MIDLANDS STATE UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF COMMERCE
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

ECONOMIC STATISTICS COURSE OUTLINE (EC 102)

Level: 1.1
Lecturer: Ms J. Chigome
Contact Number: 0772 311 763/ 0734 197 701
Email: chigomej@msu.ac.zw
 COURSE OBJECTIVES

The main aim of the module is to equip students with analytical tools required in sampling, data collection,
statistical analysis and presentation.

 COURSE STRUCTURE

One hour lectures will be conducted three times a week. Herewith, concepts and methods in Statistics will be
discussed. Most importantly student participation will be required through class presentations and the provision of
fully worked solutions to be also presented in class.

 COURSE ASSESSMENT

Continuous assessment will be based on two in- class tests, two group assignments, individual class presentations
and two group quizzes. The Final Exam will contribute 70% and the remaining 30% will be from the continuous
assessment.
 COURSE CONTENT

INTRODUCTION

 Definition of statistics
 Role of Statistics
 Descriptive and Inferential Statistics
 Types of Data
 Population and Sample

COLLECTION AND PRESENTATION OF DATA

 Discrete and continuous data

 Sampling techniques
 Data collection methods
 Data presentation methods

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

 Grouped and ungrouped data

 Frequency tables and polygons
 Relationship between histograms and polygons
 Ogive and relative frequency curves

MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDANCY/ LOCATION

 Mean, mode, median

 Using graphical methods to find the mode
 Quartiles, percentiles and deciles
 Types of means- arithmetic, geometric and harmonic

MEASURES OF DISPERSION OR SPREAD

 Average deviation
 Variance and standard deviation
 Coefficient of variation
 Range and interquartile range

SKEWNESS AND ASYMMETRY

 Pearson’s Coefficient of skewness

 Measuring skewness using the principle of moments
 Peakedness/ Kurtosis
 Measuring peakedness using moments

INTRODUCTION TO PROBABILITY

 Laws of probability
 Conditional probability
 Venn diagrams
 Tree diagrams
 Permutations and combinations

CONTINOUS PROBABILITY MODELS

 Normal Distribution
  Binomial distribution
 Poisson distribution

RECOMMENDED TEXTBOOKS

 Essentials of Statistics for Business and Economics by David R. Anderson, Dennis J. Sweeney and
Thomas A. Williams (2008)
 Statistics for Business and Economics, by Paul Newbold, William L. Carlson, and Betty Thorne, 7 th
Edition, Prentice Hall.
 Introductory Statistics for Business and Economics – 4th Edition – by Thomas H. Wonnacott and
Ronald J. Wonnacott (1990)
 Practice of Business Statistics by David S. Moore, George P. McCabe, William Duckworth, Stanley Sclove
(2003)
 Weighing the Odds: A Course in Probability and Statistics by David Williams (2001)
 Using Statistics in Economics by Leighton Thomas (2004)

NB: The list is not exhaustive hence alternative sources may be used.