COURSE OUTLINE

MGMT 2262

BUSINESS STATISTICS I

Winter 2008

 

 

Instructor:                        Gerry LaBute

Phone:                             455-6850

E-mail:                             glabute@shaw.ca                     

Course Information Site:  http://www.mathwizz.com/mgmt2262/index.htm

Office:                             EB2050

Office Hours:                   Tuesday and Thursday: 3:00 – 4:00 pm, or by appointment

 

 

COURSE MATERIALS:

 

a.               Statistical Tables. (Required)

 

b.                Kvanli, Alan, Robert J. Pavur, and Kellie B. Keeling. Introduction to Business Statistics: A Microsoft Excel Integrated Approach, 6th ed. Ohio: South-Western, 2003. (Recommended)

 

c.               Texas Instruments BA II Plus calculator. (Recommended)

 

 

ADDITIONAL MATERIALS:

 

a.               Quizzes and assignments may require the use of MS Excel and supplemental macros. 

 

b.               Additional reference material, such as answers to homework and tutorial sheets, will be in the mgmt2262 folder on mathwizz.com.

 

c.               The review package, containing past exams and numerous practice questions, is also recommended for the course.  It is available at the bookstore.

 

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION: 

 

This course introduces descriptive and inferential statistical analysis while emphasizing thinking skills and computer literacy.  Topics include descriptive statistics, probability theory, simple random samples, discrete and continuous random variables, the central limit theorem, confidence intervals, and hypothesis testing.  This course will emphasize the application of statistical analysis to business situations, the understanding of which will be further enhanced through exposure to current statistical computer software.

 

The method of instruction will be a combination of lecture sessions and problem solving tasks.  Students may work on some of these tasks while in the classroom; others will be completed in the computer lab or as take-home assignments.

 

 

MARK ALLOCATION:

 

Midterm Examination                      30%

Final Examination                           40%

Quizzes and Assignments               30%

Total                                           100%

 

 

COLLEGE-WIDE LEARNING OUTCOMES:

 

Mount Royal College has identified six college-wide learning outcomes that it believes are critical to workplace success and a life of continuous learning: Thinking Skills, Communication, Information Access and Retrieval, Ethical Reasoning, Group Effectiveness and Computer Literacy.  All courses offered at the college emphasize one or more of these college-wide outcomes.

 

In this course, we emphasize thinking skills (in particular, the ability to solve problems) and computer literacy.  Development of thinking skills is fostered through the practice of problem solving techniques to complete in-class assignments, take-home assignments, quizzes, and exams.  Development of computer literacy is fostered through the completion of quizzes and assignments on statistical computer software.

 

 

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Learning Objectives

Learning Outcome

Assessment

Use descriptive and inferential statistics to assess and interpret business situations

Thinking Skills; Computer Literacy

Quiz, Lab Assignment, Mid-term Exam, Final Exam

Understand the concept of probability and its applicability to business situations

Thinking Skills

Quiz, Midterm Exam, Final Exam

Perform hypothesis testing procedures (single population) and demonstrate an understanding of their importance in business applications

Thinking Skills; Computer Literacy

Quiz, Lab Assignment, Final Exam

Use industry standard computer software to analyze quantitative business information

Thinking Skills; Computer Literacy

Quiz, Lab Assignments

 

GRADING SCHEME:

 

Please refer to the MRC Calendar for a complete table of the accepted letter grades and their descriptions.  In this course, all final term grades will be awarded in percentages or letter grades, which will be determined according to the following scale:

 

A+

≥ 93

B+

77 ≤ 80

C+

67 ≤ 70

D+

55 ≤ 60

A

86 ≤ 93

B

73 ≤ 77

C

63 ≤ 67

D

50 ≤ 55

A-

80 ≤ 86

B-

70 ≤ 73

C-

60 ≤ 63

F

  < 50%

 

 

EXAMS, QUIZZES, LAB ASSIGNMENTS:   

 

All exams, quizzes, and assignments will be closed book (no textbook) unless advised otherwise by your instructor.  For quizzes and assignments, the allowed aids are limited to the following:

 

For the midterm and final exams, students are allowed the following:

 

Other equipment (including electronic devices), course materials, and information (computerized personal organizers, class notes, handouts, test papers, etc.) are not permitted for quizzes or exams.

 

 

EXAMINATIONS:                                 

 

The midterm examination is scheduled for 9:00 to 11:00 a.m., Saturday, March 8, 2008.  The midterm examination is common to all sections, including evening sessions.  It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that he/she does not have any conflicting commitments at that time.  There will be no deferred midterm examinations under any circumstances.  Any student who finds it necessary to miss the examination must notify the instructor in advance and provide a medical certificate from the appropriate health professional to have the grade weighting moved to other components of course work (principally the final examination).

