One of the biggest challenges in the higher education sector has been the recent growth of online universities. The Online Education Database is an independent organisation whose mission is to build a comprehensive list of accredited online colleges. The Excel spreadsheet (OnlineEdu.xlsx) contains data on the retention rate (%) and the graduation rate (%) for 29 online colleges in the United States.

Instructions:

Prepare a 2,000 word report that addresses the following questions:

(a) Provide a descriptive analysis of the two variables (e.g., mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum).

(b) Develop a scatter diagram with retention rate as the independent variable. What does the scatter diagram indicate about the relationship between the two variables?

(c) Develop and estimate a regression equation that can be used to predict the graduation rate (%) given the retention rate (%).

(d) State the estimated regression equation and interpret the meaning of the slope coefficient.

(e) Is there a statistically significant association between graduation rate (%) and retention rate (%). What is your conclusion?

(f) Did the regression equation provide a good fit? Explain.

(g) Suppose you were the president of South University. After reviewing the results, would you have any concerns about the performance of your university compared to other online universities?

(h) Suppose you were the president of the University of Phoenix. After reviewing the results, would you have any concerns about the performance of your university compared to other online universities?