M&IS 24056:Fundamentals of Business Statistics

Fall 2006

Murali Shanker, A401 BSA

E-mail: mshanker@kent.edu

Phone: (330) 672-1165

Office Hours: 2:00-3:30, T, TH
Class Times: Section 001 : 12:30-1:45 T, TH, 100 BSA; Section 002 : 3:45-5:00 T, TH, 100 BSA

Important Web Links

Lecture Slides: http://www.personal.kent.edu/~mshanker/personal/Classes/F06_ClassNotes.html
Multimedia Lectures: http://mis24056-stat.blogspot.com/index.html
RSS Feed for Multimedia Lectures: RSS feed for multimedia lectures
Video Podcasts: http://www.lecture123.com/elearning/servlet/PodcastServlet/sendVideoRSS/Kent_2006_Fall_MIS24056/video-podcast.xml
Audio Podcasts: http://www.lecture123.com/elearning/servlet/PodcastServlet/sendRSS/Kent_2006_Fall_MIS24056/podcast.xml

Lecture123: http://www.lecture123.com
Lecture123 Student Start Page: http://www.lecture123.com/elearning/student-jumpstart.html
Vista WebCT: https://vista.kent.edu/webct/entryPage.dowebct

Course Description

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.

Course Requirements

Last day to drop a course:  5 November 2006

Prerequisites: Math 11011 (Algebra).  Students attending the course who do not have the proper prerequisite risk being deregistered from the class.

Enrollment: It is the student’s responsibility to ensure proper enrollment in classes. You are advised to review your official class schedule during the first two weeks of the semester to ensure proper enrollment. Should you determine an error in your class schedule, you have until 10 September 2006 to correct it 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.

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 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 Disability Services (contact 330-672-3391 or visit http://www.kent.edu/sds for more information on registration procedures).

Class Time

Class time will devoted to lectures, and to projects and problems that are designed to improve your understanding of the subject matter.  

As with any new subject, comprehension improves with greater exposure. As such, to facilitate this, I will be providing access online to every lecture after class in multimedia format. These multimedia lectures will duplicate each lecture that I give in class, including the overhead presentation, any notations that I make on these slides, and the audio explaining the slides. These multimedia lectures can be accessed through the web. A podcast will also be available for these lectures (guaranteed to put you to sleep).

To provide these multimedia lectures, I will be using a system developed by Lecture123. This system, in addition to providing the lectures over the web, and also as a podcast, allows interactivity in the system. Specifically, students can now ask questions as they are listening to the lectures. These questions will then be answered by your instructor. Both, the question, and the answer, then become part of the lectures and are available to all students subsequently.  This increasing dialog adds to the knowledge of the subject matter, and provides for a better learning and teaching environment. As this is integral to the success of this class, participation is required of all students. You are encouraged and expected to ask questions both in class, and through the multimedia lectures.

To provide further incentives to utilize the multimedia lectures, I will be awarding extra credit points for selective student questions. These extra credit points are completely at my discretion, and will be based on my perception of the quality of the question asked.

Quizzes and Examinations

There will be 9 quizzes, and 5 examinations. All quizzes and examinations will be taken online, and are best taken using a standards-compliant web browser like Mozilla Firefox. Examinations and quizzes will consist of multiple choice, true or false, fill-in-the blanks, matching type, and calculation questions. All online testing material can be found at the course web site on Vista WebCT, and can be taken from anywhere (home, work, school, BSA computer labs, in the airport, from a hammock sipping Mango juice, etc.) the student has access to the Web. All tests are open-book, open notes, but before taking any test, 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 and notes for the tests, it is cheating if you ask other students to help you while taking the tests. This statement is available online at your course website. Do this first before doing anything else.

Quizzes: There are 9 quizzes for this class. Each quiz is worth 10 points. The amount of time allotted for each quiz may vary, but will typically be around 25 minutes. You will have two attempts to take each quiz. The average result of the two attempts will be your score for that quiz. If you are happy with your first attempt, there is no need to take the second attempt.  Results for the quizzes will be known immediately. Only the best 8 quizzes will be considered for your grade. Thus, the maximum points from quizzes is 80.

Examinations: There will be 5 examinations. Each examination is worth 50 points. Each exam (including the final) will take approximately 75 minutes. All examinations are cumulative. You will have only one attempt to take each examination. Results for the examination will be known only after the examination closes for all students. Only the best four exams will be considered for your grade. Thus, the maximum points from exams is 200.

Attendance: It is not mandatory to attend classes. 

Dates and Timings: Test (quizzes, and examinations) dates are posted at your course website, and also given below. Tests can be taken at any time during which they are available. As a warning, please do not wait until the last minute to take your tests. As you must realize in dealing with technology, several things can and will go wrong. The only condition under which I will extend the due dates is if the Vista server goes down on the last available day. Any problems with your computer, will not change the due date. As such, it is your responsibility to ensure that you complete the tasks in a timely fashion. You will get zero (0) points for all missed tests. Please ensure 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.

Extra Credit: Periodically, you may be given additional homework / quizzes in class or online, each of which will count as extra credit towards your final grade. As missed quizzes / examinations cannot be made up, it is in your best interest to attend class regularly. Please check your electronic calendar regularly for any announcements about quizzes, etc.

Academic dishonesty: Cheating means to misrepresent the source, nature, or other conditions of your academic work (e.g., tests, papers, cases, online quizzes) so as to get undeserved credit. The use of the intellectual property of others without giving them appropriate credit is a serious academic offense. It is the University's policy that cheating or plagiarism result in receiving a failing grade for the work or course. Repeat offenses result in dismissal from the University. Students must indicate their acceptance to this policy before they are allowed to take any quiz or exam. As soon as you log into your Vista course website, please take the Academic Honesty Statement quiz first. You will not have access to any other quiz or exam until you do so.

