Deck 5: Decision Support Tools

Question 1

A ____________________ (DSS) is interactive software designed to help you compile useful information from raw data, documents, and business knowledge.

Answer 1

decision support system

Question 2

The ____________________ value of a set of data is that point that separates the higher values from the lower values.

Answer 2

median

Question 3

Data sets cannot have more than one mode.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

On a decision tree, triangles indicate that a choice must be made.

Question 5

The ____________________ value of a set of data is usually referred to as the average.

Question 6

Although means are affected by extremely large or small values in the data set, ____ are not.

A) standard deviations
B) modes
C) medians
D) none of the above

Question 7

The mode is the most common descriptive statistic and is simple to compute.

Question 8

Argument values are always contained inside parentheses.

Question 9

The ____ is calculated by ordering all of your data from lowest value to highest value and selecting the middle one.

A) median
B) arithmetic mean
C) mode
D) standard deviation

Question 10

Bar charts with vertical bars are called line charts.

Question 11

When you are making a decision, a DSS helps you evaluate all parts of the decision objectively.

Question 12

The diagram shown above shows a survey that uses a five-point scale.However, a three-point or four-point scale is equally effective.

Question 13

When you solve a problem ____, you react immediately and instinctively, without following a particular procedure.

A) intuitively
B) systematically
C) both a. and b.
D) neither a. nor b.

Question 14

The ____________________ are values in the results that could change if the decision variables change.

Question 15

Survey designers recommend ____ scales as the most accurate; fewer points don't offer enough options, and more points creates confusion.

A) four-point
B) five-point
C) six-point
D) seven-point

Question 16

Early DSSs were small, proprietary, and inexpensive.

Question 17

To make numeric data useful, organize it in a(n) ____________________, which is one or more formulas that includes all of the relevant variables and calculates a result.

Question 18

The survey shown above takes subjective data and turns it into a quantitative model by converting the information into numbers.

Question 19

Decision variables are often used in formulas that show results.

Question 20

Referring to the bar chart in the figure above, a bar chart uses rectangular bars to display data values.The statement below that is true is: ____.

A) A longer bar means a greater value
B) A smaller bar means a greater value
C) The size of the bar does not correspond to the value
D) None of the above

Question 21

Standard deviation is a measure of the variability of a set of data._________________________

Question 22

You can model your decisions quantitatively, which means you represent the decision and its factors using letters._________________________

Question 23

The first chart that Helen is putting together shows the sales growth of organic dog food over time.What type of chart would you recommend that Helen uses?

A) pie chart
B) area chart
C) line chart
D) any of the above

Question 24

Like OpenOffice Calc, ____ is a free, open-source spreadsheet program that is part of the GNOME desktop for computers running the Linux operating system.

A) Gnumeric
B) Google
C) GCalc
D) GStat

Question 25

When you solve a problem systematically, you react immediately and instinctively, without following a particular procedure._________________________

Question 26

A DSS is ideal for analyzing complex problems that involve sets of data and demand a systematic decision-making approach._________________________

Question 27

When modeling a decision using ____ data, you can use mathematics to help you analyze and compare the data.

A) quantitative
B) qualitative
C) both a. and b.
D) neither a. nor b.

Question 28

On a decision tree, ____ represent decisions.

A) triangles
B) squares
C) rectangles
D) ovals

Question 29

Bar charts are oriented ____.

A) horizontally
B) vertically
C) either a. or b.
D) neither a. nor b.

Question 30

The second chart Helen is preparing is one that shows organic dog food as a percentage of total dog food sold in January.What type of chart should Helen use?

A) pie
B) scatter
C) line
D) any of the above

Question 31

A(n) ____ typically defines a calculation that you perform on one or more variables.

A) formula
B) property
C) behavior
D) arithmetic mean

Question 32

Referring to the figure above, to show directions or trends in a linear data series over time you would use the ____ chart.

A) pie
B) bar
C) line
D) scatter

Question 33

A decision tree is a support tool that models decisions using a treelike diagram.Each branch of the tree represents an option and its ____.

A) benefits
B) costs
C) likelihood
D) all of the above

Question 34

Referring to the figure above, if you wanted to compare the percentage of an element to the whole, you would use the ____ chart.

A) pie
B) bar
C) line
D) scatter

Question 35

Decision variables are values that could change and affect the results.Statisticians refer to these as ____ variables.

A) dependent
B) independent
C) codependent
D) child

Question 36

The mean of a set of data is the value that occurs most frequently._________________________

Question 37

A cell reference is a pointer that you include in a formula to tell the spreadsheet where to find the actual data._________________________

Question 38

Helen has researched some software and found one that completes 3D scatter plots.It turns out that most software tools can display 3D scatter plots with up to ____ dimensions.

A) three
B) four
C) five
D) six

Question 39

When normalizing, you usually ____ the data by a variable so you can compare the variables fairly.

A) multiply
B) divide
C) either a. or b.
D) neither a. nor b.

Question 40

A decision tree is a support tool that models decisions using a treelike diagram._________________________

Question 41

Assumptions are the values or cell references that the function uses in its calculations._________________________

Question 42

When electronic spreadsheets were first developed, one of the early applications for the technology was performing what-else analyses._________________________

Question 43

Decision trees are made up of three primary elements: Uncertainties, Decisions, and Results.For each decision tree elements please indicate the shape that represents that element and a description of how that element is used in creating values for each option.

Question 44

Sometimes called a sensitivity analysis, a what-if analysis allows you to study how changing one or more values affects the results.Please briefly describe the following terms related to performing a what-if analysis: decision variables, constants, and output variables.

Question 45

Variables are elements that are not likely to change much over time._________________________