USING MULTIVARIATE RANK SUM TESTS TO EVALUATE EFFECTIVENESS OF COMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN TEACHING BUSINESS STATISTICS

Arguments about using computer facilities to classroom teaching have gained a lot of attention over time. Using the computer facilities will be helpful to demonstrate real world applications, while poor data or inappropriate case studies might reduce the confidence in applying computer programs in classroom teaching. In this article we examine the results of using computer facilities to teach Business statistics to a group of Management students sampled from Krannert School of Management, Purdue University. This study shows that students are attracted to the interactive computer programs designed for the Business Statistics course, and students are more motivated to attend classes when using computer facilities are applied in teaching. Furthermore, computer programs help students to understand confusing topics (such as the Central Limit Theorem), and students feel that teaching them to use computer facilities really improves students' ability to apply similar programs in analyzing real world problems.