MS 502

Quantitative Methods for Business

Spring I Semester, 2007/2008

 

Instructor:  Dr. John Navin

Office Hours:

Office:  AH  3134

M & W 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.

Phone:  650-3423         

M 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.

Home Phone:  (618)-288-0419

W 6:00 – 7:30 p.m.

Email:  jnavin@siue.edu

& By Appointment

COURSE MEETING TIME AND PLACE:

 
  1. Wednesday, November 7th  – Engineering Building 0013; 6:00 p.m.   C.S.T.

 
  1. Wednesday, November 14th , 2007 through Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 – Asynchronously, online at: http://bb.siue.edu

 

3.       FINAL EXAM:  Wednesday,  February 13th , 2008;  6:00 p.m.  C.S.T.  ON LINE

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

 

This section of MS 502 will be an on-line course.  Aside from the first meeting on campus to familiarize students with the software, all course material and evaluation will take place on-line using Blackboard courseware.  Students in this course will be working independently and in groups with assistance from me at their own pace during the week.  The course will require student interaction with each other through weekly on-line discussions.  In addition, students will be using the on-line testing software to take weekly quizzes and exams.

 

Access to the course is purchased as part of your textbook.  Students need to follow the instructions and technical information that is provided below.

 

I will be monitoring discussions at least once per day, with the exceptions of Saturdays, Sundays and during breaks.

 

Students will be able to move at their own pace during the week.  Students are not required to be on-line every Wednesday night.  The two requirements that must be met are that the students participate in weekly discussions as well as submit their weekly quiz prior to the published deadline.   This will insure that if there are any problems, I will be available to solve them.

 

ACCESSING YOUR COURSE:

 

To access your Blackboard course, you will need a computer with Internet access.  Blackboard is just another web page.  It will work with Netscape, FireFox, Safari,  or Internet Explorer and on PC or Mac.

 

Use the following steps to access and logon to your Blackboard course.

 

  1. Log on to the Internet.  This can be done at home, on campus, or at work.  Again, you can use any computer with Internet access.

 

  1. Enter the following URL into your Internet Browser, http://bb.siue.edu, and click “Enter.” Remember to use the http://.  There is no “www” in the address.

 

  1. Click on the “Login” button in the upper left-hand corner.

 

  1. Enter your user name and password. Your user name is your SIUE email ID, in lower case. Your password is your SIUE email password.  If you have not set up an e-ID, please go to http://www.siue.edu/e-ID

 

  1. On the right side of your screen under “My Courses” click on MS_502_1B3_SP08.

 

  1. You should now be directed to the homepage of your MS 502 course.

 

Please check the following website for the technical recommendations for using Blackboard:

http://www.library.siue.edu/ftc/blackboard/support/student.htm

 

For technical help with Blackboard, please call 618-650-5697. Staff members are available to answer your calls from 8:00 am until 6:00 pm Monday – Friday. If you have any further questions, please contact me at jnavin@siue.edu.

 

COURSE PHILOSOPY:

 

            Understanding the fundamental concepts of inferential statistics and their application to business problems is stressed in this course. To that end, students are required to learn and be able to explain those computational formulae deemed basic to the subject. The focus of the evaluations is on the student's ability to conduct statistical tests, interpret the results and to explain their relevance to the problem at hand.

 

REQUIRED TEXT AND SOFTWARE:

 

            Statistical Techniques in Business & Economics, by Douglas A. Lind, William G Marchal, and Samuel A. Wathen, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, Twelfth Edition.  The text book also comes with a CD that includes data sets and a Microsoft Excel add-in program.  It is not a requirement to have this CD; however, you are required to have access to a program which will allow you to run multiple and simple linear regressions.

 

EXAMS and QUIZZES:

 

            There will be on-line quizzes each week covering the material assigned the previous week.  All quizzes must be submitted prior to 9:30p.m. on the Wednesday that they are due. 

            There is one midterm exam.  It will be taken on line.  It must be completed between December 10, 2007 and December 12, 2007.  It will take approximately 2 hours to complete.

The final exam will be held on line.  The final will take place, Wednesday, February 7, 2007 and begin at 6:00 p.m.  Students are required to be on line at 6:00 p.m. for the final exam!

