Social and Economic Statistics / Social and Economic Statistics

Market and Management Anthropology, Odense
Teaching activity id: 9851401.
Teaching language: English.ECTS / weighting: 5 ECTS / 0.083 full-time equivalent.
Examination language: English.
Exam activity id: 9851402.Approved: 08-03-16.
Period: Autumn 2016.
Grading: Internal grading.
Assessment: 7-point scale.
Offered in: Odense.
Subject director:
Associate Professor Oke Gerke, Department of Business and Economics.

Prerequisites:
Mathematics B-level.

Purpose:
The purpose of the subject is to render the student capable of gleaning information from statistical charts as well as summarizing and communicating statistical analysis results to others. Examples of social and business applications will be used in order to increase awareness of the use of statistics in everyday life and to investigate market potential illuminated by statistical results. The subject does not require other prerequisites than those necessary to enter the study and provides the basis for understanding research methodology and conducting independent research when performing anthropological fieldwork in the 5th semester during the expected stay at a university abroad. In relation to the study programme's qualification profile, the subject explicitly focuses on:

  • imparting knowledge about basic statistical methodology
  • enhancing skills in collecting and analysing data
  • qualifying students to plan, conduct and analyse their own projects during the 5th semester.


Content - Key areas:
The course contains the following academic main areas:
  • Data types and data sources
  • Population and samples
  • Descriptive statistics and graphical presentation of data
  • Probability
  • Statistical distributions:
       Binomial,
       Poisson
       Uniform,
       Normal
  • Sampling and sampling distributions
  • Confidence intervals
  • Hypothesis testing:
       Parametric methods (e.g. t test)
       Nonparametric methods (e.g. Wilcoxon’s rank sum test)
  • Association and correlation
  • Regression models.


Goals description (SOLO taxonomy):
Description of objective:
In order to obtain the course's purpose, it is the learning objective for the course that the student demonstrates the ability to:
  • to classify variables according to their data type (quantitative vs. qualitative (ordinal, nominal))
  • to relate statistical methods to usual business problems by finding the most appropriate method for computing confidence intervals and conducting statistical tests for a given problem
  • to apply the statistical software package STATA in order to perform statistical evaluations as follows:
  • to calculate simple measures of descriptive statistics
  • to produce graphical presentations of data (e.g. pie charts, bar charts, Boxplots, scatter plots)
  • to calculate probabilities on data following a Binomial, Poisson, Uniform, and Normal distribution
  • to derive confidence intervals
  • to conduct statistical tests
  • to perform linear regression modelling
  • to formulate statistical hypotheses
  • to argue for the application of a parametric versus a corresponding non-parametric statistical test
  • to create the conclusion of what a confidence interval or the results of a statistical test mean
  • to explain the findings in terms of practical implications in the context of the problem at hand


Literature:
The following literature is used at the course: 
Bruce L. Bowerman, Richard T. O'Connell, Emily S. Murphree. Business Statistics in Practice. McGraw-Hill Irwin. Latest edition.
Lecture notes on STATA.

Optional reading:
Alan C. Acock. A gentle introduction to Stata. Stata Press. Latest edition.


Time of classes:
Autumn.


Scheduled classes:
There are 2 lecture hours and 2 exercise hours weekly for 15 weeks.


Form of instruction:
To enable the student to achieve the learning goals for the subject, the instruction is planned to comprise lecture hours and exercise hours. Lecture hours are intended to conciliate statistical terms and methods and to sharpen the students' awareness of statistics being less about the calculation of formulas and more about the collection and analysis of data, whereas exercise hours are considered to practice choice and application of statistical methods to given scenarios. Lecture hours will contain confrontational teaching, group work, and small-scale experiments. The student is supposed to study the respective chapter(s) in the textbook in the same week, in which the corresponding lecture is held (preferably before). Moreover, the student is supposed to work with STATA from the very beginning of the course on and to come prepared to exercise sessions by having worked through the exercises as scheduled. The student should be able to communicate, explain and discuss his/her results to fellow students. Therefore, the main activities between confrontational classes consist of preparation for both lecture and exercise sessions.

These educational activities implement into an estimated indicative distribution of the workload for an average student in the following way:
Activity
Hours
Face-to-face teaching
30
Preparation
30
Student teacher’s exercise lessons
30
Preparation of student teacher’s lessons
20
Preparation of presentation
0
Examination preparation
21
Examination
4
Total
135

Time of examination:
Ordinary examination: End of October/beginning of November (mid-term evaluation) and in December (end-term evaluation), respectively.
Re-examination: In February (one joint examination).

Registration for the course is automatically a registration for the ordinary examination in the course. Cancellation is not possible. If the student does not participate in the examination, the student will use an examination attempt.
The university may grant an exemption from the rules in case of exceptional circumstances.

Examination form at the re-exam can be changed.

Examination conditions:
None.

Form of examination for the certificate:
Written exam (PC).

Supplemental information for the form of examination:
Two written exams (with own PC) mid-term and end-term, contributing each with 50% to one joint grade.

1) Mid-term evaluation, end October/beginning November: A written exam.
Duration: 2 hours.
Locations: Examination room at the University. Examination takes place using student's own computer being able to access the University wireless network.
Internet Access: Required
Hand out: In the examination room.
Hand in: Via SDU-assignment in the course page in Blackboard.
Extent: No limitations, but short and precise answers preferred.
Exam Aids: All exam aids allowed. Communication with others is not allowed.

2) End-term evaluation, December: A written exam.

Duration: 2 hours.
Location: Examination room at the university. Examination takes place using student's own computer being able to access the university wireless network.
Internet Access: Required
Hand out: In the examination room.
Hand in: via SDU-assignment in the course page in Blackboard.
Extent: no limitations, but short and precise answers preferred.
Exam aids: All exam aids allowed. Communication with others is not allowed.

One grade will be given. Mid-term and end-term evaluations contribute with 50% each to the finale grade.
The re-examination will be conducted as one joint examination with duration of 4 hours.

Comments:
Internal grading for guest- and exchange students. Guest- and exchange students participate in the ordinary examination as described above. Re-examination in February consists of a 48 hour take home assignment.

Programmes:
B.Sc. Market & Management Anthropology
3rd semester, mandatory. Offered in: Odense