Statistic of Business Homework

Course Syllabus

Fall 2014

BSM333-ON01 Business Statistics

Course Outline

School/Department Name: School of Undergraduate Studies

Program: Undergraduate B.S. Management

Course Number and Title: BSM333-ON01

Instructor:

Office location:

EMAIL:

Telephone

Course Dates: 9/7/2014 - 12/20/2014

Course Catalog Description: Business Statistics presents the use of quantitative methods to define, analyze and choose among business alternatives. The scientific method of problem solving is presented to provide systematic analysis, selection and evaluation of business alternatives. Various statistical tools are introduced to collect, study and use information in support of rational business decision-making. Topics include decision-making under uncertainty, evaluating independent and dependent alternatives, selection of alternatives given limited resources, and forecasting.

Purpose: This course is designed to acquaint the students with quantitative techniques current in management literature and usage. It recognizes that the manager of today must be conversant with and able to use appropriate mathematical and analytical tools for solving problems. Primary emphasis is on gaining understanding of the techniques, where and how they are used, their reliability, validity, and reality. The basic objective of this course is to give exposure to selected quantitative techniques used in analyzing various business problems in the area of accounting, finance, management, marketing and production. Most of our efforts will go towards the formulation of the problems, interpretation of the results and analysis of its managerial implications. Our focus would be on learning how to approach a problem systematically and to develop an ability to think through a situation that is not immediately comprehensible. The mathematical details of the algorithms will not be emphasized. We however will use EXCEL and a statistical calculator for the algorithmic calculations in a few parts of this course.

Required Readings: Online Statistics Education: A Multimedia Course of Study (http://onlinestatbook.com/). Project Leader: David M. Lane, Rice University.

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL: TI-30Xa Calculator

Access to Excel

FEDERAL CREDIT HOUR DEFINITION: For purposes of this course and in accord with federal regulations, a credit hour is an amount of work represented in intended learning outcomes and verified by evidence of student achievement that is an institutionally established equivalency that reasonably approximates

1. Not less than one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of two hours out of class student work each week for approximately fifteen weeks for one semester or trimester hour of credit, or ten to twelve weeks for one quarter hour of credit, or the equivalent amount of work over a different amount of time, or

2. At least an equivalent amount of work as required outlined in item 1 above for other academic activities as established by the institution including laboratory work, internships,

COURSE Outcomes: This course includes requirements and learning activities that promote your abilities to…

· use logical reasoning by studying patterns and relationships;

· use statistical models to describe real-world business phenomena and to solve real-world business problems as well as understand the limitations of models in making predictions and drawing conclusions;

· organize data, communicate the essential features of the data, and interpret the data in a meaningful way;

· do a critical analysis of scientific and other research;

· extract correct information from tables and common graphical displays, such as line graphs, scatter plots, histograms, and frequency tables;

· express the relationships illustrated in graphical displays and tables clearly and correctly in words;

· use appropriate technology to describe and solve quantitative problems and

· apply analytical thinking in a managerial environment

COURSE EVALUATION:

Homework 10%

Test 1 20%

Test 2 20%

Test 3 20%

Online Discussions 10%

Cumulative Final Exam 20%

Homework exercises: The homework exercises are due on the date specified in the schedule. Each exercise will consist of real-world applications of statistics within the context business and management. You are expected to do the homework and submit it on the day it is due. Late assignments will not be accepted.

Tests: Tests will cover the major topic areas:

· Descriptive Statistics

· Inferential Statistics

· Correlation

· Regression

The final exam will be cumulative.

DISCUSSION FORUM: Each week there will be a discussion forum to help solve a business-related problem, or explore a business question of interest (e.g. consumer preference, item pricing, etc.).

The purpose of the forum is to incorporate opportunities for students to interact not only with the instructor, but with one another. Interaction opportunities often involve responding to a question posed by me, each other on a regular basis in order to answer specific business questions. These discussions are designed to provide students with a discussion forum in which they could explore statistical concepts, share opinions and ideas, and help each other learn important course material. The interaction opportunities will focus on the following:

Discussion forums are to be posted weekly. The first 10 people to post should answer the question to the best of their ability. If you begin your response, and there are at least 10 responses already posted, then your response must include a reference, rebuttal, or further elaboration on a previous post. They will be grades out of 100 as follows:

100 Points	Thoughtful and original post relating course material to the discussion at hand.
80 Points	Thoughtful and original post with superficial relation to the course material.
60 Points	Reiteration of previous post with little substantial original content.
40 Points	Little or no consideration for course content.
0 Points	Incoherent or no response.

Descriptive statistics are the most familiar part of statistical analysis.  Averages-- mean, median, mode-- sometimes called measures of central tendency; percentages; and measures of spread or dispersion -- variance, standard deviation-- are very common.  We won't belabor these because most students have had some exposure to them.  While calculations for Samples and Populations look similar, it's important to remember that a sample is only an estimate and we'll need to use probability theory to relate it to the true population parameter.

