BUS601: Quantitative Business Analysis

Spring 2015
Dave Gilliland, Ph.D.
Office: 132 Rockwell Hall
dave.gilliland@colostate.edu
Phone: 970-491-5224
Class meeting time: Rockwell West 8; Tuesdays/Thursdays, 2.003.40; 2 nd 8 weeks
Office Hours: Mondays 9.00 11.00am (or by appt.)
Course Description: BUS601 is a key introductory course to the MBA program. It
will give you specific data tools, strong references, and, most importantly, a thought
process for analyzing quantitative business problems. Quantitative data analysis
often provides the appropriate answer to a business problem or, more likely, sheds
significant light on a solution. With a thorough understanding of the tools and
processes available, a student will be able to more effectively analyze and solve
business problems both in his/her forthcoming classes and, more importantly, in live
business settings. Topics include: data presentation and graphical representation,
probability concepts and frequency distributions, discrete and continuous random
variables, sampling distributions, parameter estimates, confidence intervals,
hypothesis testing, and simple and multiple linear regression models.
Learning Objectives: The overarching objective of this course involves making
sure you are comfortable with quantitative decision making tools in the business
context. While we have learning objectives for each class session, the following
objectives guide the entire course. By the completion of this course you should be
able to:
1. gain exposure to a spectrum of numerical techniques that support business
decision making;
2. apply quantitative analysis to help solve business issues;
3. evaluate and prioritize information that influences business decisions;
4. describe and present business data and information properly;
5. interpret and understand quantitative analysis provided by other people;
6. communicate (oral and written) convincing and effective arguments based on
quantitative analysis to support positions they take on business issues;
7. derive information from sample data, and draw conclusions about large
populations from the
information;
8. apply critical thinking skills to develop and improve business processes; and,
9. develop improved decision-making skills, including the ability to analyze
problems, manage quantitative information, evaluate alternatives, and make
better decisions.
Attendance: Attendance is required. The student is responsible for all
information, materials, and discussions that take place during the course period.
Course Materials:
Textbook: Salkind, Neil J. (2014) Statistics for People Who (Think They) Hate
Statistics, 5th edition, Sage Publications, Los Angeles. See student resources
at http://sagepub.com/salkind5e

Companion to the Text: Bremer, Karin Lindstrom (2015) Study Guide to

Accompany Neil J. Salkinds Statistics of People Who (Think They) Hate
Statistics, 5th Edition, Sage Publications, Los Angeles.
Additional readings and assignments may be posted on WebCT or handed out
in class.
For additional reference, students are encouraged to consult Statsoft
Electronic Statistics Textbook at: www.statsoft.com/textbook/stathome.html.
Another valuable statistics reference is Hyperstat, which can be found at
http://davidmlane.com/hyperstat/.
Qualtrics Survey Software will also support this class. Please establish your
Qualtrics account at: http://www.qualtrics.com/academic-solutions/coloradostate-university-college-of-business/
Lecture slides will be posted to RamCT prior to each lecture.
All computational software needs for this course can be met with the SPSS
Statistics program (Student Standard GradPack available for 6 month rental).

RAMCT: RamCT is the designated means of electronic communication between

student and instructor. RamCT mail should be checked daily for class
announcements or postings.
Assignments
Exams: Exams (a midterm and final) reflect the material covered in the readings,
problems, and class lectures and discussions. Exams vary in content depending on
the nature of the material, and are scheduled on the Tentative Daily Schedule. The
exams are open book, open note exams. Obviously, no outside help of any kind in
completing the exam is allowed.
Practice problems: You are encouraged to do the end-of-chapter practice
problems. This will prepare you for completing both the project and the exams. The
solutions to the practice problems are in the back of the book. Also, The Study
Guide has its own set of practice problems, data sets, and solutions.
Grading
Your grade will be determined by your performance on 2 exams and the project. If
assignments are added, deleted, or modified the number of points will be adjusted
accordingly. The breakdown for points is as follows:
Midterm Exam
Final Exam
Project

100 pts.
100 pts.
100 pts.
Total 300 pts.

The scale for determining your grade is detailed below according to the percentage
of points earned of the 300 total that are available (regular rules of rounding apply).
A

93 100

C+

78 79

AB+
B
B-

90
88
83
80

92
89
87
82

C
D
F

70 77
60 69
below 60

Tentative Course Schedule

T
R
T

24Mar
26Mar
31Mar
2-Apr
7-Apr

9-Apr

T
R

T
R
T
R
T
R
T
R
T

Class intro; introduction to SPSS;

Descriptive Statistics

1, 2, 3, App. A

Data Illustration

Correlation coefficient
Questionnaire design, Qualtrics
Reliability and validity
Hypothesis testing, normal distribution, the
z-score
Intro to inferential statistics, one sample ztest
Mid-term exam
Differences in means
ANOVA
Correlation revisited
Regression, nonparametrics
Working on Project
Working on Project

14-Apr
16-Apr
21-Apr
23-Apr
28-Apr
30-Apr
5-May
7-May
12May Final Exam (9.40-11.40)

6
7, 8
9, 10
11, 12
13, 14
15
16, 17
18 - 21

Academic Integrity
Students must uphold the academic integrity standards as explained in the
universitys 2014-2015 General Catalog (www.catalog.colostate.edu). Academic
integrity is conceptualized as doing and taking credit for ones own work. There is a
new honor code at CSU, which has been modified by the College of Business as
follows: Cheating, attempted cheating, plagiarism, falsification, unauthorized
collaboration, and unauthorized possession or disposition of academic work is
prohibited. This honor code is in effect for all assignments executed in this class.
Violations of the universitys academic integrity standards include, but are not
limited to:
Cheating. Cheating includes using unauthorized sources of information and
providing or receiving unauthorized assistance on any form of academic work.

 Plagiarism. Plagiarism includes the copying of language, structure, ideas, or

thoughts of another, and representing them as ones own without proper
acknowledgment.
Unauthorized Possession or Disposition of Academic Materials. Unauthorized
possession or disposition of academic materials includes the unauthorized selling
or purchasing of examinations or other academic work; stealing another students
work; unauthorized entry to or use of material in a computer file; theft or
mutilation of library materials; and using information from or possessing exams
that an instructor did not authorize for release to students.
Falsification. Falsification encompasses any untruth, either verbal or written, in
ones academic work.
Facilitation of Cases of Academic Dishonesty. Facilitation of any act of academic
dishonesty also constitutes violation of Colorado State Universitys academic
integrity.
Violations of Colorado State Universitys academic integrity policies will be handled
in accordance with the procedures discussed in the General Catalog.
Also, note that faculty members and administrative professionals at CSU must also
abide by a Code of Ethical Behavior. This code is included on the website
http://facultycouncil.colostate.edu/files/manual/sectiond.htm#D.9) and states
among other things that faculty members are expected to maintain a high level of
discretion and respect in personal and professional relations with students, staff,
and the public. This code also notes that faculty must eschew academic
misconduct such as fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism.