1. Course Details

Summary of Course

Have you commenced studying a Commerce degree since 2021 other than Commerce/Economics or Actuarial Studies/Commerce? Please note that this course is no longer a core course in Commerce   degrees. Refer to the UNSWStudentHandbookfor the new program structure.

ECON1203 Business and Economic Statistics introduces students to the main statistical concepts and methods that are widely used in economics, fnance, accounting, marketing and, more generally, in business. Emphasis is placed on applying statistical methods to draw inferences from sample data to support informed decision-making. Course topics include: descriptive statistics, probability distributions, point and interval estimation of parameters, hypothesis testing, and regression models. Students will learn to solve statistical problems in an Excel spreadsheet environment. This course provides the basis  for further study of statistical and econometric methods.

Teaching Times and Locations

Please note that teaching times and locations are subject to change. Students are strongly advised to refer to the Class Timetable website for the most up-to-date teaching times and locations.

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Course Policies & Support

The Business School expects that you are familiar with the contents of this course outline and the UNSW and Business School learning expectations, rules, policies and support services as listed below:

Program Learning Outcomes

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

Student Responsibilities and Conduct

Special Consideration

Protocol for Viewing Final Exam Scripts

Student Learning Support Services

Further information is provided in the Assessmentand PoliciesandSupportsections.

Students may not circulate or post online any course materials such as handouts, exams, syllabi or similar resources from their courses without the written permission of their instructor.

Course Aims and Relationship to Other Courses

ECON1203 is offered as part of the frst-year core in the BEc degree within the UNSW Business School. It aims to give you the basic skills and knowledge for data analysis that will be used in further study in all other disciplines in the Business School. In particular, ECON1203 is a prerequisite for all higher-level courses in econometrics and business statistics offered by the School of Economics. These courses are designed to equip students with more advanced statistical and other quantitative skills that are in demand by employers in the public and private sectors.

Presumed Knowledge

ECON 1203 takes seriously the Business School’s assumed knowledge requirement that all students entering the BEc degree are familiar with the material covered in HSC Mathematics, which includes: basic functions, including logarithmic and exponential; using graphs to represent and analyse functions; solving equations; basic probability; and elementary differentiation and integration. If you have not studied one or more of these topics previously, then remedial work will be necessary. This material will not be revised as part of the ECON1203 lectures or workshops.

A series of diagnostics have been designed to evaluate the adequacy of your basic quantitative skills for this course. These tests are available on the course website and all students should attempt the tests to refect on whether they need additional help. Students with the appropriate background will fnd the tests straightforward. If this is not the case for you, and your results make you feel that you require some         assistance, you may wish to engage in some self-directed study, in which case we recommend you         purchase the following book available at the UNSW bookshop: Managing Mathematics: A Refresher        Course for Economics and Commerce Students, by Judith Watson, 2nd edition, 2002.

In addition to the above resources, the education portfolio also offers individual consultations to support your numeracy skills. The best way to make use of these consultations is to complete the diagnostics,    identify which questions you had diffculties with and then ask for assistance. This way, the consultation session can be utilised effciently. You can make the bookings for these sessions here .

2. Staff Contact Details

A full list of demonstrators, workshop times and locations will be posted on the course website. Communications with Staff

Note: The primary point of contact for the course is Email. Emailing this address ensures that your        enquiry will be directed to the most appropriate person and responded to promptly. Please only contact course staff directly if specifcally instructed to do so.

You should feel free to contact your lecturer(s) about any academic matter. However, where possible, all enquiries about the subject material should be made at lectures or workshops, or during consultation    times. Discussion of course subject material will not be entered into via lengthy emails.

Any questions regarding administrative matters (e.g., workshop allocations) should be directed to Email

You should expect responses to email correspondence within 48 hours, but not over weekends. Before communicating with staff, please check relevant components of this course outline as this will provide answers to most common questions. You should also regularly check the course website for                announcements and reminders about upcoming events and deadlines.

Student Enrolment Requests

Students can vary their own enrolment (including switching lecture streams or workshops) via myUNSW   until the end of Week 1. In general, most other student enrolment requests should be directed to The         Nucleus: Student Hub. These include enrolment in full courses or workshops, course timetable clashes,    waiving prerequisites for any course, transfer-of-credit (international exchange, transfer to UNSW, cross-   institutional study, etc.), or any other request which requires a decision about equivalence of courses and  late enrolment for any course. Where appropriate, the request will be passed to the School Offce for         approval before processing. Note that enrolment changes are rarely considered after Week 2 classes have taken place.

Peer-Assisted Study Sessions (PASS)

PASS is a system of voluntary study groups available to ECON1203 students. The groups are led by senior students and are an opportunity to practice problems, develop study methods, ask questions, and             consolidate your knowledge in a friendly, informal environment. The timetable will be available from the    course website around Week 2. More information, including session times, will appear on the course         website and in lectures. Note that for this term the sessions will be online.

