BUS120
Principles of Business Statistics
Fall 2015
Course Syllabus
Department of Business Administration
Kutztown University
BUS120: Principles of Business Statistics
Fall 2015
Course Information
Instructor:
Office:
E-mail:
Phone:
Office Hours:
M Halim Dalgin
DF 129
dalgin@kutztown.edu
(610) 683-4970
TTh: 1:30-3:00p
W: 10:00a-1:00p
Course Description and Objectives
This course is an introduction to the principles and practice of business statistics emphasizing the
role of data in decision making. Among the topics that the course will cover are data collection
techniques and their limitations, visual and numerical summaries of data, sampling distributions,
confidence interval estimation, hypothesis testing, goodness of fitness tests, and linear regression
techniques.
Upon successful completion of this course, the student should be able to:
1. Demonstrate knowledge of classical statistical analysis.
2. Demonstrate his/her statistical problem solving ability and computational skill.
3. Apply statistical procedures to assist in solving practical everyday problems of business organizations.
4. Manipulate a computer statistical package to aid in the solution of business problems.
5. Generalize the benefits and shortcomings of statistical analysis.
6. Discuss and think critically about data based claims.
Required Materials
• Textbook: Statistical Techniques in Business & Economics. Lind, Marchal, and Wathen,
16e. Publisher: McGraw-Hill.
• Access to Connect Business Statistics
• Calculator
1
BUS120
Principles of Business Statistics
Fall 2015
Grade Breakdown
Problem Sets
Term projects (2 × 5%)
Exam I
Exam II
Final Exam
Class Participation & in class work
10%
10%
20%
20%
30%
10%
Cumulative numerical averages ≥ 90 are guaranteed at least an A−, grades ≥ 80 are guaranteed
at least a B−, grades ≥ 70 are guaranteed at least a C−, and grades ≥ 60 are guaranteed at least
a D. The exact ranges for letter grades will be determined after the final exam.
Homework (10%) In this course we will use Connect Business Statistics, an on-line assignment
manager that comes with the textbook – or you can buy it separately that will provide access
to an e-book copy of the text. There will be regular on-line homework assignments approximately every week covering the sections we go over in class. Each homework assignment
will have a hard deadline that cannot be extended. However, in order to account for various
exigencies that might come up, I will drop the two lowest assignment grades. I truly cannot
overemphasize the importance of the homework problems to prepare you for the exams and
the projects that you will be doing.
Projects (2×5%) Project 1: Project 1 has two parts: descriptive statistics and inferential statistics.
To motivate and help you get started you need to come talk to me about your data and turn in
a preliminary version of your project before the first exam. To do the project for a parameter
of interest you will find and describe the relevant data, describe it numerically and visually
– this is the first part – and compute a confidence interval, conduct a hypothesis test, and
summarize your findings in a report up to five pages in length.
Project 2: Project 2 will be a regression project on a dataset of interest to you, involving
a simple linear regression and you will present this project during the last week of classes.
Projects can be done by a group of at most two students.
Midterms Exams (2 × 20%) There will be two midterm exams, which will be closed notes and
textbook. However, you can bring a handwritten, no photocopies or computer print outs
allowed, double-sided regular size, 8.5×11, cheat sheet, prepared only by you, and a calculator.
Final Exam (30%) The final exam will be held during the final exam week, that is mandatory and
must be taken at the given time and date. It will be cumulative covering exam II material
and after. It will be closed notes except a handwritten double-sided regular size, 8.5 × 11,
cheat sheet, prepared only by you, and a calculator.
Class Participation and In Class Work (10%) During regular class time I will pass out worksheets about the relevant class material of the day. I expect you to finish them in class and
I will check your work and give you a participation grade for each worksheet. There will be
no make ups for these worksheets.
2
BUS120
Principles of Business Statistics
Fall 2015
Course Materials
Class materials (handouts, class slides, etc.) will be made available the day before the class.
Students are responsible to print their own copy of the class materials and bring them to class.
These lectures will be incomplete because I want students to be actively thinking about them and
taking notes during the class.
Course Policies
• In order to derive the maximum benefit from classroom time, you are encouraged and expected
to read the relevant text material and/or lecture notes from the class website before each class.
By doing so, you will be better prepared to participate in class and to ask questions –both
integral parts of the learning process. Lecture notes before each class will be posted on the
class website
• Essential to successful and responsible learning, attendance and class participation are
strongly encouraged. Because class and the text are complements, not substitutes, it is
highly unlikely that anyone who is frequently absent from class will do well in the course. A
record of attendance will be kept, and may be used to determine borderline grades.
• Finally, use of cell phones or any other electronic media, including computers are NOT
allowed in class – even as calculators.
• Make-up exams will not be given, except in the case of: (1) illness, (2) participation in the
university activity at the request of university authority. Students must contact me prior to
the exam if such occasion is to arise, and in addition, provide a documentary support from
an appropriate authority for their absence that resulted from one of these causes.
Students with Disabilities
If you qualify for registering with Human Diversity because of a disability or some other issue,
please do so immediately. Then get your letters, signed by Patricia Richter, to me immediately.
Come see me during office hours to discuss in private.
Academic Honesty Policy
To be fair to all students who put an honest effort, cheaters will not be tolerated and university rules and regulations, “The Key”, will be strictly applied. Note the Key is available at
http://www.kutztown.edu/divisions/studentservices/publications/pdfs/key.pdf)
3
BUS120
Principles of Business Statistics
Tentative Course Schedule
Week
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
#11
#12
#13
#14
#15
#16
Topics
Introduction and Graphic Presentation
Chapters 1 & 2
Numerical Measures
Chapter 3
Exploring Data
Chapter 4
The Family of Normal Distributions
Chapter 7
Review and Exam I
( Exam I: September 24)
Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 7
Sampling Methods and the Central Limit Theorem
Chapter 8
Estimation and Confidence Intervals
Chapter 9
One-Sample Tests of Hypothesis
Chapter 10
Two-Sample Tests of Hypothesis
Chapter 11
Review for Project #1
Descriptive and Inferential Statistics
Project #1 presentations and Exam II (Project #1 is due)
( Exam II: November 5)
Chapters 8, 9, 10, 11
Correlation and Linear Regression, Part I
Chapter 13
Correlation and Linear Regression, Part II
Chapter 13
Inference for Linear Regression
Chapter 13
Project #2 Presentations and Review
Chapters 10, 11, 12, 13
Final Exam
Section 30: December 8 @ 8 am
Section 40: December 8 @ 11am
Section 310: December 8 @ 6 pm
4
Fall 2015