Introductory Business Statistics Course Research Articles

EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF WORKED EXAMPLE VIDEOS FOR BLENDED LEARNING IN A LARGE-ENROLMENT BUSINESS STATISTICS COURSE

Statistics courses are frequently perceived by tertiary students as extremely difficult and anxiety-inducing, negatively impacting student outcomes and experiences. To address this, the present study considered worked example videos (where an instructor demonstrates the solution to a problem while narrating the process) as a blended learning approach for enhancing an introductory business statistics course taken by 2265 students over three semesters. Impact was evaluated with video usage, academic performance, and student survey data. Students heavily utilised worked example videos before assessment deadlines, frequently employing active learning strategies during their engagements. Improvements in academic performance and course satisfaction were observed compared to previous cohorts. This demonstrates worked example videos are well-suited to large-enrolment courses due to their highly scalable capacity to deliver timely support for learning, which individuals can tailor to their diverse needs.

Causal inference in the presence of missing data using a random forest‐based matching algorithm

Observational studies require matching across groups over multiple confounding variables. Across the literature, matching algorithms fail to handle the issue of missing data. Consequently, missing values are regularly imputed prior to being considered in the matching process. However, imputing is not always practical, forcing us to drop an observation due to the deficiency of the chosen algorithm, decreasing the power of the study and possibly failing to capture crucial latent information. We propose a missing data mechanism to incorporate within an iterative multivariate matching method. The underlying framework utilizes random forest as a natural tool in constructing a distance matrix, implemented with surrogate splits where there might be missing values. The output is then easily fed into an optimal matching algorithm. We apply this method to evaluate the effectiveness of supplemental instruction (SI) sessions, a voluntary program where students seek additional help, in a large enrollment, bottleneck introductory business statistics course. This is an observational study with two groups, those who attend multiple SI sessions and those who do not, and, as typical in educational data mining, challenged by missing data. Additionally, we perform a data simulation on missingness to further demonstrate the efficacy of our proposed approach.

Teaching Business Statistics: Some Useful Relationships

The purpose of this paper is to suggest an instructional approach in the introductory business statistics course that utilizes relationships between separately introduced topics. The paper will explore three “useful relationships” that can assist classroom instruction: (1) the relationship between the simple arithmetic mean, the weighted arithmetic mean, and the expected value of a discrete probability distribution; (2) the relationship between the use of the multiplication rule to calculate the joint probability associated with two events, use of tree diagrams, and the use of the binomial and hypergeometric distributions; and (3) the relationship between the geometric mean and the compound interest rate. Each discussion includes detailed examples of calculations to demonstrate the relationships.

Using the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) to demonstrate the importance of understanding statistics for undergraduate students

SummaryBecause of the increasing use of business analytics to improve business processes, it is not difficult to argue the importance that undergraduate business students gain the ability to understand, interpret, and communicate statistics. However, a task that may be difficult for statistics instructors is to quickly demonstrate and convince business students the importance of statistics. This paper presents an assignment that utilizes the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) to demonstrate the importance of understanding basic statistical concepts such as population parameters, sampling methods, descriptive measures, and displaying data. This can be administered to an introductory business statistics course in order to drum up students' initial interest and views of applicability of statistics.

Examining the Relationship between Math Self‐Efficacy and Statistics Motivation in the Introductory Business Statistics Course: Self‐Compassion as a Mediator

ABSTRACTBecause business statistics students often experience a lack of statistical motivation, business educators need to understand the factors that influence students’ motivation levels in undergraduate‐level business statistics courses. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of math self‐efficacy and self‐compassion on students’ motivation levels and the gender differences among the main variables. The regression results showed that math self‐efficacy was a positive predictor of statistics motivation. Self‐compassion was also found to be a partial mediator of the relationship between math self‐efficacy and statistics motivation. Gender differences were also found in business students’ math self‐efficacy, self‐compassion, and statistics motivation.

Using Financial Investment Measures to Proactively Engage Students in the Introductory Business Statistics Course

ABSTRACTTypically, the core-required undergraduate business statistics course covers a broad spectrum of topics with applications pertaining to all functional areas of business. The recently updated American Statistical Association's GAISE (Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education) College Report once again stresses the pedagogical importance of topic and application relevancy in an increasingly data-centered world. To this end, only two introductory textbooks have incorporated some financial investment measures (Sharpe ratio and beta coefficient) in the teaching of numerical descriptive measures and simple linear regression analysis, respectively, while a few others include them as real-data application exercises at the end of their respective chapters. Although this latter coverage is in compliance with GAISE College Report recommendations on the importance of using relevant real data applications in the teaching of introductory business statistics, it forgoes an opportunity to provide more detailed discussion within the text itself and add value to a business student's learning. Given that all business students will have an opportunity to learn about financial investment, regardless of their functional area major, this paper offers a more proactive use of these and other financial investment measures as part of the current, traditional course or as part of a suggested dedicated introductory business statistics course for finance majors.

