Tag: managerial statistics

Olin is steeped in tradition from Convocation to the Olin barbeque on the first day of the semester, to graduation. Among the many traditions we have here is the QBA 121 – Managerial Statistics II poster session. The poster session has become synonymous with the end of the semester and the beginning of finals week. The poster session is the culmination of students’ semester-long projects applying statistical methods to problems of their choice. By allowing students to choose a topic to analyze, they realize how statistics apply to varied business decisions.

The poster session is held in the Atrium of Knight and Bauer Halls. This semester visitors were intrigued by the multitude of projects on display. While the course focuses on the technical analysis of data and ensuing managerial implications, students’ projects are what make the poster session a success. Projects vary widely, reflecting students’ varying interests; still they all have a common theme – apply statistical tools to generate managerial insight. Here’s a sampling of this year’s topics: What determines a WashU student’s happiness; Factors that influence salaries in professional sports; Is food at WashU expensive?; Determinants of literacy rates; and How to get more “likes” on Instagram.

The Atrium provides an opportunity for visitors to be involved with the students’ projects. Some come every semester to see what’s new in the course. These include academic advisors, Olin faculty, and deans. They question students on what they learned and how to apply their knowledge to real-world problems. Other visitors are just passing through. Among these are high school students contemplating whether to choose Wash U. Other visitors include classmates, students in other programs, and outside faculty. They all leave with a better understanding of how our students transform data into knowledge and a better appreciation of what goes on inside an Olin classroom. If you want to see more about the poster session, visit the QBA121 poster eBook for Spring 2015.

Blog post by Eli Snir, Senior Lecturer in Management

Related post: Running stats for real by Andrian Lee, BSBA’17

Business at the intersection of art and science is epitomized in the Managerial Statistics II course. As we progress through the course, we realize that statistics is not only a set of mathematical concepts; it is also prone to questions of judgment and interpretation that are commonplace in the social sciences. No wonder that this is a ubiquitous tool among university faculty.

The capstone of the Managerial Statistics II course is developing a term paper. Students choose a topic to study and demonstrate how regression analysis applies. The choice of topic is unconstrained. One of the goals of the course is to demonstrate the broad applicability of statistics, and specifically of regression analysis, to any area of interest. And the term papers reflect that. They are as broad and as encompassing as the university, drawing on nearly every discipline taught here.

As the course is at the intersection of art and science, so are the term papers. Students have two deliverables in the project. One is a rigorous analysis of the topic, proving their knowledge of the tools studied in the course. The second is a poster and presentation of their analysis to a broad audience. The Managerial Statistics II Poster Session eBook is a product of the latter. It is a collection of posters from the poster session in the Fall 2013 QBA121 course.

The audience for the poster session is diverse, including undergraduate students, MBA students, advisors, faculty, and deans. Students are expected to explain their analysis to various constituents, some desire a qualitatively understanding while other challenge students on statistical methodology. Invariably, students in the course address all questions comprehensively and confidently.

On the pages of the e-book we collected a sample of the posters from the course. Hopefully, they convey the breadth of student interest and the depth of student learning. As you will see, statistics does apply to every discipline and every one of us.

Blog post by Eli Snir, Lecturer in Management