Individual consultations

Since T2 2019, ECON1203 with assistance from the education portfolio has provided individual          consultations for this course. The purpose of these sessions is to provide additional support in areas which you need further clarifcation. There are two types of consultation:

Numeracy: Designed to help support your numeracy skills in general and to help you brush up on the

tools you'll need for this course. It is best to use these consultants in conjunction with the results you

receive for your diagnostics.

ECON1203-specifc: Designed to support your understanding of this subject. Consultants are some of

the best past students in this course and can provide another perspective on your questions and       provide guidance to assist your understanding. Please note they are not mathematicians. Thus if you have problems with numeracy, it is best to select the numeracy consultation, rather than this one.

All bookings for these consultation sessions can be made here . All sessions will be conducted online.

3. Learning and Teaching Activities

Use of your Webcam and Digital Devices: If you enrol in an online class, or the online stream of a hybrid class, teaching and associated activities will be conducted using Teams, Zoom, or similar a technology. Using a webcam is optional, but highly encouraged, as this will facilitate interaction with your peers and instructors. If you are worried about your personal space being observed       during a class, we encourage you to blur your background or make use of a virtual background.   Please contact the Lecturer-in-Charge if you have any questions or concerns.

Some courses may involve undertaking online exams for which your own computer or digital      devices will be required. Monitoring of online examinations will be conducted directly by              University staff and is bound by the University's privacy and security requirements. Any data       collected will be handled accordance with UNSWpoliciesandstandardsfordatagovernance. For     more information on how the University manages personal information please refer to the UNSW StudentPrivacyStatementand the UNSWPrivacyPolicy.

Approach to Learning and Teaching in the Course

The philosophy underpinning this course and its teaching and learning strategies is based on “ Guidelines onLearningthatInformTeachingatUNSW".

The course materials and assessments have been designed to appropriately challenge students and      support the achievement of the desired learning outcomes. A climate of inquiry and dialogue is              encouraged between students and demonstrators and amongst students (in and out of class). Teaching staff aim to provide meaningful and timely feedback to students to improve learning outcomes.

Learning Activities and Teaching Strategies

The examinable content of the course is defned by the assigned textbook (including the review questions), lecture content, and any additional material provided by the Lecturer-in-Charge.

Class Structure

This course is offered through online lectures and weekly workshops, complemented by an active course website that enhances workshops. Students are expected to attend the lectures, which will be offered live online at the times published in the offcial UNSW timetable.

The weekly workshops are driven by the questions students need answering and the issues they want help with. Workshops are available both online and face-to-face. Attendance is voluntary but strongly recommended and encouraged, and students may attend any workshop that they choose, subject to  physical space requirements for face-to-face workshops.

Covid restrictions permitting, several face-to-face workshops will also be available on top of the online workshops and continuous course website-based support that will continue to be available to all         students.

Support is also available online through the course website. Course staff will be online during business hours to answer your questions quickly and effciently, and to make sure you reach the desired level of preparation in this course. This means that support is available throughout the week, even outside        scheduled class time.

Additionally, all workshop content will be released in advance (through your ebook), which will provide you with the opportunity to engage with the material early on and to ask questions whenever you require          clarifcation.

Lectures

The purpose of lectures is to provide a logical structure for the topics that make up the course; to              emphasise and explain the important concepts and methods in each topic; and to provide initial examples to which the concepts and methods are applied. This term the lectures will be provided online at the          timetabled lecture times. All lectures will be recorded. In addition to this we will also provide additional     links to videos to complement your lectures.

Workshops

Workshops are an integral part of the course. Workshop activities, including discussions, build on the  material discussed in lectures and are designed to help you deepen your understanding and practice   working with the material. This term the workshops will be offered both online and face-to-face. Online workshops will be offered via Zoom at the assigned workshop times. If you enrol in a face-to-face        workshop, please check the physical class location on your timetable.

Course website engagement

The purpose of engaging on the course website is to provide an opportunity for discussion on how to    apply various concepts and methods. It will allow you to interact directly with other students and the      course staff about the specifc questions or problems you might have and will also provide practice and feedback in answering questions relevant to the course.

To facilitate optimal use of your online time devoted to this course, each week you should attempt the     questions related to the topic(s) scheduled for discussion and think about what aspects of the material  you fnd diffcult and on which you require additional explanation. The direction and detail provided in the answers given by course staff is entirely driven by student demand and relies heavily on students' active preparation and engagement.

Feedback related to your textbook questions' answers will also be provided in a timely fashion via the course website.

Out-of-Class Study

A signifcant amount of your learning is expected to be achieved outside of class time. Lectures can only provide a structure to assist your study, and workshop time is limited. The course website offers an array of diverse materials to assist in your out-of-class study and revision.

A good study strategy for getting on top of each week's worth of material is as follows:

Read the relevant chapter(s) of the text each week before the lecture . This will give you a general idea of the topics covered.

Attend lecture. Here the context of that week’s topics in the course, their relevance, and the important elements of the topics are identifed and explained.

