Modules
For decades the basic quant course for our MBA program was 4 credits, at least from 1987 when I started teaching the course. Several years ago the course format was changed. The first credit, that is, the first two weeks of the course, was eliminated and replaced with these three study modules. The current ISQA 513 begins at Week 3 of the old course. Then the last credit was split into a student choice of ISQA 514, which has less stats and focuses on survey work, and ISQA 515, which was traditionally the 4th credit of the original course.
As your instructor for the course, my personal opinion is that the bifurcation of the 4th credit into student choice is a good idea. But experience has shown that some students miss having the material, in what used to be the 1st credit of the course, deleted from the formal course.
So please do pay attention to this material and review the basics. Going into ISQA 513 you should be aware of histograms, bar charts, means, standard deviations, run charts and time series charts, the normal curve and normal curve probabilities, and samples vs populations. You will find these topics covered in the pre-course, which consists of three separate modules.
At the end of each module you can take a brief quiz. These quizzes have no direct influence on your grade for ISQA 513, nor are they mandatory. I do, however, keep track of students who participate by sending a notification to me from the quiz web page. I can tell you from past experience that students who complete the pre-course tend to do better in the course.
The pre-course does not cover any computer work. The first week of the course is primarily computer implementation of the concepts covered in the pre-course. Enjoy, and, as always, contact me at gerbing@pdx.edu if you have any questions or comments. Data analysis is an increasingly important skill in the modern business environment, and this course will introduce you to the basics and provide you with a basic skill set and computer expertise.
David Gerbing