London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

Modules

04a/D04a Statistics 1 (half unit)

The aim of this half-unit is both to introduce some of the basic ideas of theoretical statistics while emphasizing the applications of the methods in the disciplines covered by the Management, Finance and Social Science degrees. There will be an emphasis on the interpretation of tables and results.

Basic background
Elementary summation signs, elementary probability, Venn and tree diagrams

Data collection
Elements of Survey design, the stages of a survey, ideas of randomness, observation and experiment

Data presentation and analysis
Descriptive statistics, measures of location and dispersion, pictorial and graphical representation

The Normal Distribution
Estimation of mean, proportion, standard deviation, confidence intervals and hypothesis testing. Ideas of testing for differences between means and proportions. The use of Student's t.

Goodness of fit
The Chi-squared distribution and contingency tables

Regression and correlation
An introduction to the ideas of regression and correlation, least squares, estimation of a, b, and r squared, scatter diagrams.