University of Maryland Graduate Programs-Europe

Management Statistics
MGMT 584

Term: 4, 2001-2002; Tuesday and Thursdays 6:30-9:30 P.M.

 

Lecturer: Will Tenney (willtenney@hotmail.com)

 

Text: Satistics for Business and Economics, 8^th ed.; Anderson, Sweeney and Williams.

 

Course Description: This course is designed to provide the knowledge necessary to interpret published research results and to permit elementary research in business and public administration. Topics include descriptive statistics, probability, estimation, hypothesis testing, tests for goodness of fit and independence, ANOVA, sampling, correlation, linear regression, and multiple regression.

 

As this course is one of five that you are required to successful complete prior to taking the Comprehensive Exam in Public Administration, you are strongly encouraged to review the statistics and research methods questions that have appeared on past Comprehensive Exams as you work through this syllabus. The past 4-5 exams are available at /grad/Comp/index.htm.

 

Objectives: Upon completion of the course students should be able to:

 

1.prepare and interpret descriptive statistics.

2.use inferential statistics for research in business and public administration.

3.use statistical techniques for forecasting and prediction.

4.use multivariate statistical techniques in business and public administration.

5.use probabilities in decision-making.

6.analyze and interpret published research and results.

 

Grading Policy: The course work will be weighted as follows:

Homework and class participation:10%

Article review:10%

Case Studies:25%

Midterm:25%

Final Exam:30%

 

Homework and participation: Students are expected to have done the assigned homework from the previous week by Tuesday. Students also should have read the material assigned for each class prior to the class meeting. Due to the complicated nature of statistics, students may need to read the materials more than once. Students will be asked to do problems in class and are expected to participate in class discussion.

 

Article Review: Each student will be required to bring in one newspaper, magazine, or journal article that pertains to the application of statistics. Be prepared to summarize and analyze, and critique the article in class. What is the problem statement? How were the results analyzed? Was the hypothesis supported? Evaluate the appropriateness of the statistical tests utilized. How would you improve the study? Bring one copy of the article and your presentation outline to submit to the instructor.

 

Case Studies: Case Studies should be typed. Answers to cases should be of a quality similar to that of a management consultant hired by the organization to solve the problem described with the given information. There will be a Case Study due every week and the students are expected to participate in discussions about them. 

Midterm and Final Exam: Each exam will be made up of short answer questions and problems covering material from the text and class.

 

Office Hours: The instructor is available after class, 1:15 P.M. Mon.-Thurs. at Navy Campus, and by appointment if necessary. Do not hesitate to seek help outside of class. It is extremely important that students do not fall behind.

 

Instructor's background: Will Tenney received his A.B. in Philosophy from Kenyon College in 1984. He obtained his M.S. in Mathematics and North Carolina Teaching Certificate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1992. He has taught mathematics at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia, UNC-Chapel Hill, and University of Maryland-University College since 1992.

 

Schedule: This is a tentative schedule and adjustments will be made as necessary. 

 

WeekChapter

1---1,2,3 and 4

2---5,6,7, and 21

3---8,9, and 10

4---Midterm and 11

5---12 and 13

6---14,15, and 16

7---19 and article review presentations

8---Review and Final Examination