FACULTY OF LAW AND BUSINESS

Peter Faber Business School

North Sydney, Strathfield, Melbourne, Brisbane
SEMESTER 1 2016
STAT102: Business Data Analysis
UNIT OUTLINE

Credit points: 10
Prerequisites / incompatibles: Nil

It is your responsibility as a student to ensure that you have the prerequisites for a
particular unit. You may not enrol in this unit if you have previously passed, or are
currently enrolled in, any unit identified as incompatible with this unit. If you do not
meet these requirements, then you must see your Course Coordinator.
National Lecturer in Charge:

Professor Donald Ross

Office location:

Level 10, Tenison Woods House, 8-20 Napier St, North Sydney

Email:

[email protected]

Telephone:

(02) 9739 2356

Contact me:

By email or phone, or after class

Consultation Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays, 14:00-17:00hrs

Description: This unit provides students with a practical approach to the analysis of business data
uncertainty with emphasis on generating useful information for business decision-making. It covers
gathering and describing data, the role of probability in measuring uncertainty, statistical inference
using various common parametric and non-parametric techniques and analysis of relationships
between variable.
Teaching team:
Campus: North Sydney

Professor Donald Ross (Contact details above.)

Campus: North Sydney

Dr Nicolas Boamah

Office location:

Room 10.28, Level 10, Tenison Woods House, 8-20 Napier St

Email:

[email protected]

Contact me:

By email, or after class

Consultation Hours: Thursdays, 12:00-13:00hrs

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Campus: Brisbane

Mr Graham Arthur

Office location:

TC.12

Email:

[email protected]

Telephone:

(07) 3623 7447

Contact me:

By email, or after class

Consultation Hours: Wednesdays 10:00-12:00hrs, Thursdays 11:00-12:00hrs, and

Fridays, 12:00-14:00hrs

Campus: Melbourne

Dr Somkiat Kitjongthawonkul

Office location:

Level 7 (East), 250 Victoria Parade, East Melbourne

Email:

[email protected]

Telephone:

(03) 9953 3546

Contact me:

By email or phone, or after class

Consultation Hours: Mondays 10:00-13:00hrs and Wednesdays 11:00-14:00hrs

Campus: Strathfield

Mr Colin Manton

Office location:

Strathfield

Email:

[email protected]

Contact me:

By email or after class

Consultation Hours: Wednesdays 16:00-17:00hrs and Thursdays 17:00-18:00hrs

All queries should initially be directed to the campus lecturer. The campus lecturer will consult with
the NLIC if necessary.
Mode/attendance pattern: Lectures, tutorials and workshops on campus or mixed mode
Duration:

12 week-semester or equivalent.

You should anticipate undertaking 150 hours of study for this unit, including class attendance,
readings and assignment preparation.

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LEARNING OUTCOMES
On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:
1.
analyse a limited variety of business decision situations; identify the appropriate statistical
technique to inform the decision making process; and apply various statistical techniques to
solve business problems; (GA 4, 8, 10)
2.
explain the limitations of various statistical techniques and the dangers of unethical use of
statistics; (GA 4, 8, 10)
3.
interpret the results of applying various statistical techniques to inform business decisions;
(GA 4, 8, 10)
4.
use statistical techniques to analyse claims and hypotheses critically; (GA 4, 8, 10)
5.
apply various statistical tests to data sets using a commercial statistical package. (GA 4, 8,
10)

GRADUATE ATTRIBUTES
Each unit in your course contributes in some way to the development of the ACU Graduate
Attributes which you should demonstrate by the time you complete your course. You can view the
ACU Graduate Attributes for all courses at http://www.acu.edu.au/204356. All Australian universities
have their expected graduate attributes ACUs Graduate Attributes have a greater emphasis on
ethical behaviour and community responsibility than those of many other universities. All of your
units will enable you to develop some attributes.
On successful completion of this unit, you should have developed your ability to:
GA4

think critically and reflectively

GA8

locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information

GA10

utilise information and communication and other relevant technologies effectively

CONTENT
Topics will include:

Collecting and categorising data.

Presenting data: Tabular and graphical techniques.

