Course Outline 2019

BUSADMIN 763: QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS (15 POINTS)

Quarter 2 (1194)

Course prescription
Quantitative analysis theory, techniques, and tools to support and facilitate managerial decision-
making. Includes financial, statistical, and operational modelling.

Course advice
Restriction: BUSADMIN 773

Goals of the course

The course is intended to arm students with a basic understanding of inferential
statistical decision making. The specific things students will be able to do include:

• Learning Outcome 1: Articulate a problem so it can be tested statistically

(formulate a hypothesis)
• Learning Outcome 2: When given a data sample, be able to describe elementary
characteristics of the data (measurement properties like nominal, ordinal,
interval, mean, median, mode, minimum, maximum, variance, standard
deviation, skew)
• Learning Outcome 3: When given a normally distributed sample:
o be able to articulate what the range of the population mean is to some
degree of confidence
o be able to determine whether a new data point is likely to belong to the
same group as the sample (one sample t-test)
• Learning Outcome 4: When given two distributed samples, be able to determine
whether they are the same or different (independent sample and paired sample t-
test)
• Learning Outcome 5: Given two sets of nominal data, be able to determine
whether they are different (contingency table analysis)
• Learning Outcome 6: When given more than two distributed samples, be able to
determine whether they are the same or different (one-way ANOVA)
• Learning Outcome 7: Be able to determine whether one set of interval data can
explain or predict changes in another set (correlation and regression)

Learning outcomes (LO)

# Learning outcome Graduate profile capability*

LO1 Formulate Hypothesis 2. Critical Thinking

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 # Learning outcome Graduate profile capability*
3. Solution Seeking

LO2 Descriptive Statistics 2. Critical Thinking

3. Solution Seeking

LO3 Population Mean 2. Critical Thinking

3. Solution Seeking

LO4 T-Tests 2. Critical Thinking

3. Solution Seeking

LO5 Contingency Tables 2. Critical Thinking

3. Solution Seeking

LO6 ANOVA 2. Critical Thinking

3. Solution Seeking

LO7 Correlation and Regression 2. Critical Thinking

3. Solution Seeking
* See the graduate profile this course belongs to at the end of this course outline.

Content outline
Lesson Topic In-Class Textbook Homework
Number Chapter

1 Introduction: Lecture Chapter 1, 3

Hypotheses
and
inferential
testing

2 Descriptive Lecture + Exercises Chapter 1, 3 HW wk1 due

Statistics

3 Samples and Lecture + Exercises Chapter 3, 12 HW wk2 due

Population

4 T-Tests Lecture + Exercises Chapter 12 HW wk3 due

5 ANOVA Lecture + Exercises Chapter 15 HW wk4 due

6 First Test Test HW wk5 due

7 Simple Lecture + Exercises Chapter 4, 14

Regression

8 Multiple Lecture + Exercises Chapter 14 HW wk7 due

Regression

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 9 Contingency Lecture + Exercises Chapter 17 HW wk8 due
Tables

10 Second Test Test HW wk9 due

Learning and teaching

The course comprises approximately ten seminar sessions of 3.5 hours each. The basic
statistical tool applied will be Excel. Students are allowed to employ other tools (e.g.,
SPSS, R, SAS) if they so desire. Excel is employed simply because we can be assured
almost every student will have access to it.

Teaching staff

Cecil Chua
Office: OGGB Level 4, Room 474
Tel: 09 923 6851
Email: aeh.chua@auckland.ac.nz

Learning resources
Lane, D. M., Scott, D., Hebl, M., Guerra, R., Osherson, D., & Zimmer2, H. (2008).
Introduction to Statistics. Houston, TX: Rice University. The book can be
downloaded legally for free here http://onlinestatbook.com/

Assessment information
Group and/or
Assessment task Weight % Submission
individual
Test 1 27 Individual Week 6

Test 2 20 Individual Week 10

One week after
Homework 16 Individual
assigned
Friday of Week 10,
Individual project 37 Individual
2359hrs.
Further details on these assessments will be provided during our first lecture.

Pass requirements
Weighted average of all assessments results in a C- or above.

