Course 2015-2016 a.y.

30050 - APPLICATIONS FOR ECONOMICS, MANAGEMENT AND FINANCE


BIEMF

Department of Social and Political Sciences

Course taught in English

Go to class group/s: 16 - 17 - 18 - 21
BIEMF (7 credits - I sem. - OB  |  SECS-P/06)
Course Director:
ARNSTEIN AASSVE

Classes: 16 (I sem.) - 17 (I sem.) - 18 (I sem.) - 21 (I sem.)
Instructors:
Class 16: ARNSTEIN AASSVE, Class 17: REBECCA GRAZIANI, Class 18: ALESSIA MELEGARO, Class 21: MASSIMO ANELLI



Course Objectives

The purpose of the course is to enable students to structure and conduct autonomously a research project based on the analysis of data sets concerning business, finance, economics and in general the social sciences. The course presents a set of tools with an applied perspective, providing the methodological knowledge that is necessary to conduct such projects with a fair level of competence and with the ability to choose appropriate statistical methods for various problems. The course gives support for the use of the software program SPSS, a widely used software package in the social sciences, though students are free to use other softwares.

Course Content Summary

  • Introduction to applied research, research design, research question, causality.
  • Sampling and data sources, finding data for research projects.
  • Regression analysis: the simple one regressor case, multivariate regression, assumptions and properties, violation of assumptions and remedies, time series analysis and seasonality.
  • One and two factors ANOVA.
  • Factor analysis: model, extraction, rotation, interpretation.
  • Scale construction and evaluation: reliability analysis and composite scores.
  • Cluster Analysis.
  • Regression analysis revisited: regression analysis in combination with factor analysis and cluster analysis, binary response models.

Detailed Description of Assessment Methods

The written exam makes up 70% of the grade and the project 30%.

The exam is written and lasts two hours. It is possible to take the written exam in two partial parts. In this case, the first partial must be passed (18/30) to became eligible to do the second partial.
The exam and the project are valid until the end of AY 2015-16.


Textbooks

  • P. Newbold, W.L. Carlson, B. Thorne, Statistics for Business and Economics and Students cd ,Prentice Hall (International Edition), 2007. 6/E. For regression and ANOVA.
  • Lecture notes (sampling, data sources, research design, factor analysis, scale reliability and cluster analysis).
Exam textbooks & Online Articles (check availability at the Library)

Prerequisites

Statistics, Mathematics, Computer skills for Economics.
Last change 27/03/2015 12:44