After completing the above activities, and before attending the week’s workshop, attempt the review questions . This will help you identify issues that you can discuss and clarify in the workshop.

Attend your workshop. Here you will engage in interactive discussion and problem-solving using the material from the previous week’s lecture.

Attend PASS. Here you will work with other students in the course and be given additional material to work on. These sessions will be conducted online.

Book for an individual consultation if you still need further clarity on the topic, When booking please select the ECON1203 sessions. You can book their times here . These sessions will be conducted    online.

Computing

During this course, students will use the popular spreadsheet program Microsoft Excel to solve statistical problems. Excel is a computing tool to perform statistical data analysis and inference. Excel output will be discussed in workshops and lectures, through worked examples. Computing is an integral component of

ECON1203, and you are expected to become profcient in Excel by the end of this course.

4. Assessment

Formal Requirements

In order to pass this course, you must:

achieve a composite mark of at least 50 out of 100;

meet any additional requirements described in the Assessment Summary section.

You are expected to attempt all assessment requirements in the course.

Assessment Structure

Assessment Summary

There is no requirement to pass each component of assessment in order to pass this course.

To help you gauge your preparation for the course, there are three diagnostics which will be available at the beginning of the term to diagnose where the gaps in your knowledge are. In addition to this, we will also launch two progress quizzes which are focused on material up to Week 3, to help you assess your progress.

Academia and Case study assessment (aka Final Report) (45% + 45%)

The purpose of the case study is to provide you with an opportunity to apply your understanding of        statistics to a real-world setting. It is designed to encourage you to think about the bigger picture and to introduce problem solving skills. To help guide you, this case study is broken down into two parts:

The frst part occurs in Academia and will test your understanding of the material on a weekly basis; your  work in this task will scaffold towards a fnal report. Academia is a computer-based interactive experience that can be accessed via the Playconomics package. It combines gamifcation, personalised feedback      and experiential learning in an innovative and accurate way, to make your statistics learning more              engaging and fun.This will be complemented by the workshops which will ask you to engage with case     study type questions that will help you understand real problems and provide opportunities to learn Excel  so that you can complete these SAQs and the Final Report.

Academia assessment tasks will account for 45% of your overall course mark . Marks are allocated based on completing specifed activities in Academia.

These activities are designed to scaffold towards a second part which is a fnal report which is worth 45% of your overall course mark . This fnal report will be due Monday, 24/04/2023 at 5:00 pm (AEST) and is to

be completed individually. All submissions will be electronic and must be typed.

Excel Training Program (10%)

Excel is a critical part of completing the case study assessment task. Excel skills are also important to  learn for your university studies and future career. In recognition of this, UNSW has built into this course the Microsoft Offce Specialist (MOS) Excel Associate and Expert program.

ECON1203 will provide all the resources on Moodle which you need to complete the online training modules and practice test, which will be conducted in the GMetrix training environment.

On completion of the program, you will have the option to undertake a further online test to obtain the   industry-recognised Microsoft Offce Specialist (MOS) Excel Associate Certifcation as well as the Excel Expert Certifcation.

These training programs will be due Friday of Week 5, 17/03/2023 at 5:00pm AEST (Associate Test) and Friday of Week 9,15/04/2023 at 5:00pm AEST (Expert Test).

At the start of the term we will email you an individual code with instructions on how to access this   material. For each of these tests, you will be required to select a time slot from a list of available time slots to complete each of the tests. This will be made available on Moodle at the start of the term.

More detailed instructions on how to complete the tests will be provided at the start of the term.

Please note: For students who opt to take the Excel Certifcation, this will involve undertaking an online  test for which monitoring of the student's own computer equipment or digital devices will be required.   Monitoring of online examinations will be conducted directly by the University or by third party providers on behalf of the University, such providers being bound by the University's privacy and security               requirements.

Any data collected will be handled accordance with UNSW Data Handling Guidelines (https://

www.datagovernance.unsw.edu.au/policies-and-standards). For more information on how the University manages personal information, please refer to the UNSW Student Privacy Statement (https://

student.unsw.edu.au/privacy)  and the UNSW Privacy Policy (https://www.gs.unsw.edu.au/policy/ privacypolicy.html).

Assessment Feedback

Feedback on student performance from formative and summative assessment tasks will be provided to   students in a timely manner. Assessment tasks completed within the teaching period of a course, other    than a fnal assessment, will be assessed and students provided with feedback, with or without a              provisional result, within 10 working days of submission, under normal circumstances. Feedback on         continuous assessment tasks (e.g. laboratory and studio-based, workplace-based, weekly quizzes) will be provided prior to the midpoint of the course.

Special Consideration

You can apply for special consideration when illness or other circumstances beyond your control interfere with your performance in a specifc assessment task or tasks, including online exams.     Students           studying remotely who have exams scheduled between 10pm and 7am local time, are also able to apply   for special consideration to sit a supplementary exam at a time outside of these hours.

Special consideration is primarily intended to provide you with an extra opportunity to demonstrate the level of performance of which you are capable. To apply, and for further informati