BA (H) Economics: Statistics I

Fall 2022: Version I

STAT 1004: Statistics-I

B.A. (Hons.) Economics
Fall 2022

Course Information
Course Duration: Mid-September – mid-December, 2022 (approximately 15 weeks)
Credit Hours: 4.5 credits
Meetings: T4-G80: Tuesdays (2:40 – 4:10 pm) and Thursdays (4:20 – 5:50 pm)
Prerequisites: Statistics boot-camp level understanding

Instructor Information
Pradeep Guin, PhD
Email: pguin@jgu.edu.in
Phone: +91-98181 78885
Office Hours: By appointment

Teaching Assistant
Abhilasha Ravi
21jsgp-aravi@jgu.edu.in
 BA (H) Economics: Statistics I
Fall 2022: Version I

1. Course Description
This is the first part of the two-part course on statistical methods for undergraduate
economics students. It begins with some basic concepts and terminology that are
fundamental to statistical analysis and inference. The course then delves in the concept of
probability, followed by probability distributions of discrete and continuous random
variables.

2. Course Intended Learning Objectives (Aim)

By the end of the course, students will be able to understand the necessity of sampling in
order to gather information regarding population, the methods of sampling, estimation of
a population parameter using sample data and use statistical hypotheses to test hypothesis
regarding population parameters using sample data.

3. Scheme of Evaluation and Grading

Evaluation is comprised of internal (50%) and external components (50%).

Internal evaluation is comprised of:

• Attendance (10%)
• Class participation (10%): You will be graded based on ‘meaningful’ in-class
participation. This component is at the discretion of the course instructor and the
Teaching Assistant (TA).
• One group-based assignment (15%): This assignment will be based on learnings from the
data description part (module I). Each group will make an in-class presentation, based on
a dataset which is identified, collated, cleaned, and analyzed by each group separately.
Presentation will be scheduled after we complete the relevant lectures. Each presentation
will be approximately for 15 minutes (10 minutes of presentation and 5 minutes for
Q&A).
• One best out of two quizzes (15%): Quizzes will be administered in the class, one each
after completion of modules on probability and distributions (modules II and III).

External component will be an in class examination comprising of the entire course. It

will he held during the examination week.

Grading

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 BA (H) Economics: Statistics I
Fall 2022: Version I

Letter Grade Percentage of Grade Points Interpretation

Marks
O 80 and above 8 Outstanding
A+ 75 – 79 7.5 Excellent
A 70 – 74 7 Very good
A– 65 – 69 6 Good
B+ 60 – 64 5 Fair
B 55 – 59 4 Acceptable
B– 50 – 54 3 Marginal
P1 45 – 49 2 Pass 1
P2 40 – 44 1 Pass 2
F Below 40 0 Fail
P* Pass Opting for pass/fail
grading system over
CGPA
I Incomplete Incomplete
* This may (or may not) be applicable.

4. Academic Integrity
Academic Honesty, Cheating, and Plagiarism: As per University policy.

Participation/Attendance Policy: As per University policy. You are required to have a

minimum of 75% attendance to be able to not obtain a “no-bar” status for this course.
You will receive an attendance only if you attend the entire class. Please refrain from
coming up with any excuse for a late show-up in the class. Documented medical
conditions (self and family) and VC/Registrar/Dean/Vice-Dean’s written excuse will only
be considered as valid reason(s) for your absence. Please provide such documents within
one week from your missed class.

Use of phone/texting/laptop: As a courtesy to your instructor and fellow colleagues you

are expected not to use mobile phone devices for any purposes, unless there is an
emergency call/text that you need to attend. You may use a laptop judiciously, solely for
the purposes of in-class requirements.

5. Keyword Syllabus
Descriptive statistics, population moment, probability theory, random variables, discrete
and continuous distributions.

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Fall 2022: Version I

6. Course Material1
Anderson, D. R., Sweeney, D. J., & Williams, T. A. (2011). Essentials of Statistics for
Business & Economics, 6th edition, South-Western Cengage Learning, Mason, OH, USA.
[ASW]

Barrow, M. (2009). Statistics for Economics, Accounting and Business Studies, 5thedition, Pearson,
India. [MB]

Lane, D. M. (Online edition). Introduction to Statistics. Available for free download at

http://onlinestatbook.com/Online_Statistics_Education.pdf [DML]

Illowsky, B., et al. (2018). Introductory Statistics. Available for free download at
https://d3bxy9euw4e147.cloudfront.net/oscms-
prodcms/media/documents/IntroductoryStatistics-OP_LXn0jei.pdf [BI]

Scheaffer, R. L., Ganadesikan, M., Watkins, A., & Witmer, J. A. (1996). Activity-Based
Statistics (Student Guide). Springer, NY, USA [SGW]

1
Indicative; may change in due course. The last two books (DML & BI) are freely downloadable.

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 BA (H) Economics: Statistics I
Fall 2022: Version I

7. Session plan
Session plans are suggestive, which may be modified if necessary. Class lecture will be the
most prevalent form of pedagogy, with ample scope for in-class discussion.

Module I: Methods to Describe Statistical Data (Weeks 1 to 5)

Ch 1 [MB]; Ch 1 – 3, 16 [DML]; Ch 2 [BI]; Ch 1 – 3 [ASW]

Week 1: Introduction; course overview; idea of data, and descriptive and inferential
statistics
Week 2: Graphical representation
Week 3: Numerical representation; idea of measures of central tendency
Week 4: Measures of dispersion
Week 5: Data transformation

Module II: Elementary Probability Theory (Weeks 6 to 10)

Ch 2 [MB]; Ch 5 [DML]; Ch 3 [BI]; Ch 4 [ASW]

Week 6: Random experiment, outcome and events

Week 7: Probability axioms and properties
Week 8: Conditional probability and Bayes’ theorem
Week 9: Independence
Week 10: Finishing any remining topics; recap

Module III: Random Variables and Probability Distributions (Weeks 11 to 15)

Ch 3 [MB]; Ch 7 [DML]; Ch 4 – 6 [BI]; Ch 5 – 6 [ASW]

Week 11: Defining random variables; Probability distributions

Week 12: Expected values of random variables and of functions of random variables
Week 13: Properties of commonly used discrete distributions (Binomial, Poisson)
Week 14: Properties of commonly used continuous distributions (Uniform and Normal)
Week 15: Course review