M&IS 24056 Spring 2007 Guiffrida
Fundamentals of Business Statistics – MIS24056
Sections 001 and 002
Department of Management and Information Systems
Kent State University
Spring 2007
Instructor
Dr. Al Guiffrida
Office: A-411 Business Administration Building
Office Hours: Wednesday: 1-5 pm; Thursday 4-5 pm and by appointment
Telephone: (330) 672-1158
E-mail: aguiffri@kent.edu
Note: When sending e-mail, please put Business Statistics in the subject line.
Course Objective
This course is an introduction to concepts in statistical methods and their applications to real-world problems. This course will examine both the theoretical and practical side of the different methods. Students will be given ample opportunities to apply the techniques to different problems. The goal of the course is for students to understand fundamental statistical concepts and methods, and their applications.
Learning Objectives
After completing this course, a student should be able to understand
> basic statistical concepts and their applications. Specifically,<br>
> * How to organize and describe data.<br>
> * How to develop summary data measures, and learn to interpret<br> these measures
> <br> * Understand basic probability concepts
> <br> * Understand concept of sampling distributions, especially as
> applied to the sample mean<br>
> * Understand the <i>t<i> and standard normal distributions
> <br> * Use sampling distributions to develop confidence intervals for
> the population mean<br>
> * Use sampling distributions to do hypothesis testing for the<br> population mean
> <br> * Understand and apply the concepts of Linear Regression and
> Correlation Analysis<br>
> * How to interpret data and information presented in real-world<br> examples
> <br> * How to understand the context of the above statistical
> techniques in real-world examples<br>
> <div>
> basic statistical concepts and their applications. Specifically,<br>
> * How to organize and describe data.<br>
> * How to develop summary data measures, and learn to interpret<br> these measures
> <br> * Understand basic probability concepts
> <br> * Understand concept of sampling distributions, especially as
> applied to the sample mean<br>
> * Understand the <i>t<i> and standard normal distributions
> <br> * Use sampling distributions to develop confidence intervals for
> the population mean<br>
> * Use sampling distributions to do hypothesis testing for the<br> population mean
> <br> * Understand and apply the concepts of Linear Regression and
> Correlation Analysis<br>
> * How to interpret data and information presented in real-world<br> examples
> <br> * How to understand the context of the above statistical
> techniques in real-world examples<br>
> <div>
Course Notes and Textbook
This course uses a system called Vista to organize and present online content. Vista allows the instructor to provide a comprehensive solution to presenting online content, and student management. Thus, in addition to taking online examinations, and reading material from online content, the student is able to track their progress, interact with fellow students through chat and e-mail. The following pages give a brief introduction to Vista for your course. A note of caution: while Vista provides communication tools like e-mail, chat, etc., please use the communication tools under Flashline instead.
Course notes: Copies of the overhead lectures used in class and all course related documents will be available through Vista. Please download them before coming to class. To log into Vista, do the following:
- Go to http://flashline.kent.edu/
- Enter your username and password (see http://www.kent.edu/flashline for help). If you do not know your Kent username, search for your name under the Kent State University phone directory at http://imagine.kent.edu/phonedirectory/.
- Click on My Courses tab. You should see all your courses. Click on the link for https://vista.kent.edu/webct/logonDisplay.dowebct to take you to the course website.
Textbook: there is no required textbook for the course. All materials need to complete the course are available through Vista. An OPTIONAL textbook for the course is
Basic Business Statistics Concepts and Applications, by M. L. Berenson, D. M. Levine, and T. C. Krehbiel, Pearson/Prentice-Hall, 2006.
Course Prerequisites and Enrollment Requirements
Prerequisite: Math 11011 (Algebra). Students attending the course who do not have the proper prerequisite risk being deregistered from the class
Enrollment: Students have responsibility to ensure they are properly enrolled in classes. You are advised to review your official class schedule (using Web for Students) during the first two weeks of the semester to ensure you are properly enrolled in this class and section. Should you find an error in your class schedule, you have until Friday, January 26, 2007 to correct the error with your advising office. If registration errors are not corrected by this date and you continue to attend and participate in classes for which you are not officially enrolled, you are advised now that you will not receive a grade at the conclusion of the semester for any class in which you are not properly registered.
