Welcome to Stat-S 301 Business Statistics!

Instructor: Robert Granger

Email: rgranger@iu.edu

Office Hours: 9:30-10:30 a.m. MW or by appointment.  You're also welcome to stop by anytime, but I can't promise I'll be there.

Office: IE201 - Myles Brand Hall (east) - It can be fairly difficult to find my office, so please check out this map.  Locate Myles Brand Hall.  Before trying to go upstairs, find the east side of the building first.  My office is on the second floor on the east side of the building.  Feel free to email me if you're lost and I'll try and find you but you must at least make it to Myles Brand Hall.

Text: Donnelly. Business Statistics. 3rd Edition (eBook available in MyLab and Mastering)

Homework Platforms: Pearson's MyLab and Mastering and Canvas Quizzes for week 14.

Required Materials: You need to bring a laptop computer to class each class period. It must have the required software installed and a wireless internet connection. 

Required Software: Microsoft Excel with its Analysis ToolPak loaded. See: Install Excel and Excel's Analysis ToolPak.

Communication Policy: You may send me a message through Canvas (my preferred mode of communication). I have multiple roles within the university and receiving messages through Canvas helps me stay organized.  I will get back to you within 24-48 hours (excluding weekends and holidays when it might take longer to respond).

Course Objectives: This is an introductory course in statistical methods for business majors. The material you learn in this course will aid you in making decisions in business based on data and supports the Kelley School's I-CORE program. 

CO1: Organize and summarize data by choosing appropriate descriptive statistics, tables, and graphs. 

CO2: Calculate probabilities using random variables, probability distributions, and sampling distributions.

CO3: Make business decisions choosing appropriate hypothesis tests and forming appropriate interval estimates for problems.

CO4: Form and interpret simple linear regression models including the use of log transformations where appropriate. 

CO5: Use Excel to summarize and analyze data for CO1, CO2, CO3, and CO4.

Course Design: This course follows a flipped design. You will read, watch videos, and take quick-check quizzes prior to class. In class, you will work on critical thinking and practical Excel skills in small groups with your peers on an activity designed to help you synthesize the material. Extra time at the end of class can be used to ask questions about harder concepts. Homeworks will be due weekly on Fridays with the exception of the week of Fall Break. There will be plentiful office hours both via Zoom and in person so that you can obtain individualized help. There will be four exams, three in-class during the semester and a final exam. Practice exams will be very similar to the actual exam so that you can practice with the format and topics of the actual exam. 

Grading: Grades are based on four exams, quick check quizzes, homeworks, and in-class activities as follows: 

Practice Exams: 2%

Exam 1: 7.5%

Midterm Exam: 15%

Exam 3: 7.5%

Final Exam: 20%

Quick-Check Quizzes: 10%

Homework: 25%

In-Class Activities: 15%

This sums to 102%. This means the course has extra credit built into its grade structure. It is also a method to incentive you to take the practice exams which are meant to mimic the actual exams fairly closely. 

Ten quick-check quizzes will be dropped when calculating your quick-check quiz grade since these are meant to be low-stakes assessments to solidify your understanding of the content. Two homeworks will be dropped when calculating your homework grade and two in-class activities will be dropped when calculating your in-class activity grade in order to cover illnesses and most reasonable necessary absences. You are expected to take all exams as scheduled. 

The grading scale will be: 

A+ 98% or above
A  from < 98% to 92%
A- from < 92% to 90%
B+ from < 90% to 88%
B  from < 88% to 82%
B- from < 82% to 80%
C+ from < 80% to 78%
C  from < 78% to 72%
C- from < 72% to 70%
D+ from < 70% to 68%
D  from < 68% to 62%
D- from < 62% to 60%
F  below 60%

It is important to note that Canvas does not determine your grade. Canvas has preset ways of estimating your grade when you have not completed the class. Those ways may be misleading. This syllabus is the determination as to how your final grade in this course will be calculated. 

Disclaimer: If there is a significant campus disruption including but not limited to another pandemic or a worker strike, some aspects of the way this course is managed and graded may change. We will do our best to give you as much advanced notice as possible and to be flexible with you in return for your flexibility with us. We are not currently expecting any disruption to this course. 

Accommodations: If you need a disability or a religious holiday accommodation, it is your duty to inform your instructor during the first two weeks of the term. If a disability or illness arises during the term, you should inform your instructor at your earliest possible convenience. 