Enhance Students’ Learning in Business Statistics Class Using Video Tutorials

As a supplement to traditional classroom instruction, online video tutorials were created and made available as just-in-time support to enhance undergraduate business students’ academic performance in a required introductory business statistics course. The study showed the availability of video tutorials enriched students’ learning experiences and enhanced their academic performance. The results suggest that the learning benefits of the video tutorials were instrumental to those students with a final course grade B or C because these students were struggling to understand the course materials in the class. While those students with a final grade of A, D, or F might believe that they either totally understood everything or they were absolutely lost in the class. In either case, these students might believe that studying the video tutorials added no more value to their understanding of the materials presented in the class.

A first assignment to create student buy‐in in an introductory business statistics course

SummaryThis paper presents a sample assignment to be administered after the first two weeks of an introductory business focused statistics course in order to promote student buy‐in. This assignment integrates graphical displays of data, descriptive statistics and cross‐tabulation analysis through the lens of a marketing analysis study. A marketing sample was chosen because marketing is a tangible business practice to which all students, regardless of their background, have been exposed. The purpose of the assignment is to quickly cement in the students minds both the applicability of the course material within the business world as well as their own ability to master it.

An Introductory Business Statistics Course: Evaluating Its Long-term Impact and Suggestions for Its Improvement

Undergraduate pre-business students who had taken an introductory business statistics course three years ago were sent a questionnaire that, among several other questions, asked them about their views on the usefulness of the course. Students rated the introductory business statistics course as “moderately important” for their business education. They favored an integrated approach that covers both the statistical concepts and the computer software necessary to carry out the statistical analysis, and they had a strong preference for theMicrosoft EXCEL software. Students thought that projects played an important role in introducing them to real-world applications of statistics, but they also mentioned several problems that arose with groupbased work. Factors mentioned as having had an impact on teaching effectiveness are discussed in the last part of the paper.

Assessing the Disconnect Between Grade Expectation and Achievement in a Business Statistics Course

In an institutional review board–approved study aimed at evaluating differences in learning between a large-sized introductory business statistics course section using courseware assisted examinations compared with small-sized sections using traditional paper-and-pencil examinations, there appeared to be a severe disconnect between the final grades students expected to receive and the grades they actually earned. Given that the core-required business statistics course has, for many years, had a reputation among students as being anxiety producing, this disconnect was quite surprising. Using student responses to a survey administered early in the semester, demographic information was available that enabled assessment of this disconnect.

Student Performance in an Introductory Business Statistics Course: Does Delivery Mode Matter?

Approximately 600 undergraduates completed an introductory business statistics course in 2013 in one of two learning environments at Suffolk University, a mid-sized private university in Boston, Massachusetts. The comparison group completed the course in a traditional classroom-based environment, whereas the treatment group completed the course in a flipped-hybrid environment, viewing lecture material online prior to once-a-week, face-to-face meetings. After controlling for observable differences, students in the hybrid environment performed better on the common final exam; however, there were no significant differences in the final grades or student satisfaction between the two environments.

XLR: A Free Excel Add-In for Introductory Business Statistics

XLR is an Excel add-in that unifies the user friendly, widely popular interface of Excel with the powerful and robust computational capability of the GNU statistical and graphical language R. The add-in attempts to address the American Statistical Association’s comment that “Generic packages such as Excel are not sufficient even for the teaching of statistics, let alone for research and consulting.” R is the program of choice for researchers in statistical methodology that is freely available under the Free Software Foundation’s GNU General Public License (GPL) Agreement. By wedding the interactive mode of Excel with the power of statistical computing of R, XLR provides a solution to the problem of numerical inaccuracy of using Excel and its various internal statistical functions and procedures by harnessing the computational power of R. XLR will be distributed under the GNU GPL Agreement. The GPL puts students, instructors and researchers in control of their usage of the software by providing them with the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software, thus, freeing them from the bondage of proprietary software. The creation of XLR will not only have a significant impact on the teaching of an Introductory Business Statistics course by providing a free alternative to the commercial proprietary software but also provide researchers in all disciplines who require sophisticated and cutting edge statistical and graphical procedures with a user-friendly interactive data analysis tool when the current set of available commands is expanded to include more advance procedures.

