George Mason University

School of Management

DESC-210: Statistical Analysis for Management

(Syllabus - Spring 2004)

Instructor:                Prof. Sid Das

Office:                        155, Enterprise Hall

Phone:                      (703) 993-1790

E-Mail:                       sdas@gmu.edu

Fax:                            703-993-1809

E-mail                        sdas@gmu.edu

Office Hours:           Monday: 3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m., Wednesday: 3:20 p.m. - 4:20 p.m., or by Appointment

Prerequisite:            C or better in MATH 108 or MATH 113;

MIS 102 (can be a Co-requisite)

Textbook:                 Bowerman, OConnell, and Orris, Essentials of Business Statistics.  McGraw Hill-Irwin, 2004.

Note: The text is required reading but it is not a substitute or replacement for classroom instruction.

Class Sessions       Monday: Lectures: 1:30 to 3:30 pm at Enterprise Hall, Room 80.

                                    Wednesday: Labs: 1:30 to 3:10 pm, SUB 2, SOM1 and SOM2.         

Course Website      http://webct38.gmu.edu/

Web URL (Interactive Statistics Problems):    http://mason.gmu.edu/~sdas/stats600/content1.htm

Course Objectives:  This course examines the use of statistical methods as analytical tools for understanding and analyzing business problems, and for supporting business decision-making. Topics will include: Descriptive Statistics, Probability Distributions, Sampling and Sampling Distributions, Interval Estimation, Hypothesis Testing, Statistical Inference, Tests of Goodness of Fit and Independence, and Linear Regression. It is geared for the business professional engaged in decision making or decision support.  The emphasis is on business applications, and not mathematics.  The format will be lectures, but discussions and questions are highly encouraged.

The basic learning objectives of this course are for students to:

1. Understand and apply statistical methodologies and techniques to solve typical problems.

2. To be able to understand a business situation and recognize the type of problem, to formulate the problem quantitatively, and to associate the appropriate probabilistic model and statistical technique.

3. To master the essentials of the concepts and tools of data representation, probability models, and statistical inference, emphasizing business applications through problems.

4. To foster the communication and presentation of statistical results and inferences.

Website Contents:

                           1.   The DESC 210 course website consists of separate categories containing this syllabus, Lecture Notes, course announcements, and assignments.

2.   The website will be updated continually. During the semester, new documents may be created and existing documents may be modified as appropriate.

3.   Students will be informed beforehand of the pertinent documents for the next class. It is recommended that students download the relevant documents prior to class. A suggested use of the documents, especially the lecture notes is to annotate them with their own personal notes during class.

4.   The web site is not a substitute or replacement for classroom instruction.  It is provided solely to augment classroom presentation and discussion of the material.

Statistics Laboratory:

On Wednesdays, we will have Statistics laboratory classes. The objective of these classes is to intensively practice solving Statistics problems. These classes will be mainly to solve practice problems assigned earlier by the instructor, respond to student questions, clarify their doubts, solve additional problems, and assist the students in other Statistics related issues. All students are required to come to these labs with questions that they want to be answered.  

NOTE:  Attendance will be taken in these laboratory classes.

Practice Problems:

1.      Practice problems for each topic in the syllabus will be assigned from the corresponding chapter in the text.  Students will try solving them on their own and identify their strengths and weaknesses for further discussion in the Statistics laboratory classes.

2.      Mastery of the subject matter is measured by skill and proficiency in problem solving.  Proficiency is gained by practice. The assigned practice problems should be regarded as the minimum amount of practice. 

3.      The practice problems will be solved in the lab classes. Practice problems will not be graded. The instructor may call upon students to solve some of these practice problems in class.

Exams:             1.   Three (3) mandatory, non-cumulative, exams will be given, as announced.  The exams will be comprehensive of the topics they cover.  Each individual exam counts for 30 % of the final grade.  All together, the exams count for 90% of the final course average.

2.   Exams are based upon the class lectures, textbook material, and discussion of the material covered. 

3.   All examinations and homework are to be by individual effort as they will be graded.  NO collaboration of any kind is permitted.  See the honor code paragraph below.  Any collaboration will be treated as an Honor Code violation.

4.   All exams given in class are closed book. 

5.   Exams may be made up only under extreme emergencies AND at the sole discretion of the instructor.  A penalty for lateness may be assigned.  Missed exams will be assigned a score of zero. 

Homework:     1. There will be three homework assignments. The homework will together count for 10% of the final course grade.

                           2.   It is in the best interest of the student to complete each and every homework assignment.  Homework is for the students benefit; it is a diagnostic tool by which the student may assess their understanding and performance.  Failure to do so will adversely affect performance, and will negatively impact exam and course grades. 

3.   Homework assignments will be posted on the website.

4.   Homework problems, both their assignment and solution, are the sole responsibility of the individual student.

Class Participation:

                           1.  Performance is highly associated with class attendance and participation.

                           2.   Students are expected to attend all scheduled classes. 

                           3.   Class participation consists of active engagement in the presentation of material and through questions and discussions.

4.   The student is solely responsible for all assignments and material presented in class even if missed due to absence. 

Connectivity and Computer Skills:

                           1.   Every GMU student is provided with e-mail account.  I sometimes e-mail course announcements to the class list.  It is the students responsibility to activate and routinely check their GMU e-mail account.

                           2.   Most of the course material is available on-line from my course website and is accessible for download over the Internet.  It is the students responsibility to have reliable and adequate Internet connectivity and access.  This includes the use of GMU computers available on campus.  Further, the student must be familiar with Internet browsers and navigation.

3.   For technical help with your personal computing systems, call the GMU support center at 703-993-8870 or send e-mail to support@gmu.edu.  However, it is the students responsibility to work with their ISP or personal consultant to determine and resolve connectivity and other problems.

4.   The student must be familiar with the basics of the recent versions of MS Office products, especially MS Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.

5.   Download the pertinent course documents before class and well before exams and assignment due dates.  Bring these to class as your notes for annotation.

6.   The course website is an electronic medium to facilitate the transfer and dissemination of the course content.  It is not a replacement or substitute for attending class.  On-line is not on vacation!

7.   For technical help with WebCT, contact DoIT Support Services at www.doiiit.gmu.edu.

Honor Code    Students are obligated to strict adherence to the University honor system and code, as described in the 2002 George Mason University catalog.

Course Grade 1.   Students must be officially registered in this section to receive a grade.  It is the sole responsibility of the student to verify their own registration status.  (I will not verify your registration.)  Specifically, you will not receive a grade if your name does not appear on the official class list.  (Dont wait until the end of the semester to be surprised.)  Registration problems should be directed to either the SOM Office of Student Services or the Registrars Office.

2.   Whole letters, (No pluses and minuses), will be assigned as the final course grades. 

3.   The final letter grade is assigned objectively and strictly according to the WEIGHTED average of the numerical scores of all exams and quizzes.

5.   Final course letter grade assignments:

Schedule:

                  1. Some sections in text chapters will be skipped, as announced.  Some material not contained in the text may be presented in class, as will be noted. 

2.   There will be no classes or office hours on Monday,January 19, 2004.

3.   For other important dates, consult the Spring 2004 Schedule of Classes for the Academic Calendar.

                           4.   The last class is on Monday, May 3, 2004.

Topics     The tentative list of topics is given below.  The list below follows the basic order and coverage of topics in the required text.  The list is subject to change during the semester. 

DESC 210 Spring 2004

TENTATIVE Course Schedule