Research Question: The purpose of this report is to practice the statistical analysis procedure and techniques you have learned in this course. You can download from iLearn a dataset containing the financial statement and stock return data for S&P500 stocks from 2010 to 2020. Using this dataset, you are required to carry out the following analyses as mentioned below in the "specific requirements". You are provided with a number of variables in the dataset, but you do not have to use all the variables provided in the dataset. Rather, you can only use a subset of variables that you believe are relevant to your hypotheses. Therefore, you need to identify the variables that you want to examine and then establish the conceptual associations between them (i.e., propose hypotheses) that you later test and report on.

You are required to answer the following research questions using relevant examples and evidence. Refer to relevant research articles to support your arguments. The structure of your report can include the following relevant sections: (1) introduction to the topic; (2) relevant literature review and research hypotheses; (3) research method(s); (4) results and discussion; and (5) summary and conclusions. The assessment tasks required in the report are: 1. Define a research question and develop a hypothesis Describe the research issue you wish to explore Provide at least one reference paper for this research issue Formulate a research hypothesis or research hypotheses (but not exceeding 2 hypotheses). 2. Describe the sample Present descriptive statistics table of the variables used in your analysis, where the table should report number of observations, mean, standard deviation, first quantile, median, third quantile Discuss the distribution of the variables in your sample. Do you observe any skewness and kurtosis associated with these variables' distribution? 3. Perform univariate analysis Identify the dependent variable and the key independent variable in your analysis Carry out a two-sample t-test Carry out a nonparametric rank sum test Interpret the findings 4. Perform multivariate analysis Propose an ordinary least squares regression or a logit/probit model and explain why it is a suitable choice Propose a set of control variables and explain why they are relevant Report the estimation of the model Interpret the findings 5. Conclusion Summarise your findings Discuss the economic meaning of your findings