 

GROUP PROBLEM SETS:

 

            The course will be broken into groups consisting of four or five students.  Each week, with the exception of the Midterm and the final, I will assign a problem/question related to that week’s quiz.  Each group will be responsible for working out the correct answer and posting their response to the discussion board by TUESDAY NIGHT so that others may use the answers to study for the quiz.  I will monitor the responses and will be available for help throughout the week.  EVERY MEMBER of the group is expected to participate throughout the semester.  How the group allocates participation is up to the group (everyone every week, everyone takes a week, etc.).  Your participation grade will depend on your contribution to the group problem sets.

           

GRADES:

 

A student’s grade will be a weighted average of the following  four components:

 

Participation in on-line group assignments

15%

Quizzes

30%

Midterm

27.5%

Final Exam

27.5%

Total

100%

 

HOMEWORK  PROBLEMS:

 

            The sections of chapters listed under "Homework" on the course outline for each class period should be read in the text book prior to attempting the assigned lecture.  Failure to read the sections indicated will make the material more difficult than it need be. The list of  Homework Problems are given as an example of the types of problems you should be able to complete prior to taking the assigned quizzes. The work should be done in small increments on a daily basis, rather than all at once, just before a test.  Homework will not be turned in or graded.    However, few who neglect the homework are able to pass the course.  I will post the answers to ALL homework exercises in the book, not jus those assigned, so that you are able to attempt as many problems as you would like.  The problems on the quizzes and exams will resemble and cover material that is assigned as homework problems.

 

EXCEL:

 

            You will not be tested on your knowledge of Excel in this course; however knowledge and use of a statistical package will be necessary in order to complete some homework and quiz/exam problems.

 

COURSE OUTLINE:                               

 

DATE

Week of:

LECTURE TOPIC

CHAPTER

 

 

 

 

11/07/07

Introduction to Our On-line Experience

1, 2, & 3

 

**** Meeting is On-Campus ****

 

 

1.  Descriptive vs. Inferential Statistics

 

 

2.  Sources of Data

 

 

3.  Types of Data

 

 

5.  Organizing Numerical data

 

 

6.  Tables and Charts for Numerical Data

 

 

7.  Measures of  Central Tendency – Mean, Median, Mode

 

 

8.  Measures of Variation – Variance, Standard Deviation

 

 

 

 

 

Homework: Ch1:  5,6,13.  Ch2:  27,28.  Ch3:  12,13,39,42 (omit d),62,67,74,77.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11/14/07

Probability Concepts and Discrete Probability Distributions

5 & 6

 

****Meeting On-Line****

 

 

Quiz:  Over Chapters 1, 2, & 3

QUIZ Due by 9:30 11/16/05

 

 

 

 

 

1.  What is Probability

 

 

2.  Approaches to Probability

 

 

3.  Computing Probabilities

 

 

4.  Permutations and Combinations

 

 

5.  Discrete Probability Distributions

 

 

6.  Random Variables

 

 

7.  Binomial Distribution

 

 

 

 

 

Homework:  Ch5:  50,52,55,57,59,65,71,75.

Ch6:  1,2,8,9,19,21,23,41,49,61,63,71

 

 

 

 

11/21/07

***  No Class – Thanksgiving Break ***

 

 

 

 

11/28/07

Continuous Probability & Sampling Distributions

7 & 8

 

***Meeting is On-Line***

 

 

Quiz over Chapters 5 & 6 due by 9:30 p.m.

 

 

 

 

 

1.  Uniform Distribution

 

 

2.  Normal Probability Distribution

 

 

*** SKIP Correction Factor pages 234-235.

 

 

3.  Central Limit Theorem

 

 

4.  Distribution of the Sample Mean

 

 

 

 

 

Homework: Ch7:  1,3,7,9,11,13,15,17,19,21,23,25 33,39,43,53

 

 

Ch8:  5,7,15,17,18,31,33

 

 

 

 

12/05/07

Confidence Interval Estimation

9

 

*** Meeting is On-Line***

 

 

Quiz over Chapters 7 & 8 due by 9:30 p.m.

