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USMx: BUMM606 Data Analysis for Decision Making

Data Analysis for Decision Making

  • BUMM 606
  • edX MicroMasters 2 credits

COURSE INFORMATION

INSTRUCTORS
  • Dr. PK Kannan, Dean’s Chair in Marketing Science
  • Dr. Lingling Zhang, Assistant Professor of Marketing
  • Dr. Kislaya Prasad, Research Professor of Decision, Operations, and Information Technologies; Academic Director, Center for Global Business
  • Dr. Margrét Bjarnadóttir, Assistant Professor of Management Science and Statistics
COURSE DESCRIPTION

Many different skills are required in arriving at informed managerial decisions. Among these are analytical and quantitative skills. Data Analysis seeks to develop these two important skills.

More formally, the goals of this course are:

  • To introduce you to basic statistical techniques: summarizing and presenting data; confidence intervals and hypothesis tests; regression analysis.
  • To implement these techniques using spreadsheets.
  • To become active users of data analysis in making managerial decisions.
COURSE OBJECTIVES

By the end of this course you will be able to:

  • Analyze the role of uncertainty and risk in the decision-making process.
  • Analyze available data to understand relationships among variables and to create predictions.
  • Use available computing technology (e.g., spreadsheets) to interpret make inferences about underlying populations.
  • Turn raw data into insight and actionable information.

Course Map

COURSE COMPONENTS

COURSE STRUCTURE

This course is made up of 8 modules. A new module will open every week for the first 8 weeks. The last 2 weeks are dedicated to helping you prepare for and completing a comprehensive final exam.

MODULE STRUCTURE

Each module contains a combination of the following:

  • Lecture videos no more than 7 minutes in length
  • Short readings
  • Self-grading questions to check your understanding as you go
  • Practice problems & demonstration videos
COURSE MATERIALS & TECHNOLOGY

You will be provided all course materials and resources. These can be accessed through the edX platform. You will have the best course experience using a laptop or desktop computer. Course navigation and appearance is slightly different when using the edX mobile app.

To be most successful in this course, you will need:

  • Speakers or headphones to hear video lectures (all videos include captions)
  • Microsoft Office, especially Excel and Word
  • Adobe Acrobat Reader, or other PDF viewer
  • Tableau (free trial available to all users)
  • Palisade DecisionTools (free trial available to all students in this course)
INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS

As this is a math-based course, our goal is to give you as much practice as possible. We typically start by introducing you to concepts that you need to understand, followed by the equations. We then demonstrate very concrete examples of how to solve case-based problems before asking you to try some problems on your own. If you are Verified, you will also have access to bonus content demonstrating how to solve some of the practice problems you complete.

TIPS FOR SUCCESS
  1. Participate fully. Discussions and peer interaction are a critical part of the course. You can learn as much, if not more, from the ideas and perspectives of your peers and instructor. Participation can also help you articulate your ideas and develop critical thinking skills.
  2. Manage your time. Make sure you make time for your online learning and participation in discussions each week. Give yourself plenty of time to complete assignments including extra time to handle any technology related problems.
  3. Log in regularly. This class moves at a quick pace and each week builds on the previous. It will be very difficult to catch up if you wait until the last minute to complete your assignments or skip a learning unit.
VERIFIED LEARNERS

Verified learners will receive more assets, more problem demonstrations, and some of the problem solutions. This is not to be exclusive, but rather to protect the academic integrity of some content. Verified learners also have access to a proctored exam at the end of the course. Those who pass the exam will receive a course certificate that can be applied towards the MicroMasters in MBA Core Curriculum program.

MICROMASTERS IN MBA CORE CURRICULUM

What is your MicroMasters worth?

This course is part of a MicroMasters series on edX in MBA Core Curriculum, offered by the University of Maryland's Smith School of Business. This series offers the option for students to upgrade to verified learner. In addition to interactive cases and human graded assignments, verified learners, upon passing the course, will gain a certificate. If a student successfully passes all seven courses in the series, they will receive a MicroMasters from edX. Should a student apply and be accepted into Smith's online MBA, the MicroMasters will transfer to substitute the first 25% of the MBA, or 14 credits out of 54. Learn more about the MicroMasters MBA Core Curriculum program.

