MBA Program

GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

School of Management

Syllabus - Fall 2001 (Tuesday)

MBA 633: Statistics for Business Decision Making

Instructor:                  Prof. Sid Das

Office:                         Room 152, Enterprise Hall

Phone:                         (703) 993-1790

E-mail:                        sdas@som.gmu.edu

Prerequisites:             Admission to the MBA program and College Mathematics

Textbook:                    Statistics for Business and Economics, 8th edition, by David R. Anderson, Dennis J. Sweeney, and Thomas A. Williams, South-Western, 2002.          

Computer Software:    Microsoft Excel for Windows

URL for Course Website: 

            http://www.som.gmu.edu/mba/mba633SRDas-Statistics.nsf

Course Objectives:

The main objectives of this course are to provide the student with the ability to:

            1.  Understand and apply statistical techniques in describing and presenting data;

            2.  Apply statistical analysis for inference and prediction;

            3.  Understand and detect flaws in statistical reports and analysis;

            4.  Identify statistical tools for specific managerial applications

            5.  Use the computer to perform statistical analysis.

Grading Scheme:                   Exam 1             30%

                                                Exam 2             30%

                                                Assignments      40%

                                                                        _____

                                                Total                100%

Exams:             The two exams will be "take-home" exams. 

                        All exams are to be solved individually with no assistance from anyone.

Assignments/Case Analysis:

            There will be home assignments and mini-case studies assigned in every class period. They will be collected in the next class period.   Students are expected to solve all assigned problems and case studies, which will be collected and graded. Both class assignments and case analyses are an important component of the learning process, and each assignment/case must be turned in no later than its due date.  Individual assignments are to be solved individually with no assistance from anyone.

                       
MBA Program

MBA 633: Statistics for Business Decision Making

Course Schedule: Fall – 2001 (Tuesday Class)

            Dates               Topics                                                                                         Chapters

             8/28                 Introduction to course                                                                    1

                                    Descriptive Statistics:

                                    Tabular and Graphical Approaches                                                     2                                       

                                    Using Microsoft Excel

                                    (Read: Chapter 1, all sections; Chapter 2, Sections 2.1, 2.2, and 2.4).

                           Measures of Location                                                                        3         

                                    (Read: Chapter 3, Sections 3.1)

                                    Individual Assignment: Case - Consolidated Foods (pp. 58-59), Due Date (9/4)

             9/4                   Descriptive Statistics:                                                                     3                                            

                                    Measures of Variability

                                    Measures of Relative Location

                                    Exploratory Data Analysis

                                    z-scores, Chebyshev’s Theorem

                                    Empirical Rule

                                    (Read: Chapter 3, Sections 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4)

                                    Group Assignment: Case – National Health Care Association (pp. 124-125),

                                    (Please address questions 1, 2, and 3 only) Due Date (9/11)

            9/11                 Brief Introduction to Probability                                                     4

                                    Random Variables                                                                           5

                                    Discrete Probability Distributions

                                    Binomial Probability Distributions

                                    Expected Value and Variance

                                    (Read: Chapter 4, Sections 4.1; Chapter 5, Sections 5.1, thru 5.4)

                                     Individual Assignment: To be assigned in class, Due Date (9/18)

            9/18                 Continuous Probability Distributions                                              6

                                    Uniform Distribution

                                    Normal Distribution

                                    (Read: Chapter 6, Sections 6.1 and 6.2)

                                    Individual Assignment: To be assigned in class, Due Date (9/25)

            9/25                 Sampling Distributions                                                                    7

                                    Point Estimation

                                    Central Limit Theorem

                                    Read: Chapter 7, Sections 7.1 through 7.6)

                                    Individual Assignment: To be assigned in class, Due Date (10/02)

             10/02              Interval Estimation                                                                        8

                                    Large Sample and Small Sample cases

                                    Confidence Intervals

                                    t - Distribution

                                    (Read: Chapter 8, Sections 8.1 through 8.4)

                                                Exam- 1 assigned (Due by 10/23)

            10/09               There will be no Statistics class today

            10/16               Hypothesis Testing                                                                      9

                                    Null and Alternative Hypotheses

                                    One-Tail and Two-Tail tests

                                    Significance Levels, p-values

                                    (Read: Chapter 9, Sections 9.1 through 9.6)

                                    Individual Assignment: To be assigned in class, Due Date (10/30)

            10/23               Inferences about Means/Proportions  with Two Populations    10

                                    (Read: Chapter 10, Sec 10.1, thru 10.4)

                                    Individual Assignment: To be assigned in class, Due Date (11/06)

            11/30               Test of Goodness of Fit                                                               12

                                    Test of Independence

                                    (Read: Chapter 12, Sec 12.1, and 12.2)

                                    Individual Assignment: To be assigned in class, Due Date (10/30)

             11/06               Analysis of Variance                                                                    13

                                    (Read: Chapter 13, Sections 13.1 through 13.2)

                                    Individual Assignment: To be assigned in class, Due Date (11/13)

             11/13               Simple Linear Regression and Correlation                                3, 14

                                    Regression Notation

                                    Least Squares method

                                    Correlation Coefficient

                                    Computer Solution

                        (Read: Chapter 14, Sections 14.1 through 14.3; Chapter 3, Section 3.5)

                        Group Assignment: Case – Spending & Student Achievement (pp.604-606),

                                                        Due Date (11/27)

11/20              Simple Linear Regression and Correlation (Cont’d)                    14

                                    Testing for Significance

                                    Model Verification

                                    (Read: Chapter 14, Sections 14.4 through 14.5)

11/27              Simple Linear Regression and Correlation (Cont’d)                    14

                                    Residual Analysis

                                    Estimation and Prediction

                                    (Read: Chapter 14, Sections 14.6 through 14.9)

                                                Exam- 2 assigned (Due by 12/11)

            12/04               Multiple Regression                                                                       15

                                    Interpretation of computer output

                                    Testing for Significance

                                    Multi-Collinearity

                                    Estimation and Prediction

                                    (Read: Chapter 15, Sections 15.1 through 15.6)

                12/11           Exam – 2 (Due on or before this date)