University of Illinois at Chicago
College of Business Administration

MBA 503 (Statistics Course for the Full-Time MBA Program):
Data Analysis for Managerial Decision Making
MBA Module 1 -- Aug.-Oct., 1998
Prof.   Stanley L. Sclove
SYLLABUS

CREDIT
4 semester hours
PREREQUISITE
Enrollment in the full-time MBA program    
MEETINGS
Room
Room 120 Taft Hall (TH)
Regular meetings
Mondays, 9:30-12:00 and 1:30-4:00; Tuesdays, 9:30-11:00 and 1:30-3:00, 25-August to 13-October, except Monday, 7-September, and Monday, 21-September.
Special meetings
Midterm review Wednesday, 23-Sept., 9:30-12:30 and 1:30-4:30.
Combined section mid-term on Friday, 25-Sept., 10:30-12:30.
Final review Friday, 9-Oct., 9:30-12:30 and 1:30-4:30.
Combined-section final during 14-16 Oct. (tentatively, 10:30-12:30 on Fri., 16-Oct.).

INSTRUCTOR
Stanley L. Sclove, Professor, Information and Decision Sciences
Office:   2418 University Hall (UH)
Office Hours:   Tuesdays 12:15-1:15 and Thursdays, 2:15-3:15
Phone:   Ofc. (312) 996-2681   Dept. (312) 996-2676
Fax:   (312) 413-0385
URL:   http://www.uic.edu/~slsclove
E-mail:   slsclove@uic.edu

GRADUATE ASSISTANT
Ezra D. Becker
Office:   MBA Office, Rice Building
Office Hours:   Wednesdays 10:00-12:00 and 3:00-5:00
Review Sessions:   Fridays 10:00-12:00, in Room 100 Taft Hall (TH)
E-mail:   ebecke1@uic.edu

MATERIALS
Required Books
Levine, Berenson & Stephan. Statistics for Managers using Microsoft Excel. Updated edition. Prentice Hall. 1998.
McGill, John J. Student Lecture Notes. Prentice Hall, 1997.
Recommended Materials
Strasser, Sandra E. Student Solutions Manual. Prentice Hall, 1997.
Cryer, Jonathan, and Cobb, George. An Electronic Companion to Business Statistics. CD-ROM. Cogito Learning Media, Inc., San Francisco, 1997.

VIDEOS
Videos will be shown in class, including some from "Against All Odds: Inside Statistics". These cassettes are available from the Architecture & Art Library, 3rd floor Douglas Hall. On WYCC, Channel 20, all 26 programs are shown, two half-hour programs per week, with re-runs. In Fall Semester, 1998, this will be Mondays and Tuesdays, 12:30-1:00, and Wednesdays and Thursdays, 12:30-1:00, starting 24-August.

PREREQUISITES
Admission to the MBA program:   It is expected that the persons taking this module will have completed all the prerequisites for admission to the MBA program.  
Spreadsheets:   Prior use of a spreadsheet is recommended, but the textbook includes self-contained instruction in spreadsheets integrated with the teaching of statistics.  
E-mail:   It is helpful to know how to use e-mail.

ASSIGNMENTS
There will be two "homework" assignments which will be collected and graded. These are to be done individually, not in teams. Homework A will be due about 1/4 through the course; Homework B, about 3/4 through the course. These will count for 20% of the final grade (10% each). Late homework is accepted (with a 20% penalty) only if it is handed in before the start of the class meeting after the homework due date.
In addition to the "homework" assignments there may be "problem" assignments which are for practice and will not be collected and graded. A dot in the margin by a problem indicates that the answer is in the back of the book, starting on p. 703. It is suggested that at least the first dotted problem in each assigned section of the text be worked. These can of course be worked in a team setting. I would, however, suggest that you try some of them on your own.
The assignments and other course materials can be printed out from the Web. Those unfamiliar with the Web should go to the CBA PC Lab, with a friend who has used the Web, or consult a TA in the Lab.
The Web browser you are using should be configured to receive Excel spreadsheets. The computers in the campus labs are so configured. If you work at home, you may need to ask a Computer Center consultant at (312) 413-0003 how to configure your browser to do this.
READING
The lectures are designed to complement the reading of the textbook, not to replace it. The textbook contains material that will not be covered in lectures, and the lectures will contain some material not in the textbook.
There are notes on the Web to accompany each chapter. Often these are closely keyed to the text (as commentary on it) and should be in hand while reading the text, to be read along with it.
Some instructors recommend two hours' outside study for each class hour. In our case, that would mean five hours' outside study per class meeting, since each class meeting is 2.5 hours. The five hours could be allocated as 2 hours on the chapter, 1 hour on the accompanying notes, and 2 hours on working problems.

EXAMS
There will be two exams, a Midterm and a Final. The exams will include some material covered in lectures and not in the book. (This is one reason why class attendance is extremely important.)
An important part of the exams is understanding the questions, as stated. Please keep your questions to the examiners to a minimum.
No make-up exams will be given. All students must take all the exams. It is permissible to miss the Midterm due only to extenuating circumstances of an extreme nature, if the instructor is notified in advance and approves. If the Midterm is missed, the lowest of the student's scores on the other three items (two homework assignments and the Final) will be used to assign a grade for the missed exam. Thus there is a penalty for missing the Midterm, even under extenuating circumstances, but that penalty is not a zero.     If the Final is missed, the result will be failure of the course.

GRADES
The grade for the course will be determined by the homework and the exams. The homework assignments count 10% each; the midterm, 35%, and the Final, 45%. A student's overall score will thus be   .10 HwA + .10 HwB + .35 M + .45 F,   where HwA = % score on Homework A, HwB = % score on Homework B, M = % score on midterm, and F = % score on the Final. The cutoffs are usually 90%, 80%, 70% and 60%, unless the distribution suggests other breakpoints, because of clear and definite clusters of scores. (Graduate students are required to have a "B" average to graduate. The grades of "D" and "E" are rarely used in graduate courses.)
I don't like grading, and neither do you. Some people really resent losing points. However, it should not be necessary for any grade to be reviewed. In the unlikely event that review of the final grade is necessary, any such request must be in the ninth week of the semester only.

Links:
Back to Home Page for MBA 503     Course Calendar     Datasets via Prof. Stokes' Web page
latest revision 9-Sept-1998