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2012/2013  BA-PSTA  Statistics and Research Methods

English Title
Statistics and Research Methods

Course information
Language English
Exam ECTS 10 ECTS
Type Mandatory
Level Bachelor
Duration One Semester
Course period Autumn
Time Table Please see course schedule at e-Campus
Study board
Study Board for BSc/MSc i International Business and Politics, BSc
Course coordinator
  • Peter Dalgaard - Department of Finance
Main Category of the Course
  • Statistics and mathematics
Last updated on 21-08-2012
Learning objectives
The major goal of the statistics course is to produce statistically educated students which mean that students should develop statistical literacy and the ability to think and reason statistically. The student should be able to:
  • Analyze a problem to identify the given information and produce data that can provide answers to properly posed questions.
  • Use graphical and numerical methods for exploring and summarizing data on a single categorical or quantitative variable.
  • Describe basic probability and how probability helps us understand randomness in our lives, as well as grasp the crucial concept of a sampling distribution and how it relates to inference methods.
  • Choose and justify appropriate descriptive and inferential methods for examining and analyzing data and drawing conclusions.
  • Analysis of the association between variables, categorical, continuous and both, using contingency tables, correlation, regressions, and analysis of variance.
  • Communication of the conclusions of statistical analysis clearly and effectively, i.e identify connections between basic statistics and the real world.
Examination
Statistics and Research Methods:
Type of test Oral with Written Assignment
Marking scale 7-step scale
Second examiner Second internal examiner
Exam period December/January, The exam is in January. The Make-up exam is in February
Aids Please, see the detailed regulations below
Duration 20 Minutes

Examination
Written group synopsis (10-15 standard pages) followed by an individual oral exam, graded by teacher and a second internal examiner. The group consists of 3-5 students. The grade is based entirely on the oral exam.

Make-up/re-exam when ill at the oral exam and when the ordinary exam is failed, is an individual oral exam (20 minutes per student) based upon the same synopsis. The re-exam is in February.
Make-up exam when ill during the writing of the synopsis is a 20 minutes oral exam with 20 minutes open book preparation in the entire curriculum.
Prerequisites for attending the exam
It is a prerequisite for attending the oral exam that the synopsis has been handed in.
Course content
Statistics is very important for upon it depend the practical application of every other science; it only gives the results of our experience. The course stress conceptual understanding rather than mere knowledge of statistically procedures. The emphasize is on interpretation and understanding of simple statistical methods as applied in social science, business economy as well as political economy.
The major parts of the curriculum are:
· Descriptive statistics, both numerical and graphical.
· The basic laws of probability, and the most important probability distributions.
· Statistical inference; confidence intervals and significance tests about hypotheses.
· Analysis of categorical variables using contingency tables.
· Regression analysis; simple, multiple and logistic.
· One-way and two-way analysis of variance.
· Non-parametric statistics.
Teaching methods
Lectures w/ discussions, computer labs, groupwork for synopsis
Expected literature
Book: Agresti A., C. Franklin (2008): “Statistics: The Art and Science of Learning from Data”, Prentice Hall.
Agresti A. (1996): “An Introduction to Categorical Data Analysis”, Wiley. Chapter 2: p. 16-32, Chapter 3: p. 53-60, Chapter 4: p. 71-77, Chapter 5: p. 103-114 and p. 118-119.
Software Package: JMP
Last updated on 21-08-2012