A first assignment to create student buy-in in an introductory business statistics course

This paper presents a sample assignment to be administered after the first two weeks of an introductory business focused statistics course in order to promote student buy‐in. This assignment integrates graphical displays of data, descriptive statistics and cross‐tabulation analysis through the lens of a marketing analysis study. A marketing sample was chosen because marketing is a tangible business practice to which all students, regardless of their background, have been exposed. The purpose of the assignment is to quickly cement in the students minds both the applicability of the course material within the business world as well as their own ability to master it.