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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Exploring and Producing Data for Business Decision Making by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

4.8
stars
996 ratings

About the Course

This course provides an analytical framework to help you evaluate key problems in a structured fashion and will equip you with tools to better manage the uncertainties that pervade and complicate business processes. Specifically, you will learn how to summarize data and learn concepts of frequency, normal distribution, statistical studies, sampling, and confidence intervals. While you will be introduced to some of the science of what is being taught, the focus will be on applying the methodologies. This will be accomplished through the use of Excel and data sets from different disciplines, allowing you to see the use of statistics in a range of settings. The course will focus not only on explaining these concepts, but also understanding and interpreting the results obtained. You will be able to: • Summarize large data sets in graphical, tabular, and numerical forms • Understand the significance of proper sampling and why one can rely on sample information • Understand why normal distribution can be used in a wide range of settings • Use sample information to make inferences about the population with a certain level of confidence about the accuracy of the estimations • Use Excel for statistical analysis This course is part of Gies College of Business’ suite of online programs, including the iMBA and iMSM. Learn more about admission into these programs and explore how your Coursera work can be leveraged if accepted into a degree program at https://degrees.giesbusiness.illinois.edu/idegrees/....

Top reviews

OA

Sep 4, 2020

The class was difficult . The professor is demanding and very knowledgeable. She makes sure you learn the material and that you understand it. I learned a lot and I am very happy I took this class.

RD

Jun 1, 2019

Very useful for beginners as well as anyone interested in learning some basics. Highly recommended for managers and people trying to figure out what insights can be obtained form data

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1 - 25 of 201 Reviews for Exploring and Producing Data for Business Decision Making

By Erica W

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Apr 19, 2019

This professor does an exceptional job of breaking down complex concepts and calculations without diluting the material. The statistical examples are highly relevant and interesting.

By Jacques P

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Apr 8, 2019

Good intro to statistical foundations. Would be great if all questions that involve Excel were in one Excel file

By CONSTANTINO A C M

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Jun 28, 2017

Good basic statistics course, knowledge can be easily applied right from the start

By Laleen D

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May 2, 2018

This is truly a great course. Anyone in a business program or a working professional will be very thankful that they took statistics with Professor TAghaboni-Dutta. She is a remarkable teacher and consistently ranks as one of Illinois' best Professors. The two class sessions break down statistics into easy-to-understand lessons. Professor Taghaboni-Dutta incorporates contemporary interesting problems and issues into her lessons, which make statistics much more interesting!. Another feature of this class, which I considered a wonderful value, are her extra instructional videos showing how to use Excel to solve statistics problems. These videos are better than anything else I've found. I'm serious, even MSFT doesn't have instructional videos that are as good and easy to understand as the ones in this class. If they were posted on You-Tube, she'd probably get sponsors quickly.

I don't mean to sound like a cheerleader, but I know what it is like to take Statistics from a bad teacher. I took Statistics a long time ago, before Excel existed. I remember trying to understand a professor who spent all of her time writing out proofs and never answering questions. It was one of the most frustrating depressing classes of my undergraduate experience. Professor Taghaboni-Dutta's classes are enjoyable and educational. She is highly accommodating and yet thorough. Heck, I'm even considering taking more classes in statistics. and probability. Bottom line, this class is a total home-run and a significant value for the money!

By Tommy P

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Jul 13, 2018

Worst Coursera course I've taken. Videos were too long, and repetitive. Assessments strayed from topics covered, and relied more on petty test taking tricks than actually assessing information learned. For example, questions that test your grammar skills more than your knowledge of statistics.

By Jingting L

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Sep 16, 2019

This course is a joke. As a former business analyst turned data scientist, I found numerous basic conceptual errors in its one and only peer review project. It does not cover much depth or breadth of topic either. Much of quiz work is repetitive motions of downloading a file and finding averages, medians, stdev etc. Data is the new oil and I expected a more thorough overview from this course.

By P. D K

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Apr 22, 2017

Teaches some good applications of statistics with plenty of real world examples, and hands on experience with Excel.

However, be aware that this class heavily depends on Microsoft Excel, so in order follow this class exactly, you will need a copy of Microsoft Excel and a computer and operating system that can run it. You can mostly get by with alternatives but you will be on your own to figure out how to apply the concepts in this class to LibreOffice or other statistical software.

By ROBERTA N

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Feb 7, 2019

Great foundational learning on statistics and how to apply for real life data analysis. Especially with understanding how to use Excel to facilitate the formulas and graphical representations. Appreciate having a consumable set of coursework that helped me learn and achieve completion (this does a lot for your confidence level at my age :)) I plan to continue on my Data Analyst learning path and appreciate that this course gave me a good start.

By Andre A M

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Oct 4, 2020

Good intuitive overview of statistic concepts through Excel. Not a mathematically rigorous introduction through probability, then statistics. It's a pretty intuitive course for managers that don't have a strong math background.

