CRN: 12509
ECON 2113–004
Business Statistics I – Section 4 WEBA
Spring 2012
Available: January 17 – May 08, 2012
Web Assisted
Professor: Dr. Gauri-Shankar Guha
Office: 107 B Business Building
Phone: (870) 680 8465; Fax: (870) 972 3088
Email: gguha@astate.edu
Website: http://myweb.astate.edu/gguha
Office hours:
Tue/Wed/Thu 11:00am – 12:00noon
Also by appointment via email.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course trains students in conventional statistical methods used to analyze business
and economic datasets and equips them with decision support skills. The coverage of
topics include averages, dispersions, probability, sampling, statistical inference,
estimation, test of hypotheses, correlation and linear regression.
Prerequisite: MATH 1023 and CIT 1503 (or equivalent computer proficiency).
LEARNING GOALS
Upon successful completion of the course, students will demonstrate the skills and ability
to carry out the following tasks:
Learning Goals of ECON 2113 – Business Statistics
Collect and organize datasets and be able to calculate both graphical
and numerical univariate descriptive statistics like frequency tables,
histograms, graphs, charts, mean, variance, standard deviation, etc.
Calculate bivariate descriptive statistics, like contingency tables;
covariance & correlation analysis
Calculate general probability; and be able to use discrete &
continuous probability distributions and sampling distributions.
Derive inferential statistics like point estimates of means and
proportions, and create confidence interval estimates.
Carry out tests of hypotheses about population means and proportions
Build Linear / Multiple Regression Models using MS-Excel, and
interpret the results
Assessment
Objective(s)
Technology
Critical Thinking
Business Knowledge
Technology
Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking
Technology
Critical Thinking
Business Knowledge
Technology
Critical Thinking
Business Knowledge
Dr. Gauri S Guha
Department of Economics & Finance
College of Business
ECON 2113 Business Statistics
Web Assisted Course
Spring 2012 Syllabus
EXPECTATIONS
The best way to earn a good grade is to regularly review and keep up with the material.
Some students benefit from study-groups since discussions with peers can shed new light
on the material. Others may use tutoring (face-to-face or online) to master the material.
Please do whatever it takes to remain updated. If you still have difficulties, please visit
my office with evidence that you have attempted to work through the material.
Learning some of the material will require MS-Excel. Please brush up your MS-Excel
skills that you learnt in CIT 1503. You may also consider a tutorial like the following:
GCF LearnFree.org: http://www.gcflearnfree.org/excel2010
Baycon Group:
http://www.baycongroup.com/el0.htm
This course will be taught using ASU’s Blackboard Learn (http://bblearn.astate.edu/)
platform where announcements, course materials and assignments and grades will be
posted. My lecture videos will physically reside in (old) Blackboard 8 since Tegrity (the
video system) is linked to the old Blackboard. But, that is not a concern for students,
since I will post the video links under a tab called LECTURES in Blackboard Learn.
Mid Term and Final Exams will be given on Blackboard Learn, but will be
proctored in the 2nd floor computer lab of the College of Business.
Quizzes are not proctored and can be taken at any location convenient to the student.
Assignments must be submitted only in the digital dropbox in Blackboard. Assignments
will NOT be accepted in any other form.
As a registered ASU Student you will have automatic access to Blackboard Learn. Please
login to your Blackboard Learn account ASAP and take the tutorial on how to use it..
TEXTBOOK
Basic Statistics for Business and Economics, 7th Edition
Douglas A. Lind, Coastal Carolina University
William G Marchal, University of Toledo
Samuel A. Wathen, Coastal Carolina University
Publisher: McGraw Hill (2011)
ISBN-13:
97 8007 7384 470
Web: http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073401781/student_view0/index.html
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Dr. Gauri S Guha
Department of Economics & Finance
College of Business
ECON 2113 Business Statistics
Web Assisted Course
Spring 2012 Syllabus
EVALUATION
Number
Grading Component
Mid Term Exams (Proctored)
Assignments
Quizzes
Final Exam (Proctored)
Total
3
2
10
1
Percentage
points
each
15
10
2
15
Percentage
of the semester
grade
45
20
20
15
100
Letter grades will be assigned (on the final score) as follows:
A> 90%
B> 80%
C> 70%
D> 55%
F< 55%
MIDTERM EXAMS [Proctored]: The 3 midterm exams will have 30 multiple choice
questions to be answered in 75 minutes, based on the most recent material covered since
the last exam. Midterm Exams will be given on Blackboard; and they will be available
in 2 time slots: 11am – 1pm and 4pm – 6pm, on the Thursdays as shown in the schedule.