Major Absences: If you miss an exam or a substantial portion of classes, you must contact your instructor as soon as possible. Your absence needs to be documented. In some cases, such as hospitalization or a death in the family, the Dean of Students will help verify the documentation. Accommodations may involve nothing (so you get a zero on the exam if you miss the exam), re-weighting the assignments that were not missed, allowing a make-up assignment, or another accommodation. This will be determined by your instructor in consultation with the Director of Business Statistics, Professor Elizabeth Housworth. 

Academic Dishonesty:

Academic misconduct will be dealt with as described in the IU Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct. In the case of confirmed academic dishonesty, a grade of F* will be recorded, where the * indicates that the F is due to cheating. A report of the incident will be made to the Office of Student Ethics.

Exams must be your own, individual work. Obtaining assistance from a third party for help completing an exam is forbidden. 

Work done in groups in class is group work. It should be done in class in your group. Academic misconduct would come in if someone submits a group work assignment for someone else not in class. 

You can ask for assistance understanding homework problems. However, it is academic misconduct to hire someone to complete your homework for you. Similarly, it is academic misconduct to hire someone to go through the class pages and submit the quick check quizzes on your behalf. 

Note Selling: Various commercial services have approached students regarding selling class notes/study guides to their classmates. Selling the instructor’s notes/study guides or uploading course assignments to these sites in exchange for access to materials for other courses is not permitted. Violations of this policy will be reported to the Dean of Students (Office of Student Conduct) as academic misconduct (violation of course rules).  Additionally, you should know that selling a faculty member’s notes/study guides individually or on behalf of one of these services using IU email, or via Canvas may also constitute a violation of IU information technology and IU intellectual property policies; additional consequences may result.

Online Course Materials: The instructor teaching this course holds the exclusive right to distribute, modify, post, and reproduce course materials, including all written materials, study guides, lectures, assignments, exercises, and exams. Some of the course content may be downloadable, but you should not distribute, post, or alter the instructor’s intellectual property. While you are permitted to take notes on the online materials and lectures posted for this course for your personal use, you are not permitted to re-post in another forum, distribute, or reproduce content from this course without the express written permission of the instructor. 

Religious Observation:

Students with conflicts between course requirements (e.g. examinations) and religious observances must contact the instructor during the first two weeks of the term and follow the procedures outlined by campus policy, available here (Links to an external site.).  

Other University Information

Bias-Based Incident Reporting: 

As your instructor, one of my responsibilities is to create a positive learning environment for all students. Bias incidents (events or comments that target an individual or group based on age, color, religion, disability, race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status or veteran status) are not appropriate in our classroom or on campus. What should you do if you witness or experience a bias incident? See it? Hear it? Report it by submitting a report online (biasincident.indiana.edu (Links to an external site.)) or calling the Dean of Students Office (812-855-8187).

Disability Services for Students: 

Every attempt will be made to accommodate qualified students with disabilities (e.g. mental health, learning, chronic health, physical, hearing, vision neurological, etc.) You must have established your eligibility for support services through the appropriate office that services students with disabilities. Note that services are confidential, may take time to put into place and are not retroactive; Captions and alternate media for print materials may take three or more weeks to get produced. Please contact Disability Services for Students (Links to an external site.) (812-855-7578) as soon as possible if accommodations are needed. The office is located on the third floor, west tower, of the Wells Library, Room W302. Walk-ins are welcome 8 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Friday. You can also locate a variety of campus resources for students and visitors that need assistance by clicking here.

Sexual Misconduct and Title IX: 

As your instructor, one of my responsibilities is to create a positive learning environment for all students. Title IX and IU’s Sexual Misconduct Policy prohibit sexual misconduct in any form, including sexual harassment, sexual assault, stalking, and dating and domestic violence. If you have experienced sexual misconduct, or know someone who has, the University can help.

If you are seeking help and would like to speak to someone confidentially, you can make an appointment with:

The Sexual Assault Crisis Services (SACS) at (812) 855-8900 (counseling services)
Confidential Victim Advocates (CVA) at (812) 856-2469 (advocacy and advice services)
IU Health Center at (812) 855-4011 (health and medical services)

It is also important that you know that Title IX and University policy require me to share any information brought to my attention about potential sexual misconduct, with the campus Deputy Title IX Coordinator or IU’s Title IX Coordinator. In that event, those individuals will work to ensure that appropriate measures are taken and resources are made available. Protecting student privacy is of utmost concern, and information will only be shared with those that need to know to ensure the University can respond and assist.

I encourage you to visit stopsexualviolence.iu.edu to learn more.