Question 1

Which of the following best describes the main goal of prescriptive analytics in business?

Accepted Answer

To optimize business processes and recommend actions for future circumstances.

Question 2

A dashboard in descriptive analytics is primarily used to:

Accepted Answer

Monitor business activities in near real time by providing comprehensive summary displays.

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT a category of predictive analytics methods?

Accepted Answer

Optimization

Question 4

A business analyst is using historical sales data to forecast next quarter’s sales. Which type of analytics is being used?

Accepted Answer

Predictive analytics

Question 5

Which formula represents the Euclidean distance used in clustering methods?

Accepted Answer

$$d_{ij} = \sqrt{\sum_{k=1}^{r} (x_{ik} - x_{jk})^2$}$$

Question 6

Which statement about supervised and unsupervised methods is correct?

Accepted Answer

Supervised methods use training data to build models and are the basis for inferential statistics.

Question 7

A regression tree splits data based on which criteria?

Accepted Answer

The independent variable that provides the best split of the data at each successive node.

Question 8

Which of the following is true regarding the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) in regression tree splitting?

Accepted Answer

A lower AIC value indicates a better model.

Question 9

Which method is best suited for analyzing associations among categorical variables?

Accepted Answer

Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA)

Question 10

A company wants to group customers based on their purchasing behavior to identify market segments. Which predictive analytics method should they use?

Accepted Answer

Clustering

Question 11

Which of the following is a risk when using supervised methods in predictive analytics?

Accepted Answer

Overfitting, where the model describes random error rather than underlying relationships.

Question 12

Which of the following best describes the use of dynamic bubble charts in descriptive analytics?

Accepted Answer

They use motion to represent an additional data dimension.

Question 13

Which formula correctly represents the corrected Akaike Information Criterion ($$AIC_c) $$for sample size?

Accepted Answer

$$AIC_c = AIC + \frac{2k(k+1)}{n-k-1}$$

Question 14

Which analytics method would be most appropriate for automating the interpretation of unstructured text data from social media?

Accepted Answer

Latent semantic analysis

Question 15

A LogWorth statistic greater than 2 in regression tree analysis generally means:

Accepted Answer

A split should be made.

Question 16

Which of the following is NOT a component typically combined in prescriptive analytics?

Accepted Answer

Cluster analysis

Question 17

In multidimensional scaling (MDS), what is the primary purpose of using distance between items?

Accepted Answer

To determine the similarity of items.

Question 18

Which of the following is a key step to avoid overfitting in supervised learning methods?

Accepted Answer

Using cross-validation techniques.

Question 19

A business wants to assign customers to 'high value' and 'low value' categories based on their purchase history. Which predictive analytics method should be used?

Accepted Answer

Classification

Question 20

Which of the following best describes the DCOVA framework’s role in unsupervised methods?

Accepted Answer

It increases the chances of arriving at a useful model.

Business Analytics: Concepts and Methods (Chapter 14 Study Notes)

Study Guide - Practice Questions

Study Guide - Flashcards