Statistics for Economics and Business Dr. The purpose of ECO202 is to introduce the fundamentals of statistical analysis, at least as applied to economic and business problems. The fundamental goal of statistical analysis is to be able to describe or explain, with a reasonable level of confidence, useful information. So, ECO202 s purpose is to have you learn the statistical tools most used in business and economics to describe and explain. Statistics is not a way to describe or explain the behavior of individuals.
Statistics is a way to describe or explain the usual behavior of the members of a population.
Proper descriptions of properly collected samples give us a best guess estimate of the characteristics of the population in which we are interested. Unfortunately, that single best guess will almost never be exactly correct. This second step, inferential statistics, is to learn how to either make a guess about a population with a pre-determined level of confidence, or learn to make a guess about the population and find the level of confidence that your guess is correct. The availability of computers has made it possible for beginning statistics students handle techniques that could only be taught in more advanced courses not that long ago. In the past five years, the availability of statistical routines in general purpose software has eliminated the necessity of teaching students how to use specialized software.