MBA Program
GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY
School of Management
Syllabus - Fall 2003
MBA 633: Statistics for Business Decision Making
Instructor: Prof. Sid Das
Office: Room 155, Enterprise Hall
Office Hours: 6:00 7:00 pm, Tuesday, Enterprise 155; and by appointments.
Phone: (703) 993-1790
E-mail: sdas@gmu.edu
Prerequisites: Admission to the MBA program and College Mathematics
Textbook: Modern Business Statistics with Microsoft Excel, by David R. Anderson, Dennis J. Sweeney, and Thomas A. Williams, South-Western, 2003.
Computer Software: Microsoft Excel for Windows
URL for Course Website: http://webct.gmu.edu
Statistics Problems: http://mason.gmu.edu/~sdas/stats600/content1.htm
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 - 2003
Dates Topics Chapters
8/26 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)
Group Assignment: Case - Consolidated Foods (pp. 74-75), Due Date (9/09)
9/02 Descriptive Statistics: 3 Measures of Variability
Measures of Relative Location
Exploratory Data Analysis
Z-scores, Chebyshevs Theorem
Empirical Rule
(Read: Chapter 3, Sections 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4)
Group Assignment: Case National Health Care Association (pp. 136-137),
(Please address questions 1, 2, and 3 only), Due Date (9/09)
9/09 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 (9/16)
9/16 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 (9/23)
9/23 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 (9/30)
Dates Topics Chapters
9/30 Interval Estimation 8
Large Sample and Small Sample cases
Confidence Intervals
t - Distribution
(Read: Chapter 8, Sections 8.1 through 8.4)
Individual Assignment: To be assigned in class, Due Date (10/07)
10/07 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 (10/14)
Exam - 1 Assigned (Due by 10/21)
10/14 There will not be a Statistics class today.
10/21 Inferences about Means with Two Populations 10
(Read: Chapter 10, Sec 10.1, thru 10.3)
Individual Assignment: To be assigned in class, Due Date (10/28)
10/28 Inferences about Population Variances 11
(Read: Chapter 11, Section 11.2)
Individual Assignment: To be assigned in class, Due Date (11/04)
11/04 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 (11/11)
11/11 Analysis of Variance 13
(Read: Chapter 13, Sections 13.1 through 13.2)
Individual Assignment: To be assigned in class, Due Date (11/18)
11/18 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 (12/02)
11/25 Simple Linear Regression and Correlation (Contd) 14
Testing for Significance
Model Verification
Residual Analysis
Estimation and Prediction
(Read: Chapter 14, Sections 14.4 through 14.9)
Exam- 2 assigned (Due by 12/09)
12/02 Multiple Regression 15
Interpretation of computer output
Testing for Significance
Multicollinearity
Estimation and Prediction
(Read: Chapter 15, Sections 15.1 through 15.6)
12/09 Exam 2 (Due on or before this date)