Descriptive statistics.

Probability: Simple, joint and conditional.

Discrete and continuous probability distributions,

Sampling distributions.

Inferential statistics: confidence intervals,

Hypothesis testing.

Analysing relationships: linear regression, multiple regression

Time series forecasting.

Index numbers

Ethical issues in the use of statistics

QUALITY ASSURANCE AND STUDENT FEEDBACK

This unit has been evaluated through the Student Evaluation of Learning and Teaching (SELT)
online surveys. Since the last offering of this unit, changes to assessment include the replacement
of three In Class Quizzes with an Assignment Set and a Group Project.
SELT surveys are usually conducted at the end of the teaching period. Your practical and
constructive feedback is valuable to improve the quality of the unit. Please ensure you complete the
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SELT survey for the unit. You can also provide feedback at other times to the unit lecturers, course
coordinators and/or through student representatives.

SCHEDULE
For the most up-to-date information, please check your LEO unit and also note advice from your
lecturing and tutoring staff for changes to this schedule.
Week

Starting

Topic

Reading

Tutorial Exercises

29 Feb

Basic Mathematics, Chapter 1 Sections 1.1 to 1.4,

Percentages
Chapter 2 Sections 2.1 to 2.3

Introduction to Excel

7 Mar

Algebra, Ratios
and Proportions

1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8,

1.11, 1.13, 1.16, 1.17, 1.19,
1.21, 1.24, 1.26, 1.28, 1.31,
1.32, 1.33

Chapter 3
Chapter 4 Section 4.1

2.1, 2.4, 2.6, 2.10, 2.12,

2.14, 2.15
3

14 Mar

21 Mar

Graphing

Chapter 9 Sections 9.1 to 9.4

3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.7, 3.8,

3.10, 3.12, 3.16, 3.18, 3.21

Visual Presentation
of Data

Chapter 11 Sections 11.1-5,

11.7-9, 11.11

Introduction to
Statistics

Chapter 10 Sections 10.1 &

10.6

9.1, 9.2, 9.5, 9.6, 9.9, 9.10,

9.11

Measures of
Central Tendency
and Variation

Chapter 12 Chapter 13
Sections 13.1-2, 13.5-6

11.7, 11.9, 11.13, 11.15,

11.17

Chapters 19 (excluding
Sections 19.8 and 19.9) and
Chapter 20 (Sections 20.1 to
20.3 only)

12.2, 12.8, 12.17, 12.21,

12.28

Chapter 14

19.11, 19.12, 19.13, 19.34,

19.35

4.1, 4.3, 4.5, 4.7, 4.10

UA Week Recess
5

4 Apr

11 Apr

Time Series and

Index Numbers

Sampling
Distributions

13.1, 13.2

20.1, 20.2, 20.3, 20.4

7

18 Apr

Elementary
Probability

Chapter 15

14.1, 14.5, 14.7, 14.8, 14.9,

14.15, 14.20, 14.25, 14.26,
14.52, 14.53

25 Apr

Normal Distribution

Chapter 16

15.1, 15.5, 15.7, 15.19,

15.20, 15.21, 15.43, 15.44,
15.51

2 May

Correlation

Chapter 17 excluding Section

16.1, 16.4, 16.9, 16.16,

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17.4

16.23, 16.24, 16.34

10

9 May

Regression

Chapter 18

17.1, 17.9, 17.13, 17.44,

17.4

11

16 May

Hypothesis Testing

Chapter 21 (excluding
Sections 21.6 & 21.7)

18.1, 18.10, 18.26, 18.43

12

23 May

Ethical
Issues/Revision

21.1, 21.2, 21.3, 21.36

ASSESSMENT
In order to pass this unit, you are required to attain an overall mark of at least 50%.
The assessment tasks for this unit are designed for you to demonstrate your achievement of each
learning outcome.
All submissions of assessments and assignments must be submitted electronically via
Turnitin. There will be no paper submissions.

