Statistics Applied to Business Sciences

The basic recommended knowledge is the one common, in what regards Statistics, to the various syllabus of the undergraduate Mathematics courses in the different branches of compulsory education in Portugal (http://www.dge.mec.pt/), as well as the fundamental topics of the curricular units of Quantitative Methods Applied to Business Sciences and Management Information Systems.

The classes are designed, according to the curriculum plan, to be both theoretical and practical. They are planned and prepared to actively engage students at various moments or throughout the entire class.

In the theoretical part of the lesson, the expository method will be frequently used to introduce concepts, fundamental results, and methods, interspersed with tasks that encourage active participation by all students (interactive lectures). These tasks include posing questions to and by students, orally and/or on a platform, as well as proposing debates/discussions in small groups on certain exposed aspects/topics.

The practical part will be designed to comprehensively develop the listed skills. This will be achieved through commented exemplification of procedures and/or problem-solving under the guidance/tutoring of the teacher. Autonomous work or work in small groups will be encouraged. There will be a strong interaction between theory and practice, with a central focus on visualizing and dealing with actual scenarios.

It is assumed that students attend classes regularly and are available for continued involvement beyond the classroom. This includes initiating or completing tasks agreed upon during class.

All supporting materials are available on the InforEstudante|Nonio platform. Other platforms that allow for interaction may also be used.

Statistical data analysis is relevant in numerous business contexts for the description and diagnosis of phenomena of interest, as well as for decision support. The goals and skills of the UC of Statistics Applied to Business Sciences are focused on recognizing this potential.

Goals:

• Portray data sets through univariate and bivariate descriptive statistical analysis.
• Perform a simple regression analysis to explain a phenomenon of interest.
• Generate insights relating to a phenomenon by conducting descriptive analysis of the associated dataset.
• Debate the veracity of claims based on statistical analysis of the associated dataset.
• Formulate and conduct small statistical investigations for decision support.

Skills:

• Recognize situations that may benefit from a descriptive, univariate, bivariate, or regression statistical study, or inferential statistical analysis.
• Identify, among a set of basic statistical techniques, those suitable for processing a certain set of data.
• Organize a set of data in tables and graphs for frequency distribution analysis.
• Select the most appropriate measure or measures to summarize a set of data, based on a specific purpose.
• Comment on the relevant information contained in a graph.
• Illustrate a statement with a suitable graphic.
• Describe the stages of a statistical investigation.
• Formulate a research question relevant to a proposed problem.
• Apply a hypothesis test to answer the research question.
• Construct a confidence interval suitable for the investigation.
• Draw statistical conclusions from the conducted investigation.
• Translate statistical conclusions into research results.
• Use software to support obtaining the results.

1. Descriptive statistics
1.1. Basic concepts
1.2. Data representation
1.3. Statistical measures

2. Simple linear regression
2.1. Correlation
2.2. Simple linear regression model
2.3. Least squares regression line

3. Statistical inference
3.1. The role of probability distributions
3.2. Central Limit Theorem.
3.3. Parametric estimation: point and interval estimation
3.4. Parametric hypothesis testing for one population
3.5. Introduction to statistical investigations

In the curricular plan of the Bachelor's Degree in Secretarial Direction and Administration, the UC of Statistics Applied to Business Sciences is defined with 6 ECTS and 160 hours in total of working time, of which 30 hours are contact hours. Therefore, and in accordance with the Academic Regulations of the 1st Cycle of Studies of the IPC, the following two assessment regimes are proposed.

1) Periodic assessment

It consists of two tests to be carried out during the class period.

• Test 1
  Grading: 10 points
  Minimum classification required: 3.5 points
• Test 2
  Grading: 10 points
  Minimum classification required: 3.5 points

Notes:

• To access this assessment regime, class attendance is not mandatory, although attendance is strongly recommended.
• The assessments may be carried out on a computer, using software also employed during classes and on one or more platforms requiring institutional access. Therefore, students who wish to sit them must follow all instructions published on InforEstudante|Nonio (for example, ensuring that they know their password(s) and are able to access the platforms).
• The tests are closed-book.
• The contents to be evaluated in each test are those summarized up to the lesson prior to the test.
• If a student misses a test, regardless of the reason, a new test will not be scheduled and the grade will be assigned 0 (zero) points.
• In this regime, the student's final classification is obtained by adding the classifications of the two tests, as long as they are equal to or higher than the minimum classifications required.
• Failure to comply with the minimum classification requirement will result in the student failing this assessment regime.

2) Assessment by exam

• This evaluation regime consists of an exam, graded for 20 points, with the date of completion according to the exam schedule.
• The exam may be carried out on a computer, using software also employed during classes and on one or more platforms requiring institutional access. Therefore, students who wish to sit for the exam must follow all instructions published on InforEstudante|Nonio (for example, ensuring that they know their password(s) and are able to access the platforms).
• The exam is closed-book.
• The student's final grade is equal to the exam grade.

Final rule:
A passing grade is awarded under any assessment regime if the final mark, rounded to the nearest whole number, is equal to or greater than 10 points.

NAO