Graphs are often a useful supplement to descriptive statistics. We can also look at relations between variables, using tools like correlation, and regression

Collecting Data: Whenever you read a statistic, a question should pop into your mind, "where did this number come from?"  Not all numbers are created equally, even if they are printed on really nice glossy paper.  Methodology and definition are truly important. Samples need to be random.  Getting a true random sample requires real effort.     

Uncertainty, Chance, and Probability: Decision making involves uncertain outcomes and is the prime study of probability. Financial markets display large amounts of uncertainty.  The theory of efficient markets concludes that changes in stock prices should be random and unpredictable. 

Analyzing data: Numbers by themselves are boring.  They only have interest in the context of a research question.  Hypothesis testing is a statistical way to answer questions like, "does Energizer last longer? " or "do tax cuts increase consumer spending?"  For some questions we can compare populations.  For other questions we want to relate variables using correlation or regression .  Sometimes we will look for trends and cycles using time series analysis .

Forecasting: Regressions are frequently used for forecasting.  Many economic variables are interconnected, so forecasters build systems of equations to make forecasts.

EXPECTATIONS: You are expected to do the assigned readings. This will enhance your understanding of the material. Regular participation is critical to your success. Statistics requires constant practice. Participation is an active not passive activity. I encourage each of you to ask questions.

Academic Integrity: Acts of academic dishonesty include but are not necessarily limited to: cheating on exams; plagiarism (using someone else’s work and passing it off as your own without properly identifying the source); presenting work previously presented in another course without consulting the instructor; purchasing exams or term papers; and submitting an exam or any other work that was completed by another person. 

ATTENDANCE POLICY: I expect you to participate every week. I suggest reading the material on Sunday and Monday and watching the demonstration videos. You should be prepared to participate in the forums on Tuesday-Friday. Your homework should be turned in on Saturday.

Students with Disabilities: Cambridge College complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act to provide equal access to educational programs at Cambridge College. Any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of learning, psychological, and/or physical disabilities and has appropriate documentation may be eligible for accommodations.  Students should contact the Coordinator of Academic and Disability Support Services as soon as possible at (617) 873-0191 or [email protected] .

Requests for accommodations should be made within the first week of the term so that timely and appropriate arrangements can be made.  All students are expected to fulfill essential course requirements in order to receive a passing grade in a class, with or without reasonable accommodations.  Accommodations cannot be granted retroactively. All requests are confidential.

Online Library Services: Cambridge College Online Library (CCOL) provides an extensive collection of full-text articles from thousands of scholarly journals and 75,000+ full-text books; live reference librarian support 24/7/365; instruction and resources for doing research in all of our subject areas, and more. It’s free and always available. For information and instructions about Cambridge College library services and resources:

· go to http://www.cambridgecollege.edu/library/instructions.cfm

· click the link How to Use CCOL Handbook

For information about traditional library arrangements for your campus site, go to

http://www.cambridgecollege.edu/library/traditional_libraries.cfm

Please provide the following information specific to each course, making sure that the materials are available. Your students depend on your expertise to direct them to the most credible and valuable academic sources in your subject area.

For each assigned reading that is not in the required textbooks or provided in a copyright-permitted handout,

· If in CCOL: give the citation, including the database and tell them how to find it in CCOL ( an Author search is usually most effective)

· If not in CCOL, but available free on public web: give the URL

· If in Gutman or Babson Library: please say so

· If not online: say which local traditional libraries open to the public have it in print. If students are not local, recommend that they use the WorldCat database to find a local print copy

 What are recommended journals and books for further reading and research for this course and where can I see them in full-text?

 

· If in CCOL: give the citation, with database, and tell them how to find it in CCOL

· If not in CCOL, but available free on public web: give the URL

· If in Gutman or Babson Library: please say so

· If not online: say which local traditional libraries open to the public have it in print. If students are not local, recommend that they use the WorldCat database to find a local print copy

COURSE OUTLINE

Module	Topic	Chapter	Date
1	Introduction	Chapter 1	9-7 thru 9-13
2	Graphing Distributions	Chapter 2	9-14 thru 9-20
3	Summarizing Distributions	Chapters 3	9-21 thru 9-27
4	Normal Distributions Quiz 1	Chapter 7	9-28 thru 10-4
5	Research Design	Chapter 6	10-5 thru 10-11
6	Sampling Distributions Estimation	Chapter 9 (pp301-313) (pp321-324) Chapter 10 (pp330-339)	10-12 thru 10-18
7	Logic of Hypothesis Testing	Chapter 11	10-19 thru 10-25
8	Testing Means	Chapter 12	10-26 thru 11-1
9	Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)	Chapter 15	11-2 thru 11-8
10	Chi Square Quiz 2	Chapter 17	11-9 thru 11-15
11	Describing Bi-Variate Data	Chapter 4	11-16 thru 11-22
12	Regression Quiz 3	Chapter 14	11-23 thru 11-29
13	Distribution Free Tests	Chapter 18	11-30 thru 12-6
14	Effect Size	Chapter 19	12-7 thru 12-13
15	Final Exam		12-14 thru 12-20

Notes: