Mba 503.01 – Data Analysis and Decision Making
MBA 503.01 – Data Analysis and Decision Making
Spring 2013
M ondays & Wednesdays : 1 0 : 00 a .m. – 1 1 : 2 0 a .m.
H arriman Hall Room 10 8
M . Shane Higuera , Ed.D.
E - Mail: s hane@ sbawebsite.net
T elephone & T ext : (631) 8 07 - 7904
Goals of the Course
This course is an introduction to data analysis and decision making in business. In your career, you will often face situations in which a clear understanding of statistical thinking and decisionmaking methodology will be essential. I have designed the course to:
1. Introduce the basic concepts and methods of statistics and decision making;
2. Demonstrate the applications of statistics and analytical decision making in business; 3. Enable you to perform statistical and decision analyses using appropriate software; and
4. Help you to become a wise consumer of statistical and decision analyses performed by others.
Why Business Students Need Business Statistics
If you are interested in finance, you know that investment strategy is all about return and risk.
How will a portfolio fare in an uncertain world? Why do well-informed investors include funds that perform well in certain circumstances and others that perform poorly under the same circumstances? How can you measure the volatility of a stock relative to the market?
Understanding uncertainty, expected value, variance, regression analysis, and correlation will provide you with a strong competitive advantage over those who do not.
If you are interested in marketing, you know that successful marketers have a good understanding of the markets they target. How do they obtain such knowledge? How do marketers design surveys and other data collection devices that will give them a clear and unbiased look at their markets? What traps must they avoid so as not to make serious mistakes?
How many people must they survey, and how must they select those people, to obtain the precision that they need without incurring undue cost? Understanding
Spring 2013
M ondays & Wednesdays : 1 0 : 00 a .m. – 1 1 : 2 0 a .m.
H arriman Hall Room 10 8
M . Shane Higuera , Ed.D.
E - Mail: s hane@ sbawebsite.net
T elephone & T ext : (631) 8 07 - 7904
Goals of the Course
This course is an introduction to data analysis and decision making in business. In your career, you will often face situations in which a clear understanding of statistical thinking and decisionmaking methodology will be essential. I have designed the course to:
1. Introduce the basic concepts and methods of statistics and decision making;
2. Demonstrate the applications of statistics and analytical decision making in business; 3. Enable you to perform statistical and decision analyses using appropriate software; and
4. Help you to become a wise consumer of statistical and decision analyses performed by others.
Why Business Students Need Business Statistics
If you are interested in finance, you know that investment strategy is all about return and risk.
How will a portfolio fare in an uncertain world? Why do well-informed investors include funds that perform well in certain circumstances and others that perform poorly under the same circumstances? How can you measure the volatility of a stock relative to the market?
Understanding uncertainty, expected value, variance, regression analysis, and correlation will provide you with a strong competitive advantage over those who do not.
If you are interested in marketing, you know that successful marketers have a good understanding of the markets they target. How do they obtain such knowledge? How do marketers design surveys and other data collection devices that will give them a clear and unbiased look at their markets? What traps must they avoid so as not to make serious mistakes?
How many people must they survey, and how must they select those people, to obtain the precision that they need without incurring undue cost? Understanding