1 BA 275 Quantitative Business Methods Housekeeping Introduction to Statistics Elements of Statistical Analysis Concept of Statistical Analysis Statgraphics Agenda

2 Contact Information Temporary office at 407 Bx until mid-January

3 Course Description and Objectives Management decision processes utilizing statistical methods, use and application of probability concepts, sampling procedures, statistical estimation, and regression to the analysis and solution of such business problems as income and cost estimation, sales forecasting, performance evaluation, inventory analysis, and quality control. This course teaches quantitative methods used in data analysis and business decision making. Topics covered include: descriptive statistics, correlation and regression, hypothesis testing, statistical process control, and forecasting. Business applications of these techniques are emphasized. Students in this course will acquire expertise in computer-based methods for data analysis and decision making, through computer analysis of business datasets. Upon completion of this course, students will understand and be able to use STATGRAPHICS PLUS to analyze business, economic and financial data with various statistical tools. (The software can be obtained from Milne Computer Center. Free of charge.)

4 Class and Textbook Websites Class Website: Student Services / Course Materials “>>” BA 275 Quantitative Business Methods HSIEH Textbook Website:

5 Grading Course scores will be computed as follows: Grades will be assigned based on the following scale:

6 Class Schedule

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8 Weekly Quizzes 20 – 30 minutes at the beginning of the class. Open book/notes. Need a calculator. They cover the materials assigned in the previous week.

9 Progress Reports #1, #2, #3 There is a self assessment quiz at the end of each CD lesson. Once the quiz is loaded, click the “Begin Assessment” button to start the quiz. At the end of the quiz, click the “Grade Quiz” button to see your score. You may repeat the quiz as many times as you want. For each quiz, make a hard copy of the page that contains your best score. Download the progress report forms from the class website and record the best scores. The reports pertaining to the CD lessons assigned between Weeks 1 – 3, Weeks 4 – 6, and Weeks 7 – 10 must be turned in at the beginning of the class on 1/29, 2/19, and 3/20, respectively.

10 Computer Projects #1, #2 Two computer projects will be assigned at the end of Weeks 2 and 6. They are due on 2/12 and 3/14 at the beginning of the class. You can work in a group of 2 to 4 members. Each team turns in one copy. Download related files/documents from the class website. Download Statgraphics instruction from the class website.

11 Mandatory Classes The classes on 3/12 and 3/14 (Week 10) are mandatory. Two topics that are not on the CDs will be covered.

12 Definition “Statistics” is the science of data. It involves collecting, classifying, summarizing, organizing, analyzing, and interpreting numerical information. We will learn how to make based on data

13 Fundamental Elements of Statistics A population is a set of units (usually people, objects, transactions, or events) that we are interested in studying. It is the totality of items or things under consideration. A sample is a subset of the units of a population. It is the portion of the population that is selected for analysis. A parameter is a numerical descriptive measure of a population. It is a summary measure that is computed to describe a characteristic of an entire population. A statistic is a numerical descriptive measure of a sample. It is a summary measure calculated from the observations in the sample.

14 Example A manufacturer of computer chips claims that less than 10% of his products are defective. When 1000 chips were drawn from a large production, 7.5% were found to be defective. What is the population of interest? What are the sample, parameter and statistic? Does the value 10% refer to the parameter or to the statistic? How about the value 7.5%?

15 Statistical Analysis

16 Types of Data Numerical (Quantitative) Data Regular numerical observations. Arithmetic calculations are meaningful. Age Household income Starting salary Categorical (Qualitative) Data Values are the (arbitrary) names of possible categories. Gender: Female = 1 vs Male = 0. College major

17 Example For each of the following examples of data, determine the type. The number of miles joggers run per week The starting salaries of our business students The months in which a firm’s employees choose to take their vacations The final letter grades received by students in a statistics course

18 Example A sample of shoppers at a mall was asked the following questions. Identify the type of data each question would produce. What is your age? How much did you spend? What is your marital status? Rate the availability of parking: excellent, good, fair, or poor How many stores did you enter?

19 Employee Data (SG Demo)