Lead Exposure

Employees working on job sites to remediate lead must be monitored. Lead levels in blood are measured as micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood (μg/dL). A base-line is taken pre-exposure, then post-exposure at regular intervals, and at the conclusion of the remediation. Data are available for 49 employees who recently concluded a two-year-long lead remediation project. It is necessary to determine if blood lead levels have increased.

Return-On-Investment

Sun Coast would like to know if all lines of service provide the same return-on-investment. Return-on-investment data is available for air monitoring, soil remediation, water reclamation, and health and safety training. If return-on-investment is not the same for all lines of service, it would be helpful to know were differences exist.

Literature Review

Include this information here. Important Note: Students should refer to the information presented in Unit I and the Unit I assignment to complete this section of the project.

Research Objectives

Include this information here. Students should compose short, direct, statements about the objectives of the study.

Important Note: Students should refer to the problems/dilemmas Sun Coast is facing and to the information presented in Unit II and the Unit II assignment to complete this section of the project. Delete this.

Research Questions and Hypotheses

Students should state the research questions and hypotheses. Each problem/dilemma that they are researching should have one research question and a null and alternative hypothesis. In total, there should be six research questions and 12 hypotheses, as shown below.

Important Note: Students should refer to the information presented in Unit II and the Unit II assignment to complete this section of the project. Delete this before you begin.

RQ1

H01

HA1

RQ2

H02

HA2

Continue with the remaining research questions and hypotheses.

Research Methodology, Design, and Methods

Students should detail the research design they have selected and why it is an appropriate research approach for addressing the business dilemmas. The following subheadings can be used to include all required information. Delete this statement.

Research Methodology

Explain the research methodology chosen for this research project and provide rationale for why it is appropriate given the problems/dilemmas.

Research Design

Students should explain whether the research design is exploratory, explanatory, or descriptive. Provide rationale for the choice.

Research Methods

Describe the research methods that will be used for this research study. They may include survey, observation, experimentation, descriptive, correlation, or causal-comparative.

Data Collection Methods

Students should specify how the data were collected to test the hypotheses. Data collection methods include, but are not limited to, survey, observation, and records analysis.

Sampling Design

Students should briefly describe the type of sampling design that was most likely used for the data that were collected. Choices include, but are not limited to, random sample, convenience sample, etc. Explain your rationale for your sampling design selection(s).

Data Analysis Procedures

Students should specify which statistical procedures were used to test each set of hypotheses from among correlation, regression, t test, and ANOVA. They should explain why each procedure was the most appropriate choice.

Data Analysis

Student narrative should restate the null and alternative hypotheses for each of the six business dilemmas, indicate the p-value of the results, and explicitly accept or reject the null and alternative hypotheses. Exceptional submissions will explain if assumptions for parametric testing were met.

Students should provide the Excel Toolpak results of their statistical analyses. At a minimum, histograms, descriptive statistics, and the statistical tests should be cut and pasted from Excel directly into the final project document.

For the regression hypotheses, the students should display and discuss the predictive regression equation.

Correlation Analysis

Descriptive statistics and assumption testing. Include this information here. Delete these statements before you begin.