A Study on Students’ Perception of Statistics Education in Business Schools

Abstract

In today’s world data analysis is the buzzword. This term refers to qualitative and quantitative techniques and processes which are used to enhance productivity and make higher profits.It is the science of extracting trends, patterns and useful information from a set of existing data and the ability to apply it to business problems successfully. As data and information increase rapidly, the growth rate of information is so high that the information available to us in the near future is going to unpredictable. Data is continuously generated through hundreds of users and businesses and the same is modelled, visualised and applied to make higher profits for the company. As we move into a more digital world, gathering data is not a problem, analysing, getting insights and making predictions on the said data to gain advantage in business has become the urgent need of the hour. It is imperative for students of management to learn to use data wisely for decision making. The Business Statistics course is taught to MBA students in the first year in India and although many statistics teachers enjoy teaching the subject, they find that the joy of gaining insights and discovering hidden trends is totally lost to students. Hence, it is important to know about student’s perceptions towards the subject and its utility to them in the workplace. Thus this paper is topical as it explores Business student’s perceptions towards Statistics which is a large part of analytics and required in today’s business world more than any time in the past.