BUSN 6530: Data Analysis for Managers

Summer 2019

Instructor: Christopher Nelson, Ph.D. Course dates/times: 6/11-7/30; T 6-8:30pm

Office: N/A Course Location: Denver South CUSD-014
Phone: 303-315-1700 Office Hours: By appointment
E-mail: CHRISTOPHER.2.NELSON@UCDENVER.EDU

Course Overview
This course provides an overview of techniques for data analysis, including multiple regression, sampling theory,
and applications of probabilistic inference from sample data. The emphasis is upon the applications of these
techniques to management problems. Students are required to analyze data sets, present their analyses, and defend
their conclusions.

Philosophy and Objectives

This course is designed to familiarize you with fundamental techniques for summarizing and analyzing data found
in the business environment. It gives students practical, hands-on experience using data to produce graphical
displays of data, forecasts, and multiple regression models.

This course focuses heavily on interpretation and communication of statistical results. You will be writing reports.
You will be discussing your work in the online threaded discussions. I am less concerned about whether you get
the mathematically correct answer; our reliance on statistical software virtually guarantees that you won't make an
arithmetic error. The key to success is knowing what you’ve got once you’ve got it.

Cases are used extensively in this course. Cases allow you to learn the appropriate statistical methods within a
meaningful business context. There are two types of cases in this course. For some, you work along with me while
I analyze data. These cases present you with a problem, show how to analyze the data using JMP (our statistical
software) and summarize the results. The second type of case is unassisted. You will be given a scenario and a
data set to analyze. However, you are not told what to do or which statistical techniques to apply. This is where
you think through the problem as you might in a business setting--with no professor telling you what to do and
why. The data analysis is followed by a write-up of your results.

Prerequisites
You need not have any background in statistics, although it is important that you have good working knowledge
of college-level math. Calculus is not used in this course.

Textbook

No textbook required

Grading Policy
Learning assessments will be based on quizzes, short-answer assignments, case assignments, and a final exam.
Your lowest quiz score will be dropped prior to calculation of your final course grade. The final course grade will
be determined by 4 quizzes (10% each), 1 short-answer exercises (10%), two large case assignments (15% each)
and the final exam (20%). Course grades will generally, but not always, fall on a 90 (A), 80 (B), 70 (C) etc. scale,
with pluses and minuses assigned to borderline scores. Business School expectations are that I assign grades so
that the class average lies between 3.1 and 3.5 on a 4.0 scale.

Incomplete grades are not given unless you have finished the vast majority of the course work (as determined by
me) and have a documented emergency. Incomplete grades are not given because you are failing the course and
would like to retake the course in a subsequent semester. This is Business School policy.

Quizzes and the Final Exam

If you miss a quiz or the final exam, the grade on that assignment is zero without a documented emergency.
Therefore, it is extremely important that you keep track of the due dates of all quizzes and the final exam. Please
mark them now in your personal calendars.

Short Answer (SA) and Case Assignments

Short answer and case assignments also have due dates and times. A 10% penalty will be assessed for SA and case
assignments turned in late:

With the exception of an extreme and documented medical emergency or some other extreme unforeseen
emergency (as determined by me), make-ups are not available.

Dropping the Course

Please familiarize yourself with UC Denver's policy for dropping courses on the Academic Calendar link of the
Registrar's website. These policies apply to online courses as well as on-campus courses. Dates affecting your
tuition payment for a course, and the need to petition the dean's office to drop a course, are clearly delineated
there.

Academic Honesty

UC Denver recognizes and enforces an academic honor code as described in the UC Denver Catalog. You should
acquaint yourself with this code, which includes (but is not limited to) things such as plagiarism, cheating, and
misuse of academic materials. The Business School has established an Internal Affairs Committee to hear all
cases of alleged academic dishonesty. As your instructor, I am required to approach this committee with all
suspected cases of academic dishonesty. Please observe the academic honor code so that this will not be
necessary.

Of particular importance in this class is that you follow my guidelines about group and individual work detailed
below. In addition:
  It is a violation of this course's academic honesty policy to plagiarize words or phrases from my
materials or any others.
 It is a violation of this course's academic honesty policy to share any information about the graded
assignments (quizzes or the final exam) with any other human being, including former, current, or
future students.
 A graded case that has been returned to you may not be shared or distributed or discussed with other
students in the course outside of your group: former, current, or future.

If you have any questions about my policies, or want a clarification on a specific situation, please feel free to ask
at any time throughout the course.

Group Work

Group work is encouraged but not required. Groups will have no more than three members; otherwise,
communication becomes unwieldy. Why consider group work? There are two graded case assignments this
semester; for graded cases only, you elect to work either in a group or on your own. Because the graded cases are
large, often difficult assignments, performance on the cases is generally enhanced by having others to work with.
A group turns in one report and the grade on that assignment will be awarded to all group members.

Groups are formed by you; I do not assign people to groups. Groups are policed by you and your group; a group
may dissolve at any time and be reconstituted with different people. This might happen, for example, if one or
more members of the group isn't pulling his/her weight. I will not get involved in group formation,
incompatibilities, squabbles, or other issues (although I will police issues of academic dishonesty in groups or
otherwise). If your group isn't working for you, leave it and work alone or join another group. If you aren't
participating fully in group activities, expect to be dismissed from the group.

Individual Work

Graded quizzes and the final exam are to be done individually. You can discuss other assignments with other
students in the class.
Overview of Schedule and Deadlines - Below is a tentative schedule including holidays, assignments, and exams. Please refer to
the web-site for updates throughout the semester including topic coverage and announcements. As the instructor, I reserve the
right to change or add anything to this syllabus.

Week Class Lecture Topic & Associated Reading Assignments

June 11 1 Introduction & Overview Chapter 1
Data Types
Levels of Measurement
Sampling Methods
Introduction to JMP software

June 18 2 Descriptive Statistics – Central Tendency Chapter 2,3,4

Descriptive Statistics – Measures of Dispersion Quiz 1
Describing Data Visually
Exploratory Data Analysis
Short Answer Assignment #1 Released

June 25 3 Probability Distributions Chapter 7,8,9

Confidence Intervals Short Answer Assignment #1 DUE
Quiz 2

July 2 4 One sample tests of hypothesis Chapter 10,11

Quiz 3

July 9 5 Two sample tests of hypothesis Quiz 4

July 16 6 Correlation & Bi-variate Regression Chapter 13

Final Exam Released Quiz 5
Case Study Released

July 23 7 Introduction to Multiple Regression Chapter 14

- Multicollinearity Quiz 6
- Coefficient of Determination
- Estimation/Prediction

July 30 8 Final Exam DUE (11:59pm)

Case Study DUE (11:59pm)