 

A three-hour final examination will be scheduled by the Registrar.  The final examination is comprehensive and common to all sections, including evening sections.  It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that he/she does not have any conflicting commitments at that time.  Deferred final examinations are NOT at the discretion of the instructor and may only be granted by the Program Chair (Financial Services, Supply Chain Management and Quantitative Methods).  Deferred final examinations will be granted only for exceptional circumstances (please refer to the Mount Royal College calendar) and NOT for employment conflicts.

 

Students will be advised of the dates, times, and writing locations for quizzes and lab assignments by the instructor for their section.  Quizzes and lab assignments will typically be written during class or lab sessions, but instructors may elect to conduct some of them as take-home assignments.

 

 

COURSE SYLLABUS

(All topics and dates are subject to change)

 

WEEK          TOPICS                                                                    TEXT REFERENCE

 

1 to 2           INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICS                             Chapter 1

 

a.       Basic Definitions                                                  Sections 1.2 - 1.3

b.       Types and Sources of Data                                  Sections 1.4 - 1.6

 

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS                                      Chapters 2 and 3

 

a.       Descriptive Tables and Graphs                            

i)                 Frequency Distribution                            Section 2.1

ii)               Histograms                                            Section 2.2

iii)              Stem and Leaf                                       Section 2.2

iv)              Frequency Polygons                    Section 2.3

v)               Cumulative Frequencies (Ogives)            Section 2.4

 

b.       Descriptive Measures                               

i)                 Types of Descriptive Measures               Section 3.1

ii)               Measures of Central Tendency               Section 3.2

iii)              Measures of Variation                            Section 3.3

iv)              Measures of Position                             Section 3.4

v)               Measures of Shape                               Section 3.5

vi)              Interpreting the Sample Mean and

Sample Standard Deviation          Section 3.6

vii)      Grouped Data                                       Section 3.7

viii)           Box Plots                                              Section 3.8

 

3 to 4           PROBABILITY CONCEPTS                                       Chapter 4

 

a.       Basic Concepts and Definitions                             Sections 4.1 and 4.2

b.       Two-event Probabilities                                        Sections 4.3 and 4.4

i)                 Venn Diagrams

ii)               Contingency Tables

c.       Tree Diagrams                                                    Section 4.5

d.       Counting Rules                                                    Section 4.7

e.       Simple Random Samples                                     Section 4.8

 

5 to 6           DISCRETE PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTIONS              Chapter 5

 

a.       Discrete Random Variables                        Section 5.1

b.       Probability Distributions                              Section 5.2

c.       Discrete Random Variables                        Section 5.3

d.       Binomial Distribution                                   Section 5.4

e.       Hypergeometric Distribution                        Section 5.5

f.        Poisson Distribution                                   Section 5.6

 

WEEK          TOPICS                                                                    TEXT REFERENCE

 

7                  CONTINUOUS PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTIONS        Chapter 6

 

a.       Continuous Random Variables                              Section 6.1

b.       Normal Random Variables                                   Section 6.2

c.       Determining the Probability of a                            Sections 6.3

Normal Random Variable                                     and 6.4

d.       Applications of a Normal Random Variable            Sections 6.5 and 6.6

e.       Other Continuous Distributions                              Section 6.9

 

8 to 9           STATISTICAL INFERENCE                                       Chapter 7

 

a.       Central Limit Theorem                                          Sections 7.1 and 7.2

b.       Confidence Interval for the Population Mean:

Large Sample                                                  Section 7.3

c.       T Distribution: Small Sample                                 Section 7.4

d.       Confidence Interval for the Population Mean:

Small Sample                                                  Section 7.4

e.       Selecting the Necessary Sample Size                    Section 7.5

 

 

                    MID-TERM EXAMINATION (Saturday, March 8 from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m.)

 

 

10 to 11        HYPOTHESIS TESTING FOR THE MEAN

OF A POPULATION                                                  Chapter 8

 

a.       Hypothesis Testing for the Mean: Large Sample    Sections 8.1 and 8.2

b.       Hypothesis Testing for the Mean: Small Sample     Section 8.4

c.       P-Value Analysis                                                  Section 8.3

d.       Power of the test for Z test                                  Section 8.1

 

12                HYPOTHESIS TESTING FOR A POPULATION

PROPORTION                                                         Chapter 10

 

a.       Confidence Interval for a Population

Proportion                                                       Section 10.1

b.       Hypothesis Testing for a Population

Proportion                                                       Section 10.2

 

 

13                HYPOTHESIS TESTING FOR

VARIANCE OF A POPULATION                                Chapter 8

 

a.       Hypothesis Testing for the Variance                      Section 8.5

 

COURSE POLICIES

 

1.               Assignments must be submitted according to instructions.  Issues affecting the progress of the assignments should be discussed in advance with the instructor, NOT the day assignments are due.  Unless there are extenuating circumstances, papers turned in after the appointed times are subject to penalties.  At the discretion of the instructor, late assignments will lose 20% of the earned grade for each day late, and assignments will not be accepted after the instructor has posted the answer key on “Blackboard” and/or after the instructor has returned graded assignments to students.

