Bus 304 Data Analysis Paper

BUS 304, DATA ANALYSIS College of Business Administration
Spring 2015 TTh: 10:00-11:50, MH 307 Instructor: Prof. Sheldon Lou, MH 443
Office Phone: [phone]
Office Hours: Tuesday 9:30-10:00 or by appointment e-mail: [e-mail] ________________________________________________________________________ 1. Course Objectives The objective of the course is to assist future managers in planning, executing and evaluating their business. Upon course completion, the student will be able to ‑ Identify and formulate problems where statistics can have an impact, ‑ See the relevance of statistics and apply the learning to career practice and to other business courses, ‑ Distinguish between routine and special
problems requiring statistical analysis, ‑ Assess data with healthy skepticism and seek expert help when needed, ‑ Recognize when better data and information are needed for decision‑making.

2. Course Text Sheldon Lou, Statistics 1-2-3, course text. This text accompanies the course. It covers all material discussed in class. 3. Evaluation The course grade is made up of six components, each weighted as follows: Three assignments 12% (each 4%) Term project proposal, oral presentation, and final report 16% Midterm 30% Final examination 36% Class performance 6% Total: 100%. There will be no additional points. Therefore you need to do well in the above five components. Please also note that there are severe penalties for plagiarism and other academic offenses. 4. Readings and Lectures Class attendance, which will be the main component in you class performance, is required. Failure to attend classes will lead to reduction of final scores. During the lecture time, computers can only be used to perform activities the instructor requires you to do. Computers (including your own notebooks or tablets) cannot be used for other purposes. Students are required to spend sufficient time on the reading assignment before class. 5. Assignments There will be three assignments. Follow the instructions in preparing them. Not doing so will cost you points. (i) Assignments should be done in groups of up to three students, and each group should hand in one paper only. You should not discuss the assignments in detail with anybody but the other two members of your group. (ii) Do not divide the problems of one assignment into two or three portions so that one member will only need to work on a few problems. This will lead to failures in your quizzes and final exam. Each member should know how to solve all the problems independently. (iii) The assignments should be on 8.5 by 11 inches paper (one side only), stapled flat, without using paper clips or binders. (iv) The paper you hand in should be neat and legible, clearly written, and concise. Leave enough margins. Answers should be ordered (first problem first, then second, and so forth). The solutions you submit for each problem should give sufficient explanatory detail to convey clearly your understanding of the concepts involved. (v) Each assignment installment must be handed in by the beginning of class on the day it is due or by the indicated time. Except in emergencies, late assignments will not be accepted. 6. Project The project requires you to apply the statistical tools discussed in an organizational setting of your choice. The project will be a team project. You can have up to three members in your team. You need to write a project proposal that outlines the problem you will study and the techniques you might use. After you finish your project, you need to make a presentation to the class to summarize your findings, and turn in a final report. See the appendix of the text for detailed instructions. Project report must be handed in by the beginning of class on the day it is due or by the indicated time. Except in emergencies, late installments will not be accepted.

7. Midterm and Final Examination There will be one midterm and one final exam. Each one will cover all material discussed to date. In addition to your writing utensils and a pocket calculator, for midterm you may bring one 8.5 by 11 inch sheet of paper on which you have written anything you consider helpful for the examination. Both sides of the sheet may be used. Two sheets are allowed for the final exam.

8. Questions and Discussions in Class Active participation in class greatly facilitates learning, and your questions, comments and discussions in class are welcome.

SCHEDULE Week
Date
Topics
Readings
Due dates
1
1/20
Introduction,
Introduction (SL) 2
1/27
Data Descriptions
Chapter 1 (SL) 3
2/ 3
Sampling
Chapter 2 (SL) 4
2/10
Probability Distribution
Chapter 3 (SL) 5
2/17
Confidence Interval Analysis
Chapter 4 (SL)
Ass. 1 due
6
2/24
Confidence Interval Analysis
Chapter 4 (SL) 7
3/ 3
Simple Regression Analysis
Chapter 6 (SL) 8
3/10
Multiple Regression
Chapter 6 (SL)
Ass. 2 due
9
3/17
Multiple Regression

10
3/24
Midterm exam

11
3/30
Spring break

12
4/7
Analysis of Variance
Chapters 7 and 8 (SL)
Project proposal due
13
4/14
Chi-square Analysis
Chapter 9 (SL) 14
4/21
Forecasting
Chapter 11 (SL) 15
4/28
Project development, no lectures and labs. Ass. 3 due
16
5/5
Presentation of Project Project report due
17
5/12
Final Exam 9:15-11:15

IMPORTANT RULES RULE 1: No make-ups.
There will be no make-ups for midterm and final exam. If you had legitimate reasons that would prevent you from attending the midterm, you should ask instructor's permission in advance (at least 24 hours before the scheduled exam time) unless under unexpected situations such as accidents. (Please do not give me reasons such as my-car-broke-down or I-couldn't-leave-my-work.) If your permission were granted, your grade would be determined by the final exam as follows. a) If you missed the midterm (with permission) but attended the final exam, your grade for the midterm would be equal to 85% of your grade for the final exam. b) If you missed the final exam, your grade for the final exam would be zero unless under unexpected situations such as accidents. In the latter case you would be required to attend the final exam of the following
semester. c) If you missed midterm or final exam without permission, your grade for that exam would be zeros.
RULE 2: No free riders. Homework assignments and projects will be group work. But, no free riders please! Every one in the group should contribute equally. Even though in general each member in a group will get the same grade as others, if a certain member did not do his/her share, the other group members could remove him/her from the group and this individual would obtain zero grade. The instructor may also demand the group members to state their individual contributions to the project/assignment in order to determine a fair distribution of the grades.

RULE 3: Maintain class attendance. Class attendance is a vital part of the teaching and learning process. If our record showed that you had missed some lectures for no legitimate reasons, your whole grade will be deducted accordingly. Again, computers (including your own) can only be used for the tasks the instructor asks you to perform. No other work, e.g. homework assignments of this or other classes, is allowed during the lecture time. RULE 4: On time. Homework assignments, project proposals, and reports of final projects have to be handed in on time, as specified in the course
outline.