Interpretation of Regression Results: Multiple Choice

The Business School at Eastern College is collecting data as a first step in the preparation of next year’s budget. One cost that is being looked at closely is administrative staff as a function of student credit hours. Data on administrative costs and credit hours for the most recent 13 months follow:

Month

Administrative Costs

Credit Hours

July

$ 543,064

525

August

346,975

242

September

960,036

2,923

October

908,855

2,100

November

1,084,705

2,749

December

774,686

2,335

January

920,375

2,812

February

1,029,000

2,883

March

880,496

2,234

April

806,085

2,358

May

1,049,908

2,856

June

715,756

882

July

538,301

662

Total

$10,558,242

25,561

Average

$ 812,172

1,966

The controller’s office has analyzed the data and given you the results from the regression analysis:

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Required

a. In the standard regression equation y = a + bx , the letter b is best described as the

(1) Independent variable.

(2) Dependent variable.

(3) Constant coefficient.

(4) Correlation coefficient.

(5) Variable cost coefficient.

b. In the standard regression equation y = a + bx , the letter y is best described as the

(1) Independent variable.

(2) Correlation coefficient.

(3) Constant coefficient.

(4) Variable cost coefficient.

(5) Dependent variable.

c. In the standard regression equation y = a + bx , the letter x is best described as the

(1) Independent variable.

(2) Dependent variable.

(3) Constant coefficient.

(4) Variable cost coefficient.

(5) Correlation coefficient.

d. If the controller uses the high low method to estimate costs, the cost equation for administrative costs is (numbers are rounded to the nearest dollar)

(1) Cost = $291,637 + 229 × Credit hours.

(2) Cost = $233,571 + 101 × Credit hours.

(3) Cost = $229.50 × Credit hours.

(4) Cost = $404,874.

(5) Some other equation.

e. Based on the results of the controller’s regression analysis, the estimate of administrative costs in a month with 2,100 credit hours would be

(1) $834,993.

(2) $844,200.

(3) $404,917.

(4) $839,575.

(5) Some other amount.

f. The correlation coefficient (rounded) for the regression equation for administrative costs is

(1) 0.871.

 (2) 0.933.

(3) 0.859.

(4) √0.933.

(5) Some other amount.

g. The percent of the total variance (rounded) that can be explained by the regression is

(1) 85.9.

(2) 87.1.

(3) 93.3.

(4) 96.6.

(5) Some other amount.