Business Statistics

As a researcher of statistical problems in business and a professor of Statistics at a business school, Norean Radke Sharpe (Ph.D. University of Virginia) understands the challenges and specific needs of the business student. She is currently teaching at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, where she is also Senior Associate Dean and Director of Undergraduate Programs. Prior to joining Georgetown, she taught business statistics and operations research courses to both undergraduate and MBA students for fourteen years at Babson College. Before moving into business education, she taught statistics for several years at Bowdoin College and conducted research at Yale University. Norean is coauthor of the recent text, A Casebook for Business Statistics: Laboratories for Decision Making, and she has authored more than 30 articles—primarily in the areas of statistics education and women in science. Norean currently serves as Associate Editor for the journal Cases in Business, Industry, and Government Statistics. Her research focuses on business forecasting and statistics education. She is also co-founder of DOME Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit foundation that works to increase Diversity and Outreach in Mathematics and Engineering for the greater Boston area. She has been active in increasing the participation of women and underrepresented students in science and mathematics for several years and has two children of her own.   Richard D. De Veaux (Ph.D. Stanford University) is an internationally known educator, consultant, and lecturer. Dick has taught statistics at a business school (Wharton), an engineering school (Princeton), and a liberal arts college (Williams). While at Princeton, he won a Lifetime Award for Dedication and Excellence in Teaching. Since 1994, he has taught at Williams College, although he returned to Princeton for the academic year 2006–2007 as the William R. Kenan Jr. Visiting Professor of Distinguished Teaching. He is currently the C. Carlisle and Margaret Tippit Professor of Statistics at Williams College. Dick holds degrees from Princeton University in Civil Engineering and Mathematics and from Stanford University in Dance Education and Statistics, where(he studied with Persi Diaconis. His research focuses on the analysis of large data sets(and data mining in science and industry. Dick has won both the Wilcoxon and Shewell awards from the American Society for Quality. He is an elected member of the International Statistics Institute (ISI) and a Fellow of the American Statistical Association (ASA). He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the ASA. Dick is well known in industry, having consulted for such Fortune 500 companies as American Express, Hewlett-Packard, Alcoa, DuPont, Pillsbury, General Electric, and Chemical Bank. He was named the “Statistician of the Year” for 2008 by the Boston Chapter of the American Statistical Association for his contributions to teaching, research, and consulting. In his spare time he is an avid cyclist and swimmer. He also is the founder and bass for the doo-wop group, the Diminished Faculty, and is a frequent singer and soloist with various local choirs including the Choeur Vittoria of Paris, France. Dick is the father of four children.   Paul F. Velleman (Ph.D. Princeton University) has an international reputation for innovative statistics education. He designed the Data Desk® software package and is also the author and designer of the award-winning ActivStats® multimedia software, for which he received the EDUCOM Medal for innovative uses of computers in teaching statistics and the ICTCM Award for Innovation in Using Technology in College Mathematics. He is the founder and CEO of Data Description, Inc. (www.datadesk.com), which supports both of these pr

Preface

Index of Applications

 

1. Data and Decisions (E-Commerce)

1.1 Data and Decisions

1.2 Variable Types

1.3 Data Sources: Where, How, and When

            Ethics in Action

            Technology Help: Data on the Computer

            Brief Case: Credit Card Bank

 

2. Displaying and Describing Categorical Data (Keen, Inc.)

2.1 Summarizing a Categorical Variable

2.2 Displaying a Categorical Variable 

2.3 Exploring Two Categorical Variables: Contingency Tables 

2.4 Segmented Bar Charts and Mosaic Plots 

2.5 Simpson's Paradox

            Ethics in Action

            Technology Help: Displaying Categorical Data on the Computer

            Brief Case: Credit Card Bank

 

3. Displaying and Describing Quantitative Data (AIG)

3.1 Displaying Quantitative Variables 

3.2 Shape 

3.3 Center 

3.4 Spread of the Distribution

3.5 Shape, Center, and Spread–A Summary

3.6 Standardizing Variables 

3.7 Five-Number Summary and Boxplots 

3.8 Comparing Groups,

3.9 Identifying Outliers,

3.10 Time Series Plots

3.11 Transforming Skewed Data

            Ethics in Action

            Technology Help: Displaying and Summarizing Quantitative Variables

            Brief Cases: Detecting the Housing Bubble and Socio-Economic Data on States

 

4. Correlation and Linear Regression (Amazon.com)

4.1 Looking at Scatterplots

4.2 Assigning Roles to Variables in Scatterplots

4.3 Understanding Correlation

4.4 Lurking Variables and Causation

4.5 The Linear Model

4.6 Correlation and the Line

4.7 Regression to the Mean

4.8 Checking the Model

4.9 Variation in the Model and R2

4.10 Reality Check: Is the Regression Reasonable?

4.11 Nonlinear Relationships

            Ethics in Action

            Technology Help: Correlation and Regression

            Brief Cases: Fuel Efficiency, Cost of Living, and Mutual Funds