Enhancing the Study of Business Statistics with an e-Homework System

This paper compares the performance of two classes of students who were enrolled in an Introductory Business Statistics course. Students in one class were required to use e-homework, an online system and another class completed their homework assignments without the online system. The major objective of this study was to determine whether there was any difference in the level of performance between students who used the online homework system and those who did homework assignments in the traditional method. The students in a large class with online homework were compared to students without online homework. This e-homework system enables instructors to monitor individual student’s performance and transmit immediate feedback to students. This paper answers the question: Can online homework improve the performance of students enrolled in an Introductory Business Statistics course? To answer this question, we evaluated the students’ performance based on their final grades in a first year Introductory Statistics course. Students’ perceptions of the usefulness of online homework were also considered. The findings of this research showed that students obtain many benefits from online homework. Students were better prepared in writing test, their ability to understand course concepts increased because of the timely feedback they receive from instructors, discussion about Statistics among peers occurred more frequently than in previous semesters. Students cultivated better study habits, and consequently, they developed more confidence in applying their knowledge of statistical concepts.

Learning Statistics at the Farmers Market? A Comparison of Academic Service Learning and Case Studies in an Introductory Statistics Course

We compare the effectiveness of academic service learning to that of case studies in an undergraduate introductory business statistics course. Students in six sections of the course were assigned either an academic service learning project (ASL) or business case studies (CS). We examine two learning outcomes: students' performance on the final exam and their perceptions of the relevance of statistics for their professional development. We find no statistically significant difference between ASL and CS students with regard to final examination performance, but students who participated in the ASL project as opposed to CS were less likely to agree that “[they] will have no application for statistics in [their] profession[s].” The estimated relationship is both large and statistically significant (p < 0.01).

VISA: Reducing Technological Impact on Student Learning in an Introductory Statistics Course

Author(s): Shaltayev, Dmitriy S.; Hodges, Harland; Hasbrouck, Robert B. | Abstract: In this empirical study we compare student performance using two different teaching methods in introductory business statistics course. Two groups were taught in the computer lab with software available at students’ fingertips while one was taught in the regular classroom with only a computer workstation for the instructor. VISA (Visual Interactive Statistical Analysis), an Excel-based analysis software package was used in classroom to perform computational analysis of the data in all three groups. Exam data and final course grades indicate that student performance between the two methods was not affected by presence of the software in classroom for use by students. This leads us to conclude that VISA is an intuitive enough tool, which does not require a major learning curve, and can be mastered by students with minimal supervision. Second, we conclude that if the software used for statistics instruction is “teaching-friendly”, then technology availability in the classroom does not affect learning efficiency. This allows instructors to concentrate more efforts in class teaching conceptually important material.

Student and Professor Gender Effects in Introductory Business Statistics

Studies have yielded highly mixed results as to differences in male and female student performance in statistics courses; the role that professors play in these differences is even less clear. In this paper, we consider the impact of professor and student gender on student performance in an introductory business statistics course taught by economics faculty. Using a sample of 535 students, we find, after controlling for academic and mathematical background, that students taught by a professor of the opposite gender fare significantly worse than students taught by a professor of the same gender. The presence of this gender effect highlights the importance of pursuing sound, gender-neutral pedagogical practices in introductory statistics education.

Teacher 2000: A New Tool For Multimedia Teaching of Introductory Business Statistics

This article explores the use of multimedia in an introductory business statistics course through a new computer vehicle called Teacher 2000. Traditional educational processes are reviewed and rein...

Will the Revised Business Statistics Course Meet the Needs of the Business Faculty?

Abstract Currently there is a strong movement to revise the introductory business statistics course to make the course more relevant and appealing to business students. A number of major changes in the traditional course have been recommended. Our concern is that we do not ignore the needs of the instructor who teaches the functional area courses and expects the students to have specific statistical skills. We designed and conducted a survey at Miami University to determine which statistical methods are currently being used in upper level business courses. Our survey results indicate that certain areas of statistical instruction that have been recommended for less emphasis, such as formal theory of probability and statistics, including the testing of hypotheses, are currently being used in a large percentage of the business courses. In addition, at least one proposed addition to the course may be of little interest to the instructor in the functional areas.

Integrating Quality Control Concepts into the Introductory Business Statistics Course

Integrating Quality Control Concepts into the Introductory Business Statistics Course

Integrating Quality Control Concepts into the Introductory Business Statistics Course

Abstract Most business statistics courses and textbooks teach quality control concepts in isolation from fundamental statistical concepts. In this article we present a way of organizing materials for introducing quality control concepts early in the business statistics course. We also show how these concepts can be integrated into the main flow of such a course. In addition, we demonstrate how this organization enhances the discussion of classical statistical inference topics.