By Radivoj D

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Jun 2, 2019

Very useful for beginners as well as anyone interested in learning some basics. Highly recommended for managers and people trying to figure out what insights can be obtained form data

By Andrei S

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Apr 25, 2020

The videos were excellent and the explanations of the concepts and how to do everything in excel were very clear. I think the wording in the peer graded assignment should be changed, however, as it is not immediately clear how the studies referenced designed their samples. It is possible to take a stratified sample or to take a simple random sample and conduct post sampling stratification for display purposes. It was not clear based on description where the stratification actually occurred, and this has implications for analysis. Stratified samples usually need weighting to be analyzed appropriately, whereas weighting is not necessary if stratification is done after sampling for reporting purposes.

By Stephen B

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Jun 26, 2022

While I am yet to take BADM 572 as part of the iMBA, I decided to take this course because I immediately need to upskill for Data Science and Analytics related projects. I know that Data science is an intersection of Computer Science, Mathematics/Statistics, and Business/Organizational Knowledge. This course is beneficial as a refresher of statistical concepts and their applications. Professor Fataneh thoroughly explained each concept and its implications for solving real-world problems. I can tell that she wants to ensure all her students understand statistics and its importance in the real world. I am looking forward to taking BADM 572 as I take my classes this coming Fall 2022!

By Rajesh S

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Dec 15, 2021

The main highlight of this course is the way the instructor had explained each and every details during the course, in both her lecture with formulas and the excel stimulation of the same concept. This make the implementation of such concept very easy in real life scenarios. The examples used in this course are also helping to understand the concepts as they are similar to real time scenarios where we can apply this statistic.

Great foundation learning statistic & how to apply it in data analysis

By Andika Y U

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Oct 12, 2020

The last time I learned statistics was 8 years ago in my 3rd semester in my undergrad study. It was very hard to understand. Now, as I am some years of work experience, I feel that this subject is vital in work and in life. So I took enrolled the class. Is it still hard? Yes of course! but, the professor explain all the concepts very clearly, thus I am very motivated to finished the course. Recommended!

By Jai P

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Sep 28, 2018

Very well taught and explained. One of the best statistics courses I have taken. As a non math student I have tried many books to understand statistics, but they were all intimidating. This course and the follow-up course on Inferential was my Holy Grail to learning and understanding Statistics. Hats off to the Prof. FATANEH TAGHABONI-DUTTA for the wonderful course and the way she helped approached it.

By Vasvi M

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Apr 10, 2018

For a novice in Statistics such as me - This course has done wonders in adequately aiding me in understanding the basics as well as prepared me to delve deeper into the subject! The professor in this course has done a fantastic job of simplifying otherwise complex ideas . I would strongly urge those who'd like to foray into exploring and producing data and making sense of data to take this course.

By Céline F

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Jan 13, 2018

Great teacher, very clear in her videos and Excel tutorials

A résumé of the formula and main calculations might be useful to use this knowledge afterwards; I don't know if she provides one somewhere (?)

I was just deceived by the first 2 weeks as I had experience in statistics, it was too easy; so I would recommend the course's summary to be more clear

By Kareem S

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Sep 6, 2020

Exploring and Producing Data For Business Decision Making provides a concise and thorough approach to understanding, interpreting and making inferences from the data you have access to. Thoroughly recommend it to anyone considering to broaden their knowledge into the world of statistics from a business application.

By Dhinesh A D

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Jun 30, 2020

Great course on data analysis using statistics. The suggested methodologies in course could be effectively used to analyze financial data, weather data, population data etc., Highly suggested course for Business analysts, Entrepreneurs and anyone who needs to make decision on complex data sets.

By Dr. R S

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May 31, 2020

Thank you so much Coursera for providing this opportunity to me, to get the lecture from a brilliant instructor "Fataneh Taghaboni-Dutt" Thank you so much ma'am, It is my first Coursera Accomplishment and I am really looking forward for more such courses which are based on Data Analysis.

By Oxana A

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Dec 4, 2020

Great course! Everything is very clearly stated, even for people without the appropriate background in this area. All the theoretical information is well adapted for general understanding, with practical examples illustrated in Excel. Excellent job, I have enjoyed it! Thank you!

By JEFFREY H

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Jun 26, 2020

What a great job by Prof. Fataneh Taghaboni-Dutta. She did an excellent job, with challenging quizzes, real world applications, and explaining these new to me concepts. I am coming out of this course better than I went in with a great introductory understanding of statistics.

By Jason J

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Dec 12, 2019

Fataneh is an amazing teacher. Coursera's benefit comes from teachers who understand how best to explain concepts so that students understand. This is what education is all about and she nails it. Well done and thank you for taking the time to make a great class!

By Ibrahim N

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May 28, 2023

I have never studied statistics so well before. The course is very engaging and interesting and the professor's repeated practical applications greatly aid the learning process. I definitely recommend this course to anyone interested in the subject.

By Hector R

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Dec 5, 2019

Professor Tagahaboni-Dutta is the best there is when it comes to teaching a difficult course. She makes it fun, interesting and challenging. You get the practical applications of statistics in business, science, sports, and politics.