Course Examinations
There will be four examinations in the course: Exams I, II, and III during the semester; and Exam IV-the final during University finals week. Each exam is equally weighted and is scored based on 100 points. Examinations are administered on-line through Vista. All examinations are open-book, open-notes and will consist of multiple choice, true/false, fill-in-the black and calculation questions types. A calculator with a statistics mode is required for all examinations. Examination will last 90 minutes and typically consist of 20 questions.
Before taking an examination, the student will be asked to indicate his/her agreement to an Academic Honesty Statement. This statement will certify that the student agrees to abide by University rules on cheating, and any failure to do so will result in a failing grade. Thus for example, while you are allowed to use books, notes and calculators for the examinations, it is cheating if you ask other students to help you while taking the examinations.
You will have only one attempt to take each examination. Examinations can be taken any time during which they are available (see Grading Policy below for examination dates and times). As a warning do not wait until the last minute to take your examinations. As you must realize in dealing with technology, things can go wrong. The only condition under which I will extend the date and time window of an examination is if the Vista server goes down on the last available day for taking said examination. Any problems with your computer will not change the due date. As such, it is your responsibility to ensure that you complete the examinations in a timely fashion. You will get zero (0) points for missed examinations. Please insure that your tests have been graded correctly, and notify the instructor immediately of any concerns. Specifically, you will have one week after the test scores are posted to notify the instructor of any errors.
Grading Policy
Examination Weight Date and Time Window for Taking Examination
I 25% Start: Monday, Feb 5: 4:00 pm; End Sunday, Feb 11: 11:00 pm
II 25% Start: Monday, Mar 5: 4:00 pm; End Sunday Mar 11: 11:00 pm
III 25% Start: Monday, Apr 9: 4:00 pm; End Sunday Apr 15: 11:00 pm
IV-final 25% Start: Saturday, May 5: 9:00 am; End Thurs May 10: 11:00 pm
100%
Your overall score (OS) for the course is determined by the following equation:
OS = 0.25(Exam I score) + 0.25(Exam II score) + 0.25(Exam III score) +
0.25(Exam IV-final).
Your letter grade for the course will be assigned based on the following scale
OS Letter Grade OS Letter Grade
93-100 A 77-79 C+
90-92 A- 72-76 C
87-89 B+ 68-71 C-
83-86 B 60-67 D
80-82 B- 0-59 F
Calculator Requirements
Students will need a calculator for all examinations. Your calculator must have a statistics mode to allow for the quick calculation of means, standard deviations and variances.
Sample Problems
Sample problem sets (exercises with solutions) will be available through Vista. Students are encouraged to work on these exercises at their own pace. Sample problems are not homework assignments and are for your self-review. If after you have attempted to solve a sample problem and are experiencing difficult, see the instructor during office hours for help. The sample problems have no weight in the course grading and are not to be handed in.
Academic Integrity
We will follow the University Policy on Academic Integrity. Academic honesty: Cheating means to misrepresent the source, nature, or other conditions of your academic work (e.g., tests, quizzes, papers, projects, homework assignments) so as to get undeserved credit. The use of intellectual property of others without giving them appropriate credit is a serious academic offence. It is the University’s policy that cheating or plagiarism result in receiving a failing grade (0 points) for the work or course. Repeat offences may result in dismissal from the University.
Course Withdrawal
For the Spring 2007 semester, the course withdrawal deadline is Sunday March 25, 2007. Withdrawal before the deadline results in a “W” on the official transcript; after the deadline a grade must be calculated and reported.
Students with disabilities
University policy 3342-3-18 requires that students with disabilities be provided reasonable accommodations to ensure their equal access to course content. If you have a documented disability and require accommodations, please contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester to make arrangements for necessary classroom adjustments. Please note, you must first verify your eligibility for these through the Student Accessibility Services (contact 330-672-3391 or visit http://www.registrars.kent.edu/disability/ for more information on registration procedures).
Computer Requirements
At selected times during the course we will make use of the statistical software package SPSS. SPSS is available on the business school computer labs on the second floor of BAB. The instructor will provide students will all necessary commands to operate SPSS.
Course Topics
1. Data Collection and Presentation.
2. Probability Concepts.
3. Random Variables and Distribution Theory.
4. The Normal Probability Distribution.
5. Sampling Distributions and Estimation.
6. Hypothesis Testing.
7. Correlation and Regression Analysis.
8. Analysis of Variance.
