Unit Outline

BEA674

Data and Business Decision Making

Semester 1, 2024 - ECA

Moses Kangogo

Tasmanian School of Business & Economics (TSBE)

College of Business and Economics

CRICOS Provider Code: 00586B

Contact Details

Unit Coordinator

Moses Kangogo

Email: Moses.Kangogo@utas.edu.au

Contents

What is the Unit About?................................................................................................................................ 3

Unit Description............................................................................................................................................ 3

Intended Learning Outcomes................................................................................................................... 3

Requisites...................................................................................................................................................... 3

How will I be Assessed?................................................................................................................................ 4

Assessment schedule................................................................................................................................ 4

Assessment details..................................................................................................................................... 4

How your final result is determined........................................................................................................ 7

Submission of assignments..................................................................................................................... 7

Requests for extensions............................................................................................................................ 7

Late penalties................................................................................................................................................ 7

Review of results and appeals................................................................................................................. 7

Required Resources....................................................................................................................................... 8

Required reading materials....................................................................................................................... 8

Recommended reading materials............................................................................................................ 8

Other required resources........................................................................................................................... 8

Unit schedule.................................................................................................................................................... 9

AACSB Accreditation................................................................................................................................... 10

Sustainability.................................................................................................................................................. 10

What is the Unit About?

Unit Description

Managers need an understanding of statistics for five key reasons: to properly collect, present, describe and interpret information; to draw valid conclusions from incomplete data - typically about large populations based only on information obtained from samples; to obtain reliable forecasts; to improve business processes and; to provide a framework for dealing with risk and uncertainty. These five reasons form the basis of the structure and content of Data and Business Decision Making. The use of mathematics and arithmetical calculations are kept to a minimum for selected topics by using the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet package. The unit focusses on the interpretation and application of the various techniques studied.

Intended Learning Outcomes

As per the Assessment and Results Policy 1.3, your results will reflect your achievement against specified learning outcomes.

On completion of this unit, you will be able to:

1.	Illustrate how key statistical concepts apply to business environments.
2.	Appraise and apply various statistical techniques to critically analyse a range of business problems.
3.	Organise and communicate statistical findings to provide relevant recommendations for business decision making.

Requisites

REQUISITE TYPE	REQUISITES
Pre-requisite	N/A
Anti-requisite (mutual excl)	BEA681 AND BEA654

How will I be Assessed?

For more detailed assessment information please see MyLO.

Assessment schedule

ASSESSMENT TASK #	ASSESSMENT TASK NAME	DATE DUE	WEIGHT	LINKS TO INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Assessment Task 1:	Online Test	See the MyLO site for the due date	30 %	LO1, LO2
Assessment Task 2:	Group Assignment	Week 12	30 %	LO1, LO2, LO3
Assessment Task 3:	Examination	Exam Period	40 %	LO1, LO2, LO3

Assessment details

Assessment Task 1: Online Test

Task Description:

The online tests consist of a series of multiple-choice, and long/short answer questions, and must be completed individually via MyLo.
The tests will assess student’s knowledge and ability to interpret and apply the statistical concepts covered in the lectures.

Online test 1 covers contents covered in weeks 1 to 4.
Online test 2 covers content covered in weeks 5 to 8.
Each test is worth 15% for an overall contribution of 30% to your final grade.
Further information about the test will be provided on MyLO approximately one week before the test commences.

Task Length:

60 minutes for each test.

Due Date:

See the MyLO site for the due date

Weight:

30 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)

1	Define and interpret fundamental concepts used in descriptive and inferential statistics.	LO1
2	Identify interesting business questions about the world around you with SDGs focus.	LO2
3	Appraise and apply relevant descriptive and inferential statistical techniques to analyse variations in business behaviour and outcome.	LO2
4	Determine and judge interesting business questions about the world around you in relation to economic growth	LO2

Assessment Task 2: Group Assignment

Task Description:

You are required to form a group to complete the assignment. You will be expected
to analyse a dataset and clearly communicate key findings using various statistical concepts/techniques covered in the lectures.
This is a group assignment and students are required to work collaboratively. Each group has 2-3 students. Each group is required to provide the contributions of individual group members on the cover sheet (as a percentage). This will be used to assess criteria 6 and 7. Each group must assign a specific task to each group member. Each group member should attach a report of what they did in each group. This will be assessed as individual contribution to the group.

Further information about the assignment will be explained.
NB: The provision exists for students in truly exceptional circumstances to submit the assignment as an individual. Further details will be available on the assignment question sheet.

Task Length:

The report should not exceed 1,500 words (excluding references, tables, graphs and calculations).

Due Date:

Week 12

Weight:

30 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)

1	Define and interpret fundamental concepts used in descriptive and inferential statistics.	LO1
2	Illustrate key concepts with real world business examples.	LO1
3	Determine and judge interesting business questions about the world around you	LO2
4	Appraise and apply relevant descriptive and inferential statistical techniques to analyse variations in business behaviour and outcomes.	LO2
5	Justify and use graphs, tables and excel effectively in support of statistical analysis and explanations.	LO3
6	Work productively in a group to communicate statistical results/excel outputs and relevant policy advice clearly in a written report.	LO3
7	Recommend business policy advice based on ethics and/or cross-cultural considerations.	LO3

Assessment Task 3: Examination

Task Description:

The examination consists of a series of problem solving questions. The form of the exam is to be announced in MyLo. This exam will cover all the topics delivered in weeks 1 to 12. Further information about the examination will be provided in week 13.

