AGEC 314: Research Methods, Statistics & Mathematics for Economists & Business

The scientific method of Enquiry in Business & Economics research; Basic and Applied Research; the Scientific Research Process; from proposal writing to dissemination of results; Data/Information Gathering; Methods of Data Collection; Sampling Techniques; Organizing Data for Analysis: Coding, Cleaning, Summary Statistics; Farming Systems Research; Economic Analysis of Agronomic Data. Nature of Statistics, Uses of Statistics in Economic and Business Research Models; Concept of a Random Variable; Probability Distribution Functions; Measures of Central Tendency; Measures of Dispersion; Moments of a Distribution: 3^rd and 4^th Moments (Skewness & Kurtosis); Concept of a model/Use of Economic models; Classical normal regression assumptions and estimation procedures of the Ordinary Least squares; Desirable Properties of estimators & Hypothesis Testing. Role of Mathematics in Economic and Business Research; Variables and Parameters, Domain of Variable; Concept of a Function: Explicit and Implicit Functions, Inverse Functions; Functional Forms: Linear, Quadratic, Cubic, Polynomial, Logarithmic, Exponential, Inverse, Semi-Logarithmic, Double Logarithmic (Log-Log) Functions; Equations: Solution of Linear, Quadratic and Cubic Equations; Matrix Algebra; Differential Calculus; Optimization Problems: Unconstrained and Constrained Optimization Problems; Integral Calculus