 

2.     Students are expected to respect the standards of intellectual integrity, including, but not limited to, refraining from plagiarism, cheating, or copying someone else’s work.

 

“Plagiarism consists of using other people’s words or ideas without adequately acknowledging the source of those words or ideas. Plagiarism can take many forms: stealing an entire essay and submitting it as one’s own work; quoting parts of a source without acknowledging that source; quoting parts of a source without quotation marks (even if the source is listed in the Works Cited list); too few in-text citations compared to the amount of information used; incorrect, incomplete, or missing documentation elements. Penalties for plagiarism can range from a reduction in the assignment grade to expulsion from the college.” (With thanks to Bill Bunn and Sabrina Reed, Department of English, Mount Royal College.)

 

In addition, students are expected to take an active role in encouraging other members of the academic community to refrain from academic dishonesty and are asked to advise the instructor if they are aware of any such violations. This provision applies to any work submitted as a group project.  Students are strongly recommended to read the complete Code of Student Conduct, which can be found on-line at www.mtroyal.ca/codeofstudentconduct .

 

3.     Students need not receive a passing grade on all components of term work and examinations in order to pass the course. However, failure to submit an assignment or write an examination, without the prior approval of the instructor, may result in an F grade for the course.

 

4.     Final examinations are scheduled by the Registrar. Students must be available for writing the exams up to and including the last day of the examination period as specified in the Academic Schedule in the College Calendar.  Students should also be fully aware of the College policy on final exam deferrals as outlined under Academic Regulations in the College Calendar.  Students are also reminded that examinations will be actively invigilated.  Students may only bring to the exam items stipulated by the instructor as required for the completion of the exam.  All non-essential items, including, but not limited to, hats, coats, gloves, knapsacks, purses, and electronic devices other than approved calculators, must be left in an area of the exam room designated by the instructor.

 

5.     The last day to withdraw with a grade of W is March 20, 2008.  While a student’s final course grade is not based upon his/her attendance record, students are advised to attend all lectures and labs and to participate in all course activities. 

6.       Virtually all readers of business documents expect correct grammar, punctuation, spelling, and word usage. Based on this expectation, all graduates of the Bissett School of Business are expected to be competent in this area.  Therefore, the Bissett School of Business has established a policy requiring minimum standards of correctness for all written work submitted for business course credit. These standards apply to spelling, grammar, punctuation, and word usage, but may also apply to other elements deemed important by your instructor.  Additionally, each instructor is free to require a higher standard of correctness for their particular course.

7.      STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

 

Students with disabilities or chronic health conditions who require accommodations in classes and/or practica, directed field studies, or clinical placements, need to register with Disabilities Services in Y201, telephone 440-6868. Accommodation is the process of making alterations to the delivery of services so that those services become accessible to more people. Accommodation does not lower academic or non-academic standards or relieve the student of the responsibility to develop the essential skills and competencies expected of all students. To be eligible for accommodations, accommodation letters, signed by a Disabilities Consultant, must be provided to courses instructors.

    More information is available at:

    http://www.mtroyal.ca/disabilities/studentdisabilities.html

    http://www.albertahumanrights.ab.ca/publications/default.asp

 

 

                                             

Expectations of Business Conduct

A successful career in business requires more than technical skills – skills including expertise and proficiency in accounting, marketing, human resources, insurance, aviation, management, or entrepreneurship. It requires the ability to build productive, long-term relationships with other members of the organization, the industry, and the community. Such relationships are developed through day-to-day behaviors that convey respect, honesty, confidence, and professionalism.

In the Bissett School of Business, students, faculty, and administrative staff are expected to adhere to behavioral standards that reflect these same attributes.

Professionalism

·       being prepared for meetings, classes, appointments, presentations

·       being correct and clear in written and oral communication

·       Refraining from inappropriate gossip, such as making derogatory comments about students to other students, about instructors to other instructors, etc.

·       adopting actions, demeanor, and dress that are appropriate to each situation

·       keeping confidential information in the proper circles

 

 

Respect

·       arriving on time for classes, appointments, office hours, and meetings

·       listening to the presentations, comments, questions, and opinions of others without interruption or ridicule

·       expressing differences of opinion or dissatisfaction without aggression or personal attacks on others

·       avoiding actions or words that may harm others

·       using courteous language in all manner of communication (verbal, written, electronic)

·       adopting the “golden rule” and treating others as you would like to be treated – fairly and equitably

 

 

Responsibility

·       obeying all Mount Royal College policies and rules (as outlined in the Calendar) and applicable civil and criminal legislation

·       accepting responsibility and consequences if deadlines are missed or established requirements are unmet

·       managing personal, career, and academic progress (i.e., not relying on others for reminders of course, program, professional certification, or other requirements)

·       meeting commitments

 

 

Honesty

·       refraining from all forms of academic dishonesty (e.g., representing the work of others as original, using prohibited aids during examinations, etc.)

·       being truthful in dealings with other constituents in the Bissett School of Business