INDIVIDUAL PARTICIPATION

For a case discussion to “work,” everyone needs to be engaged and participating. More important, you do not learn nearly as much from watching a case discussion as from being engaged in a case discussion. This course consists of segments where you will Learn, Practice, and Apply new information. There are reflection questions, simulations, discussion boards with your cohort of verified peers, and interactive cases which will prepare you for the final. Please pay particular attention to activities within the Apply sections since they provide the most rigorous learning and will most resemble questions on the final exam. We expect high-quality comments in your cohort’s discussion board. What is a high-quality comment?

There are three dimensions:

  1. Was it relevant to the current discussion?
  2. Did it add to the discussion?
  3. Did it have an impact on the discussion? Did it foster further discussion? Did it change people’s views?
PROBLEM SETS

IMPORTANT: Only verified students can access problem sets.

At the end of each module, verified students will have the opportunity to download problems sets to practice the skills covered in that module. To complete these problem sets, you will need Microsoft Excel, as well as Palisade. Free Palisade licenses are included with your enrollment in the course.

COMPREHENSIVE FINAL EXAM

IMPORTANT: Only verified students are eligible to take the final exam.

By reviewing all of the material at the end of the course in preparation for the final exam it is anticipated that you will further your understanding of each concept and – as importantly you will make connections between the concepts in the course that are difficult to make during the first pass of the material.

The final exam will be completed in two parts. Both parts become available on the first day of the final exam noted in the course schedule and both parts must be completed by the due date noted on the course schedule. You do not have to complete them in a specific order. Please note you will not be tested on the use of Tableau, but you will need to use Palisade.

Final Exam Part 1
  • Consists of multiple choice and questions
  • Will be proctored virtually
  • Will take a maximum of 2.5 hours to complete
Final Exam Part 2
  • Requires you to download and analyze data sets using Excel and Palisade
  • May take up to 1 week to complete

COURSE POLICIES & LEARNER SUPPORT

GRADING & FEEDBACK

You are expected to fully participate in all course activities. Feedback will be provided for your completed activities to help you track your own learning and prepare for the final exam. Although these activities, including reading and class discussions, are not “graded,” they are essential to your success in the course. Learning activities provide opportunities to deepen your understanding of concepts and practice applying those concepts.

Your course grade is entirely dependent on your performance on the final exam. You must achieve at least 60% on your final exam in order to pass the course and receive course credit or certificate.

Without doing the assigned readings and activities in the course content, it will be virtually impossible to pass the final exam. If you complete your work carefully and participate in discussions and peer assignments, you should be well prepared for the final exam.

It is also important to note that the final exam will be proctored to maintain academic integrity. Learners in this course are expected to follow the same academic integrity policy that University of Maryland students are held to. Refer to the Academic Integrity section of this syllabus below for more information about this policy.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

The University's Code of Academic Integrity is designed to ensure that the principles of academic honesty and integrity are upheld. All students are expected to adhere to this Code. The Smith School does not tolerate academic dishonesty. All acts of academic dishonesty will be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of this code.
Please visit the following website for more information on the University of Maryland Code of Academic Integrity.

Students found to be cheating will be referred to the University Honors Council for disciplinary action.

Cheating includes, but is not limited to:

  • Copying on exams
  • Plagiarizing material from published sources or from current or former Smith School students
  • Submitting someone else’s work as your own
  • Helping other students to cheat.

If you have any questions regarding what is permissible, please contact me for guidance.

ACCESSIBILITY

The MBA Core Curriculum development team is proactive in our efforts to make this course accessible to all learners.

We are committed to meeting the following goals:

  • Captions and transcripts are offered for all video and audio content.
  • Text content is formatted
    • with appropriate color contrast and
    • to be compatible with screen readers.
  • Graphics and charts include meaningful alternative text and long descriptions.
  • Documents and other files are formatted to be compatible with screen readers.
  • Interactive components, such as drag and drop activities and the final exam, can be navigated using a keyboard.
  • Content is offered in multiple formats whenever possible to meet the needs of diverse learners.

If you determine that any content in this course in not accessible to you or if you require a specific accommodation, please contact edX support.