Learning
outcome/s
assessed

Graduate
Attributes
assessed

Assessment tasks

Due date

Weighting
(%)

Group Project

29 April; 1700hrs

30%

1, 3, 4

GA4, GA8

EXCEL Problem Set

9 May; 1700hrs

20%

1-5

GA 4, 8, 10

Final Exam

TBC

50%

1-4

GA 4, 8, 10

Assignment 1
This is a group assignment to be undertaken in groups of three or four members. The topic for the
group assignment is income and wealth distribution in Australia, as specified in Appendix 1.
Due date:

29/04/2016; 1700Hrs

Weighting:

30%

Length and/or format:

3,000 words

Purpose:

To allow students to consider and present ABS statistical data in

their consideration of a preferential option for the poor &
vulnerable.

Learning outcomes assessed:

1, 3, & 4

How to submit:

Via LEO, Turnitin

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Return of assignment:

Within two weeks.

Assessment criteria:

As specified in Appendix 1.

Assignment 2
This is an individual assignment enabling students to demonstrate their understanding of
mathematics and statistical techniques.
Due date:

09/05/2016, 1700hrs

Weighting:

20%

Length and/or format:

Problem set

Purpose:

To enable students to demonstrate their understanding of

mathematics and statistical techniques, including the use of
EXCEL statistical software.

Learning outcomes assessed:

1-5

How to submit:

Via LEO using Turnitin

Return of assignment:

Within two weeks

Assessment criteria:

As specified in Appendix 2.

Assignment 3
Final Exam
Due date:

TBC

Weighting:

50%

Length and/or format:

Two hours

Purpose:

To assess student knowledge and skills across the units content.

Learning outcomes assessed:

1-4

REFERENCING
This unit requires you to use the Harvard referencing system.
See the Academic referencing page from the Office of Student Success for more details.

ACU POLICIES AND REGULATIONS

It is your responsibility to read and familiarise yourself with ACU policies and regulations, including
regulations on examinations; review and appeals; acceptable use of IT facilities; and conduct and
responsibilities. These are in the ACU Handbook, available from the website.
The Unit Outline Resources page (http://students.acu.edu.au/241467) contains several important links
as a starting point.

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Assessment Policy and Procedures

You must read the Assessment Policy and Assessment Procedures in the University Handbook:
they include rules on deadlines; penalties for late submission; extensions; and special
consideration. If you have any queries on Assessment Policy, please see your Lecturer in Charge.

Academic integrity
You have the responsibility to submit only work which is your own, or which properly acknowledges
the thoughts, ideas, findings and/or work of others. The Framework for Academic Integrity and the
Academic Honesty Policy are available from the website. Please read them, and note in particular
that plagiarism, collusion and recycling of assignments are not acceptable. Penalties for academic
dishonesty can vary in severity, and can include being excluded from the course.

Turnitin
The Turnitin application (a text-matching tool) will be used in this unit, in order to enable:

students to improve their academic writing by identifying possible areas of poor citation and
referencing in their written work; and

teaching staff to identify areas of possible plagiarism in students written work.

While Turnitin can help in identifying problems with plagiarism, avoiding plagiarism is more
important. Information on avoiding plagiarism is available from the Academic Skills Unit.
For any assignment that has been created to allow submission through Turnitin (check the
Assignment submission details for each assessment task), you should submit your draft well in
advance of the due date (ideally, several days before) to ensure that you have time to work on any
issues identified by Turnitin. On the assignment due date, lecturers will have access to your final
submission and the Turnitin Originality Report.

STUDENT SUPPORT
If you are experiencing difficulties with learning, life issues or pastoral/spiritual concerns, or have a
disability/medical condition which may impact on your studies, you are advised to notify your
Lecturer in Charge, Course Coordinator and/or one of the services listed below as soon as possible.
For all aspects of support please contact the Office of Student Success.

Academic Skills offers a variety of services, including workshops (on topics such as
assignment writing, time management, reading strategies, referencing), drop-in sessions,
group appointments and individual consultations. It has a 24-hour online booking system for
individual or group consultations.
Campus Ministry offers pastoral care, spiritual leadership and opportunities for you to be
involved with community projects.
The Career Development Service can assist you with finding employment, preparing a
resume and employment application and preparing for interviews.
The Counselling Service is a free, voluntary, confidential and non-judgmental service open
to all students and staffed by qualified social workers or registered psychologists.
Disability Services can assist you if you need educational adjustments because of a
disability or chronic medical condition; please contact them as early as possible.
Indigenous Units on each campus provide information and support for students.

