An Introductory Business Statistics Course: Evaluating its Long-Term Impact and Suggestions for its Improvement

Undergraduate pre-business students who had taken an introductory business statistics course three years ago were sent a questionnaire that, among several other questions, asked them about their views on the usefulness of the course. Students rated the introductory business statistics course as "moderately important" for their business education. They favored an integrated approach that covers both the statistical concepts and the computer software necessary to carry out the statistical analysis, and they had a strong preference for the Microsoft EXCEL software. Students thought that projects played an important role in introducing them to real-world applications of statistics, but they also mentioned several problems that arose with group-based work. Factors mentioned as having had an impact on teaching effectiveness are discussed in the last part of the paper.