Statistical techniques in business & economics,7th ed.

Abstract

We have made many changes to examples and exercises throughout the text. The section on “Enhancements” to our text details them. The major change to the text is in response to user interest in the area of data analytics. Our approach is to provide instructors and students with the opportunity to combine statistical knowledge, computer and statistical software skills, and interpretative and critical thinking skills. A set of new and revised exercises is included at the end of chapters 1 through 18 in a section titled “Data Analytics.” In these sections, exercises refer to three data sets. The North Valley Real Estate sales data set lists 105 homes currently on the market. The Lincolnville School District bus data lists information on 80 buses in the school district’s bus fleet. The authors designed these data so that students will be able to use statistical software to explore the data and find realistic relationships in the variables. The Baseball Statistics for the 2016 season is updated from the previous edition. The intent of the exercises is to provide the basis of a continuing case analysis. We suggest that instructors select one of the data sets and assign the corresponding exercises as each chapter is completed. Instructor feedback regarding student performance is important. Students should retain a copy of each chapter’s results and interpretations to develop a portfolio of discoveries and findings. These will be helpful as students progress through the course and use new statistical techniques to further explore the data. The ideal ending for these continuing data analytics exercises is a comprehensive report based on the analytical findings. We know that working with a statistics class to develop a very basic competence in data analytics is challenging. Instructors will be teaching statistics. In addition, instructors will be faced with choosing statistical software and supporting students in developing or enhancing their computer skills. Finally, instructors will need to assess student performance based on assignments that include both statistical and written components. Using a mentoring approach may be helpful. We hope that you and your students find this new feature interesting and engaging.