The Unit Outline Resources web page (http://students.acu.edu.au/241467) provides links for each
service.

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ONLINE RESOURCES AND TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS

The LEO page for this unit contains further readings/ discussion forums.

TEXTS AND REFERENCES:

Required text(s)
Croucher, J. Introductory Mathematics and Statistics, 6th edn, 2013 McGraw-Hill.
Recommended references
Black K, Asafu-Adjaye J, Khan N, Perera N, Edwards P & Harris M Australasian business statistics,
2nd edn, John Wiley & Sons, Milton.
Berenson ML, Levine D, Krehbiel T, Watson J, Jayne N, Turner LW & OBrien M 2010, Business
statistics: concepts and applications, 2nd edn, Pearson Education, Sydney.
Selvanathan EA, Selvanathan S & Keller G 2011, Business statistics (abridged), 5th edn Cengage
Learning Australia, Melbourne.
Sharpe NR, DeVeaux RD & Velleman P 2011, Business statistics: a first course, Pearson Education,
Sydney.

Mathematics
Lakin, S. How to Improve your Math Skills, (latest edition), Pearson.

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APPENDIX 1: GROUP PROJECT

Using the data presented in Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Issue 6523.0 Household Income
and Wealth, Australia, 2013-14, write a report commenting on income and wealth distribution in
Australia in light of CST Preferential Option for the Poor and Vulnerable. Your report should detail
current income and wealth distribution and how it has changed over the last ten years. Your report
should use a variety of graphs and charts to visually present your data (as per Week 3 Topic),
various measures of central tendency and variation (as per Week 4 Topic) to describe income and
wealth distributions, and time series and index numbers to present changes over time (as per Week
5 Topic). You should then consider your data in the context of CST Preferential Option for the Poor
and Vulnerable and conclude as to Australias performance in respect to this principle.
Note that the Preferential Option for the Poor & Vulnerable principle considers the purpose of
economic activity is to advance all members of society including the most poor and vulnerable.
According to Francis I, the measure of the greatness of a society is found in the way its treats those
most in need.

Marking Guide:
Appropriate use of graphs and charts to visually present your data

(6 points)

Appropriate use of the various measures of central tendency and variation to elucidate income and
wealth distribution (6 points)
Appropriate use of times series and index numbers to demonstrate change in income and wealth
distribution over time (6 points)
Discussion of income and wealth distribution based on statistical data presented in light of CST (12
points)
Total Points 30.
The submission will be assessed against the following criteria:

Thoroughness of research;

Quality of statistical presentations;

Coherence of arguments;

Consistency of arguments throughout the submission;

Attention to detail.

Submission requirements:

The assignment carries a word limit of 3,000 words, excluding references and appendices.

The assignment is to be submitted via LEO/Turnitin and will be checked for originality.

Assignments submitted after the deadline but within 72 hours will be penalised 10% of the
maximum mark available for the assignment. Submissions after this time are not permitted
without the approval of the National Lecturer in Charge.

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APPENDIX 2: PROBLEM SET

This is an individual assignment valued at 20% whereby the student presents their solutions to a
series of mathematical and statistical problems, using where appropriate EXCEL statistical analysis
software. Students should show all of their work and calculations when presenting their answers.

Marking Guide:

Correct application of mathematical and statistical techniques (8 points);

Demonstrated ability to use EXCEL statistical software to generate correct mathematical and
statistical solutions (6 points)

Demonstrated understanding of how to interpret statistical results (6 points)

Total Points 20.

The submission will be assessed against the following criteria:

Quality of mathematical and statistical solutions;

Attention to detail.

Submission requirements:

The assignment is to be submitted via LEO/Turnitin and will be checked for originality.

Assignments submitted after the deadline but within 72 hours will be penalised 10% of the
maximum mark available for the assignment. Submissions after this time are not permitted
without the approval of the National Lecturer in Charge.

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