ASSIGNMENTS You will carry out 2 assignments using Excel; A1 is on descriptive
statistics and A2 is on regression analysis, and submit in Blackboard.
QUIZZES: A total of 10 quizzes will be given, and will feature 5 multiple choice
questions on the current material. These are not proctored. All quizzes will be open for
12 hours (8am – 8pm) on the Friday of the week as shown in the schedule.
FINAL EXAM [Proctored]: The Final Exam will be based on the most recent material,
and given on Blackboard as per ASU’s Final Exam Schedule. The Final will be available
on the indicated day for 2 hours (Date / Time TBD).
MAKE-UP POLICY: Make-ups will NOT be given, since this is a web based class and
all assignments are available online to accommodate student conveniences.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: Observing basic honesty in one's work, words, ideas, and
actions is a principle to which all members of the community must subscribe. So, I expect
my students to abide by the honor system and I will not condone free-riders. I will use
maximum penalties available under the ASU academic policies to punish cheating and
plagiarism. In an examination setting, violations of academic integrity shall include any
attempt to receive assistance from any person, or of any attempt to give assistance. Any
reference materials used in the preparation of any assignment must be explicitly cited.
Violations shall also consist of lying to the instructor or purposely misleading any ASU
administrator shall also constitute a violation of academic integrity.
Please refer to the Academic Integrity Policy of ASU available at the following website:
http://studentconduct.astate.edu/AcademicIntegrity.html
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Dr. Gauri S Guha
Department of Economics & Finance
College of Business
ECON 2113 Business Statistics
Web Assisted Course
Spring 2012 Syllabus
SCHEDULE FOR SPRING 2012
Week. Dates
This week’s
Assignment
Chapter
1. Jan 17 – 20
Topics you should study this week
Data Collection Techniques
Review MS-Excel
2. Jan 23 – 27
Descriptive Statistics: Graphical Methods
2
QUIZ 1
Descriptive Statistics: Numerical Measures
3
4. Feb 06 – 10
Skewness, Contingency Tables
4
5. Feb 13 – 17
Covariance, Correlation Coefficient, Z-scores
Experiments, Counting Rules,
Simple Probability
QUIZ 2
A1*
QUIZ 3
EXAM 1
02/16
5
QUIZ 4
5
QUIZ 5
6
QUIZ 6
3. Jan 30 – Feb 03
6. Feb 20 – 24
7. Feb 27 – Mar 02
8. Mar 05 – 09
Joint and Conditional Probability,
Rules of Probability
Expected Value (Mean), Variance, Standard
Deviation of Probability Distributions
1
9. Mar 12 – 16
Discrete Probability Distributions
MARCH 19 – 24: SPRING BREAK
6
EXAM 2
03/15
10. Mar 26 – 30
Continuous Probability: Normal Distribution
7
QUIZ 7
11. Apr 02 – 06
8
QUIZ 8
12. Apr 09 – 13
Sampling Distribution
Interval Estimation – Pop.  & proportions
Determining Sample Size
9
QUIZ 9
13. Apr 16 – 20
Hypothesis Testing: Null & Alternate
Hypotheses 1-tail and 2-tail tests
10
14. Apr 23 – 27
Regression Analysis
13, 14
EXAM 3
04/19
QUIZ 10
A2*
May 02 – 08
FINAL EXAM WEEK
Date and Time TBD
10, 13,
14
FINAL
Note:




A1* = Assignment 1 is due: Friday, February 10, by 5pm in the digital dropbox.
A2* = Assignment 2 is due: Friday, April 27, by 5pm in the digital dropbox.
Midterm Exams will be given in 2 time slots: 11am – 1pm and 4pm – 6pm, on Thursdays
Feb 16, Mar 15 and Apr 19.
You will take the MidTerm Exams on Blackboard Learn, and they will be proctored in the
Computer Lab in the 2nd floor of the College of Business.
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