 

 

 

 

 

1.  Confidence Interval for the Mean (Sigma known)

 

 

2.  Confidence Interval for the Mean (Sigma unknown)

 

 

3.  Confidence Interval estimation of the Proportion

 

 

4.  Determining Sample Size

 

 

***SKIP Finite-Population Correction Factor pages 300-301

 

 

 

 

 

Homework:  Ch9:  1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17,23,29,32,37,45,54

 

 

 

 

12/12/07

******Midterm Exam due by 9:30 p.m.******

 

 

Covers Chapters 1,2,3,5,6,7,8, & 9

 

 

 

 

12/19/07

No Class – Holiday Break

 

 

 

 

12/26/07

No Class – Holiday Break

 

 

 

 

01/02/08

No Class – Holiday Break

 

 

 

 

01/09/08

No Class – Holiday Break

 

 

 

 

01/16/08

Fundamentals of Hypothesis Testing:  One-Sample Tests

10

 

*** Meeting is On-Line ***

 

 

No Quiz!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

1.  General Hypothesis Methodology

 

 

2.  Z-test of Hypothesis for the Mean (Sigma known)

 

 

3.  The p-value approach to hypothesis testing

 

 

5.  One-tailed tests

 

 

6.  t-tests of Hypothesis for the Mean (Sigma unknown)

 

 

7.  Z-tests of hypothesis for the Proportion

 

 

 

 

 

Homework:  Ch10:  1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17,19,21,23,.2,34,38,46,52

 

 

 

 

01/23/08

Two-Sample Tests with Numerical Data and Simple Linear Regression and Correlation

11 & 13

 

*** Meeting is On-Line ***

 

 

Quiz over Chapter 10 due by 9:30 p.m.

 

 

 

 

 

1.  Z-tests and t-tests for the Difference of Two Means

 

 

2.  Comparing Two Related Samples – Paired Difference Tests

 

 

3.  Correlation Analysis

 

 

4.  Coefficient of Correlation

 

 

5.  Coefficient of Determination (r-squared)

 

 

6.  Simple Regression Analysis

 

 

7.  Standard Error of the Estimate

 

 

8.  Assumptions Underlying the Regression Model

 

 

9.  Confidence and Prediction Intervals

 

 

10.  Transforming Data

 

 

 

 

 

Homework:  Ch11:  1,3,5,11,13,18,24,28,32,42,46

Ch13:  3,11,13,15,27,31,42,47,51,56,57

 

 

 

 

 

01/30/08

Simple Linear Regression Continued and Multiple Regression

13 & 14

 

*** Meeting is On-Line ***

 

 

Quiz over Chapter 11 ONLY due by 9:30 p.m.

 

 

 

 

 

1.  Correlation Analysis

 

 

2.  Coefficient of Correlation

 

 

3.  Coefficient of Determination (r-squared)

 

 

4.  Simple Regression Analysis

 

 

5.  Standard Error of the Estimate

 

 

6.  Assumptions Underlying the Regression Model

 

 

7.  Confidence and Prediction Intervals

 

 

8.  Transforming Data

 

 

9.  Developing the Multiple Regression Model

 

 

10.  Inferences in Multiple Regression

 

 

11.  The ANOVA table

 

 

12.  Evaluating the Regression Equation

 

 

***SKIP Analysis of Residuals pages 495-500

 

 

 

 

 

Homework:  Ch13:  3,11,13,15,27,31,42,47,51,56,57

 

 

Ch14:  1,3,5,10,14(a-e only),15(a-e only),17(a-d only),19(a-c only)

 

 

 

 

02/06/08

Multiple Regression and Review for the Final

14

 

*** Meeting is On-Line ***

 

 

No Quiz !!!!

 

 

1.  Developing the Multiple Regression Model

 

 

2.  Inferences in Multiple Regression

 

 

3.  The ANOVA table

 

 

4.  Evaluating the Regression Equation

 

 

***SKIP Analysis of Residuals pages 495-500

 

 

 

 

 

Homework: Ch14:  1,3,5,10,14(a-e only),15(a-e only),

17(a-d only),19(a-c only)

 

 

 

 

02/13/08

Final Exam

 

 

Meeting is ON LINE

 

 

Exam Begins at 6:00 p.m.