School: Business and Law

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

  • Unit Title

    Quantitative Skills for Business
  • Unit Code

    ECF6102
  • Year

    2025
  • Enrolment Period

    1
  • Version

    4
  • Credit Points

    20
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus
    Online
  • Unit Coordinator

    Dr Anna GOLAB

Description

In the Quantitative Skills for Business unit, students will master statistical techniques to support informed decision-making in uncertain scenarios. Starting with basic concepts like averages, variability, and probability, the course advances to cover models that predict business trends and guide investment strategies. Students will investigate sampling methods and inferential statistics and establish confidence in estimates of population parameters. Essential areas include hypothesis testing and regression analysis. By applying these skills to real data sets in a real database, students will develop reliable forecasting models for strategic decision-making in accounting and finance.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Solve authentic business problems, by critically thinking about processes and assumptions within the Industry.
  2. Develop effective communication and effective teamwork skills to solve business problems by integrating theory with practice, and reflecting on individual and group performance.
  3. Apply statistical thinking, concepts and techniques to the daily business decision-making process.
  4. Generate solutions using a statistical software package to interpret statistical output, and predict future trends from the analysis.

Unit Content

  1. Introduction to statistical concepts and business analytics.
  2. Measures of central tendency and variation, including analysis of skewness and relative dispersion.
  3. Elementary probability concepts and probability distributions.
  4. Sampling distributions for both small and large samples.
  5. Discrete & continuous probability models in business behaviour.
  6. Point and interval estimation of population parameters.
  7. Hypothesis testing for means, proportions & variances.
  8. Two sample tests - confidence intervals and hypothesis tests for - comparing means for two independent populations, two related populations, and comparing proportions.
  9. Determining cause and reliable forecasting with correlation and regression analysis. Testing & inference of parameters.
  10. Multiple regression analysis.
  11. Non parametric analysis for categorical variables.

Learning Experience

ON-CAMPUS

Students will attend on campus classes as well as engage in learning activities through ECU's LMS

JoondalupMount LawleySouth West (Bunbury)
Semester 113 x 3 hour seminarNot OfferedNot Offered
Semester 213 x 3 hour seminarNot OfferedNot Offered

For more information see the Semester Timetable

ONLINE

Students will engage in learning experiences via ECU’s LMS as well as additional ECU learning technologies

Additional Learning Experience Information

Students will master industry-standard financial databases and analyse data using Microsoft Excel. They will reinforce key concepts and be guided through practical issues. They will also focus on teamwork, problem-solving, and critical thinking in applying statistical knowledge and preparing students for real-world financial challenges.

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
ExerciseWeekly pre-class exercise15%
PresentationResearch Paper Presentation 45%
ExaminationInvigilated written exam40%
ONLINE
TypeDescriptionValue
ExerciseWeekly pre-class exercise15%
PresentationResearch Paper Presentation 45%
ExaminationInvigilated written exam40%

Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Assessment

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. Informal vivas may be conducted as part of an assessment task, where staff require further information to confirm the learning outcomes have been met. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

Academic Integrity

Integrity is a core value at Edith Cowan University, and it is expected that ECU students complete their assessment tasks honestly and with acknowledgement of other people's work as well as any generative artificial intelligence tools that may have been used. This means that assessment tasks must be completed individually (unless it is an authorised group assessment task) and any sources used must be referenced.

Breaches of academic integrity can include:

Plagiarism

Copying the words, ideas or creative works of other people or generative artificial intelligence tools, without referencing in accordance with stated University requirements. Students need to seek approval from the Unit Coordinator within the first week of study if they intend to use some of their previous work in an assessment task (self-plagiarism).

Unauthorised collaboration (collusion)

Working with other students and submitting the same or substantially similar work or portions of work when an individual submission was required. This includes students knowingly providing others with copies of their own work to use in the same or similar assessment task(s).

Contract cheating

Organising a friend, a family member, another student or an external person or organisation (e.g. through an online website) to complete or substantially edit or refine part or all of an assessment task(s) on their behalf.

Cheating in an exam

Using or having access to unauthorised materials in an exam or test.

Serious outcomes may be imposed if a student is found to have committed one of these breaches, up to and including expulsion from the University for repeated or serious acts.

ECU's policies and more information about academic integrity can be found on the student academic integrity website.

All commencing ECU students are required to complete the Academic Integrity Module.

Assessment Extension

In some circumstances, Students may apply to their Unit Coordinator to extend the due date of their Assessment Task(s) in accordance with ECU's Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386.

Special Consideration

Students may apply for Special Consideration in respect of a final unit grade, where their achievement was affected by Exceptional Circumstances as set out in the Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000003318.

ECF6102|4|1