Software

Lecture123

To listen and interact with the multimedia lectures, we will be using a system called Lecture123. This system will provide the lectures over the web, and also as a video and audio podcast. You can also print these notes while listening to them. As this is integral to the success of the class, participation is required of all students.

The cost to use this system is $20 / student. You will be asked to sign a statement to indicate that this cost can be charged to your Kent State University account. Once you have indicated your agreement with the costs, I will be sending you the Community Name, and Key, which will allow you to access the lectures on Lecture123. You do not have to use the same computer to access the lectures each time.

Please follow the steps on the student start page (http://www.lecture123.com/elearning/student-jumpstart.html) to set up an account and your computer to utilize this system. It is important that you use the same username as your Kent username (the part before @kent.edu). Any username that does not match my class roster will be deleted.

If you would like to listen to the lectures in the computer labs, do the following:

SPSS

For some of the problems, you will also be using a statistical package called SPSS. This software is available in the business school computer labs, so any problems that require this package are best attempted in the BSA computer labs.

Grades

Starting Fall 2005, a new grading system is in effect. As such, please pay close attention to the following grading scale for this class.

Grade
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
Minimum Score Required
257
249
241
230
221
213
202
194
186
168

Textbooks and Course Notes

Required: Lecture123. $20. You will be asked to sign a statement indicating agreement with the costs. Please do this on the first day of class, or at your earliest.

Optional: Business Statistics: A Decision-Making Approach, 6th Edition by Groebner, Shannon, Fry and Smith. This book is optional, and you may use either the custom book that is available in the bookstores, or the regular 6th edition available elsewhere. Buy whichever is cheaper. There is no need to buy the clicker, or a key to use this book in this class (this is different from last semesters where you required both a clicker and a key).

It is possible to do well in this class without buying the book. With the addition of having access to class lectures anytime, and the ability to ask question on these lectures, the need for a book is further reduced. Of course, the final choice is yours.

Copies of the overhead lectures will be available on your class website. Please download them before coming to class.

How to Access and Use Your Course Web Site 

  1. To ensure that the content appears correctly on your browser, please use a standards-compliant browser like Mozilla Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/) rather than Internet Explorer.
  2. The SPSS statistical software is freely available in the business school computer labs (second floor).
  3. While I will be using several websites to provide a more engaging learning environment, the central website to access your course is through Vista, the course management software for Kent State University. To log into Vista, do the following:
  4. You can access the Lecture123 site at http://www.lecture123.com. Start your explorations by accessing their Student Start Page at http://www.lecture123.com/elearning/student-jumpstart.html.
  5. To facilitate your access to these lectures, I have created both a Blog (http://mis24056-stat.blogspot.com/index.html), and a RSS feed (http://feeds.feedburner.com/mis24056) to the lectures. After each class, I will post an entry in the blog indicating the URL of that day's lecture. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed, either on  your web browser, or through software like iTunes. This will then automatically inform you as and when lectures become available. Creating a blog allows me to add any remarks about that day's class. More importantly, it allows you, as a student, to comment on that day's lecture. If you have questions about the subject matter, please use the multimedia lectures to do that. Post only non-subject matter comments on the blog.
  6. For those of you who have access to video and audio mp3 players like iPod, you can access the Podcast by subscribing to the following URLs.
  7. Audio Podcast 
  8. Video Podcast 
  9. You can also access these lectures by directly logging onto the Lecture123 website.

Course Schedule

The following tables contains the class schedule. Note that all online tests (except the final exam) begin on the Monday of the week they are assigned, and are available until Sunday 11:50 p.m. (ET) of that week.

Start Date Class Periods Chapters

August 29

 5

Chapter 1: Data Collection

September 14

 3

Chapter 3: Describing Data
September 26 1 Review

September 28

 2

Chapter 4: Probability

October 5

 1 Chapter 5: Normal Distribution
October 10
 3 Chapter 6: Sampling Distributions
October 19 1 Review
October 24
 3 Chapter 7: Estimating Population Values - Population Mean
November 2
 3 Chapter 8: Hypothesis Testing
November 14 1 Review
November 16
 3 Chapter 13: Linear Regression
November 30 3 Chapter 14: Multiple Regression
Test Chapters  Beginning Date

Ending Date (11 p.m., ET)
Quiz 1 1 September 11 September 17
Quiz 2 3 September 18 September 24
Exam 1 1, 3 September 25 October 1
Quiz 3 4 October 2 October 8
Quiz 4 5 October 9 October 15
Quiz 5 6 October 16 October 22
Exam 2 1, 3-6 October 23 October 29
Quiz 6 7 October 30 November 5
Quiz 7 8 November 13 November 19
Exam 3 1, 3-8 November 15 November 26
Quiz 8 13 November 27 December 3
Quiz 9 14 December 4 December 10
Exam 4 1, 3-8, 13-14 December 4 December 10
Exam 5 1, 3-8, 13-14 December 10 December 15

Please Do The Following Immediately

  1. On the first day of class, sign the sheet indicating your acceptance that $20 will be charged to your Kent State account. I will then send you a community name and access key. Use that to set up an account at Lecture123.  Please use your KSU username when creating an account. 
  2. Set up your computer to ensure that you can access the multimedia lectures. If you are using software like iTunes, ensure that the podcasts are showing up.
  3. Access the blog at http://mis24056-stat.blogspot.com/index.html and bookmark it for easy access. Leave a comment if you so desire.
  4. Log into Vista, and answer the quiz on Academic Honesty. You will not be able to take any other quizzes and examinations until you do this. Ensure that you receive 1 point for this.