Task Length:

12 hours

Due Date:

Exam Period

Weight:

40 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)

1	Define and interpret fundamental concepts used in descriptive and inferential statistics.	LO1
2	Illustrate key concepts with real world business examples.	LO1
3	Identify and articulate interesting business questions about the world around you in relation to long-term economic growth	LO2
4	Appraise and apply relevant descriptive and inferential statistical techniques to analyse variations in business behaviour and outcomes.	LO2
5	Justify and use graphs, tables and excel effectively in support of statistical analysis and explanations.	LO3
6	Communicate statistical results/excel outputs and relevant policy advice clearly in a written report.	LO3
7	Recommend business policy advice based on ethics and/or cross-cultural considerations.	LO3

How your final result is determined

To pass this unit, you need to demonstrate your attainment of each of the Intended Learning Outcomes, achieve a final unit grade of 50% or greater, and pass any hurdle tasks.

Submission of assignments

Where practicable, assignments should be submitted to an assignment submission folder in MYLO. You must submit assignments by the due date or receive a penalty (unless an extension of time has been approved by the Unit Coordinator). Students submitting any assignment in hard copy, or because of a practicum finalisation, must attach a student cover sheet and signed declaration for the submission to be accepted for marking.

Requests for extensions

If you are unable to submit an assessment task by the due date, you should apply for an extension.

A request for an extension should first be discussed with your Unit Coordinator or teaching support team where possible. A request for an extension must be submitted by the assessment due date, except where you can provide evidence it was not possible to do so. Typically, an application for an extension will be supported by documentary evidence: however, where it is not possible for you to provide evidence please contact your Unit Coordinator.

The Unit Coordinator must notify you of the outcome of an extension request within 3 working days of receiving the request.

Late penalties

Assignments submitted after the deadline will receive a late penalty of 5% of the original available mark for each calendar day (or part day) that the assignment is late. Late submissions will not be accepted more than 10 calendar days after the due date, or after assignments have been returned to other students on a scheduled date, whichever occurs first. Further information on Late Penalties can be found on the Assessments and Results Procedure.

Review of results and appeals

You are entitled to ask for a review of the marking and grading of your assessment task if there is an irregularity in the marking standards or an error in the process for determining the outcome of an assessment. Details on how to request a review of a mark for an assignment are outlined in the Review and Appeal of Academic Decisions Procedure.

Required Resources

Required reading materials

Levine, D., Stephan, D. and Szabat, K. (2020). Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft Excel. 9th ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River.

Other required resources

Students should have access to Microsoft Excel.

Unit schedule

Week	Date beginning	Topic/ Module/ Focus Area	Activities	Resources/ Readings/ Further Information
1	26 February	Defining and Collecting Data	Watch pre-recorded lectures. Attend introductory workshop	See MyLO
2	4 March	Organising and Visualising Variables	Watch pre-recorded lectures. Attend F2F workshop	See MyLO
3	11 March	Numerical Descriptive Measures	Watch pre-recorded lectures.	See MyLO
4	18 March	Working with Bi-variate data	Watch pre-recorded lectures. Attend F2F workshop	See MyLO
5a	25 March	Basic Probabilities	Watch pre-recorded lectures	See MyLO
Mid-Semester Break: Thursday 28 March – Wednesday 3 April 2024
5b	4 April		Online test 1
6	8 April	Discrete Probability Distributions	Watch pre-recorded lectures.	See MyLO
7	15 April	The normal distribution and other continuous distribution	Watch pre-recorded lectures. Attend F2F workshop	See MyLO
8	22 April	Sampling distribution Confidence interval estimation continuous distribution	Watch pre-recorded lectures.	See MyLO
9	29 April		Watch pre-recorded lectures. Attend F2F workshop Online test 2
10	6 May	Hypothesis Testing	Watch pre-recorded lectures.	See MyLO
11	13 May	Simple linear regression	Watch pre-recorded lectures. Attend F2F workshop	See MyLO
12	20 May	Introduction to multiple linear regression	Watch pre-recorded lectures. Assignment task 3 due	See MyLO
13	27 May	Revision	Attend F2F workshop
Study Period: 3 June to 7 June
Exam Period: 8 June to 25 June

AACSB Accreditation

The Tasmanian School of Business and Economics (TSBE) gained initial Business Accreditation from the AACSB International (AACSB) in July 2021 – the lead program for accrediting business schools globally. AACSB seeks to connect educators, students, and business to achieve a common goal – to create the next generation of business leaders.

AACSB is the most reputable standard in business education and TSBE is now one of an elite group of the world’s business schools. By being an AACSB accredited School, TSBE has joined a global alliance committed to improve the quality of business education around the world, and to share the latest innovations in business education.

Gaining Business Accreditation with AACSB means that we have satisfied a multi-year process involving TSBE demonstrating our performance against the 15 accreditation standards.

TSBE has joined a select community of accredited business schools, with only five percent of all business schools globally accredited with AACSB. This will further enhance the reputation of TSBE, as well as the global recognition of your qualifications. To find out more about AACSB click here.

Sustainability

The College of Business and Economics is now a PRME (Principles for Responsible Management Education) signatory. We are committed to the six PRME values of Purpose, Values, Method, Research, Partnership and Dialogue and you will see in various units how we embed sustainability values in our teaching and research and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Across all sustainable development goals, our university is ranked at 25 overall globally, and for Sustainable Development Goal 13 – Climate Action – UTAS is the number one university. For more information about PRME, click here.