A high-end market research firm has contacted your boss and is trying to sell some business to your organization. Upper management does not want to appear incompetent, so they have asked you to research and explain three major ways multivariate statistics are used in a business.

Small Group Discussion

Research the library, and provide at least 1 example of how a real company has used each of the following multivariate techniques: factor analysis, multidimensional scaling, and cluster analysis. Companies that provide statistics software Web sites and market research firm Web sites usually include case studies and customer testimonials.

Read the postings of all group members, and decide as a group which technique is preferred by the group and which example best illustrates the use of this technique.

Use the Small-Group Discussion Board for your comments.

Individual Portion

For the individual portion of this project, on your own, write a summary of 1,500–3,000 words explaining to upper management the chosen multivariate technique, how it is different from the other 2 techniques, how at least 1 other real-life company has used this technique to address a business problem, and how that technique might be used at your own organization.