Where and When

Course Description

Course Objectives

Teaching Method:

This course will rely principally on lecture and discusssion, augmented with Microsoft EXCEL and PHSTAT2 statistical programming demonstrations.
 

Texts:

Levine, D. M., Krehbiel, T. C., & Berenson, M. L.,  Business Statistics: A First Course (4th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2006 (ISBN: 0131547143).

Course Requirements and Grading:

 Homeworks        (relative weight = .2)
 Exam # 1            (relative weight = .3)
 Exam # 2            (relative weight = .3)
 Final Exam         (relative weight = .3)
 Term Project      (relative weight = .3)

    The final course grade will be computed by taking the weighted average of the best 4 of the above 5 grades.   Homework assignments will receive credit only if completed on time as scheduled.  Some homeworks will be assigned and completed during scheduled class meetings, hence students absent during those meetings will not receive credit for these homeworks.   Make-up exams will be available only to those students who have notified the instructor prior to the scheduled exam date ( a phone call to 637-2731 leaving a message is adequate).

    Academic dishonesty will be penalized heavily.  Plagiarism (the copying of text from other sources without the use of quotation marks) and/or cheating will result in a grade of F for the paper/exam involved.   In addition, students having excessive absences (10 or more) will receive the grade of FA (failed for absence).   Being late to a class will count as an absence.
 

Term Project:

The term project will require the student to analyze the relationships between (1) some dependent variable and at least three explanatory variables, or (2) some explanatory variable and at least three dependent variables.  Students may assemble data themselves, use one of the data bases described below or utilize published summary statistics.  The project must be submitted as a single document, double spaced, in a standard word processing format (i.e., *doc or *pdf).   Charts and tables should be included in the body of the text, while additional statistical results generated by Excel should be included in an Appendix.

A.  Organization and Content:

     The following describes how the term project should be organized, and what information should be included in each section:

    Section                                                     Content

I.  Introduction	Provide a brief overview of the term paper’s research objectives and findings.
II. Literature Review	Provide a summary of the findings of at least one other study that has examined the behavior of the dependent variable(s) that is (are) the focus of the term paper.
III.  Data and Method	Provide a description of each of the variables in the study and how they are measured.  This section should also describe how each variable is distributed with appropriate descriptive statistics and charts.  This section should also describe the statistical methods used for assessing whether a significant relationship exists between the dependent variable(s) and the explainer(s). The hypotheses being tested, statistics computed, and findings reported should be explained fully.  Any statistical programming "printouts" that form the basis for the analysis must be appended at the end of the paper.
IV.  Summary	Provide a brief summary of the term project’s results and any policy implications they might impart.

B.  Data Bases:

To satisfy the term project requirement, you may:

• collect and analyze your own data; or
• use one of the Excel databases listed below; or
• use one of the Excel databases (described in Appendix D) contained on the CD accompanying the Levine text.

    The following Excel databases can also be used to complete the term project:

USDATA.XLS database contains monthly (starting in January 1992) US data for a variety of financial, production,
government and consumer behavior series.  Sources are various Federal agencies.

GDPHISTTABLE.XLS database contains quarterly US values for GDP derived production values.  Source is http://www.economic-indicators.com/.

CITYSTATE.XLS database contains a variety of  economic, social and demographic variables for the largest US cities
as well as for the states (plus Washington, D.C).  Source is University of Virginia's Fisher Library @
http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/ccdb/state94.html.

WORLD95.XLS database containing 1995 population, health, income, education, religion, etc. information for 109 countries.  Source is SPSS.

COUNTRY.XLS database containing 1992 population, health, income, etc. information for 122 countries.  Source is SPSS.

NETWORK.XLS database containing size, occupancy, ownership, managed care penetration, etc. data for national sample of 235 hospitals (assembled by Loubeau and Jantzen).

MBADATA.XLS database containing enrollment, student demographics, faculty characteristics, tuition, accreditation status, etc. for the population of 624 graduate business (MBA) programs in the US.  Data were compiled for 1988 and 1995 (by Jantzen).

STATBOOK.XLS database containing hospital financial and service characteristics, as well as market characteristics, for a random sample of 717 private US hospitals (assembled by Jantzen and Loubeau). 
 

The publisher of the Levine, Krehbiel and Berenson text maintains a website that offers supplements to the text for student use.  You can access the website by going to the following link:

http://www.prenhall.com/levine
 

Course Software:

This course will primarily rely on two programs (one bundled with the Levine text book) to conduct statistical analysis, namely Microsoft Excel and the PHSTAT2 add-in for Excel.  Both are relatively easy to use point-and-click programs that perform overlapping functions.  Students are free to use other software to complete assignments/exams (like MINITAB, BMDP, SPSS, etc.), but the instructor will not offer technical support for such programs.  The instructor will provide a handout containing information for installing the PhStat2 add-in.

Contact Information:

Instructor:               Robert H. Jantzen, Ph.D.
                                Professor, Department of Economics
Office Location:        Economics Department, Spellman Hall, 2nd floor
Office Hours:            T, Th and F, 11 a.m. - Noon,  by appointment..
Phone:                      (914) 637-2731.
Fax:                          (914) 633-2511.
E-Mail:                  RJantzen@Iona.edu
Web-Page:            www.iona.edu/faculty/rjantzen/homepage.htm
 
 
 

College Policy for all courses and students: (full explanations of policy may be found in the College Catalog) Plagiarism:  Is the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author/person and the representation of them as one's own original work.  Iona College policy stipulates that students may be failed for the assignment or course, with no option for resubmission or re-grading of said assignment.  A second instance of plagiarism may result in dismissal from the College. Attendance:  All students are required to attend all classes.  Iona has an attendance policy for which all students are accountable.  While class absence may be explained it is never excused.  Professors may weigh class absence in the class grade as they see fit.  Failure to attend class may result in a failure of the class for attendance(FA), when the student has missed 20% or more of the total class meetings.  The FA grade weighs as an F would in the final official transcript. Course and Teacher Evaluation(CTE):  Iona College now uses an on-line CTE system.  This system is administered by an outside company and all of the data is collected confidentially.  No student name or information will be linked to any feedback received by the instructor.  The information collected will be compiled in aggregate form by the agency and distributed back to the Iona administration and faculty, with select information made available to students who complete the CTE.  Your feedback in this process is an essential part of improving our course offerings and instructional effectiveness.  We want and value your point of view.* NOTE* You will receive several emails at your Iona email account about how and when the CTE will be administered with instructions how to proceed.