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Introductory Statistics in a Business Anthropology Program

Oke Gerke

Introductory statistics courses in bachelor’s degree programs in higher education are often challenging to both teachers and learners. In 2012 our institution launched a bachelor’s degree program in Market and Management Anthropology (MMA), a field of study in which qualitative research plays a vital role. Quantitative methods are regarded as a supplement to the armada of anthropological tools such as participant observation or informal and structured interviews. This makes the design and conduct of an introductory course in statistics even more challenging. In this paper I discuss the curriculum, the lecturing, the exercises and software used, and the assessment form for this new target group of students. Despite the qualitative nature of the bachelor’s degree program in MMA, a basic understanding of what statistics can (and cannot) do is essential. The curriculum turned out to be almost the same as that for any other introductory course in statistics, say, one for economics students. However, a stronger focus on nonparametric techniques is meaningful.