Description of assessment tasks

Learning outcome to
Assessment task
be assessed
Test 1 2, 3

Test 2 2, 3

Homework 2, 3

Individual project 2, 3

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Detailed Description of Assessments
Homework: Homework will be marked as follows:
0- You fail to turn in the homework, or fail to answer some part of the homework
1- You got something wrong in the homework
2- You got everything correct on the homework
Tests: The marking scheme is described on each test.

Test 1 will cover all material before week 6. This includes sampling, distributions,
especially the normal distribution, the central limit theorem, T-Tests and ANOVA.

Test 2 is comprehensive, and will cover all material in the course.

In addition, your instructor feels data analysis requires substantial common sense. Many
of the questions will require you to not only mechanically process questions, but also to
critically reflect on what the statistics are actually telling you.

Project: You are to ask a question about the world. You will then formulate hypotheses
associated with that question. You will gather data analysable using statistical tests to
answer the question. You will describe how you gathered the data. You will clean your
data. You will analyse the data, report your results, state what the answer to the
hypotheses are, and your conclusion.

There are multiple deliverables for the project, including:

• A report in which material to be assessed (see below) are detailed. Only the
report is assessed, but the other submitted materials must be consistent with the
report.
• An Excel file containing the data on which the report is based.
• An analysis document. This can either be an Excel file where the analysis is
done, or a Word document containing the relevant material output from some
other statistical package. Note that because data might be transformed or
removed during analysis, it is important to keep the original data and analysis
documents separate.

This will be marked as follows:

Question and hypotheses (5 marks): The question and hypotheses are framed in
such a way they can be answered by gathering data and using a statistical test.

Data gathering (5 marks): Data gathering is described precisely enough that

someone else could replicate the data gathering procedure.
Data analysis (15 marks):

(4 marks) The integrity of the data is assessed, both procedurally and

statistically. How quality is data is assessed is clearly described in the
report.
(4 marks) Assumptions associated with the statistical test employed are
tested for, and if those assumptions are violated, how violations were
mitigated is detailed in the report.
(7 marks) The correct test(s) were applied, and the correct statistics are
reported, including the actual statistic, degrees of freedom (if any), and p-
value.

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 Conclusion (5 marks): The report correctly articulates whether the data supports
or rejects the hypotheses, and then states the correct implications and/or future
courses of action to be taken.

Inclusive learning
Students are urged to discuss privately any impairment-related requirements face-to-
face and/or in written form with the courses convenor/lecturer and/or tutor.

Academic integrity
The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and
views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student
submits for grading must be the student’s own work, reflecting his or her learning.
Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and
referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the worldwide web. A student’s
assessed work may be reviewed against electronic source material using computerised
detection to provide an electronic version of their work for computerised review.

Student feedback
The instructor is teaching this course for the first time, so there is no feedback.

In the event of an unexpected disruption

We undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all
your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions, the University
has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and your
assessment is fair, and not compromised. Some adjustments may need to be made in
emergencies, In the event of a disruption, the University and your course coordinators
will make every effort to provide you with up to date information via Canvas and the
University website.

Graduate profile for Postgraduate Diploma in Business

The following six themes represent the capabilities that the Business School seeks to
foster in all of its graduates. The development of these capabilities does not come all at
once, but rather is expected to build from year to year. Each course is not expected to
contribute to all capabilities, but each course will have its own goals and learning
outcomes that relate to the overall development of this profile.

Graduate Profile

1. Disciplinary knowledge and practice

Graduates will be able to demonstrate advanced knowledge of general
management theory and apply this effectively in a range of contexts.

2. Critical thinking
Graduates will be able to effectively evaluate and synthesise evidence from
multiple sources to develop coherent and evidence-based arguments.

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 Graduate Profile

3. Solution seeking
Graduates will be able to frame and analyse complex problems, develop practical
solutions, and understand the impact and implications of planned implementation.

4. Communication and engagement

Graduates will be able to work effectively in teams and engage varied audiences
by communicating professionally using multiple formats.

5. Independence and integrity

Graduates will be able to engage in independent and ethical decision-making and
behaviour, demonstrating self-reflection and self-management in complex and
ambiguous situations.

6. Social and environmental responsibility

Graduates will recognise, in relation to their field, the potential significance of the
principles underpinning the Treaty of Waitangi and sustainability, and
demonstrate capability to shape business practice accordingly where appropriate.

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