Course unit details:
Introductory Statistics for Economists

Course unit fact file
Unit code SOST10062
Credit rating 10
Unit level Level 1
Teaching period(s) Semester 2
Offered by Social Statistics
Available as a free choice unit? Yes

Overview

The content of the course will include:

  • Background Concepts;
  • Exploratory Analysis and Descriptive Statistics;
  • Probability, Joint and Marginal Probabilities, Independence, Probability Trees;
  • Random Variables and Probability Distributions;
  • The Normal Distribution;
  • Exploring and Modelling Relationships;
  • Linear Regression;
  • Statistical Inference, Confidence Intervals and Hypothesis Testing.

Pre/co-requisites

Unit title Unit code Requirement type Description
Introductory Mathematics ECON10061 Co-Requisite Compulsory
Co-requisite: ECON10061

Aims

The aims of this course are:

  • to provide an introduction to basic statistical concepts and methods;
  • to understand concepts of probability and statistical inference;
  • to gain knowledge of methods for exploring relationships in data;
  • to develop skills in interpreting results.

The course is structured around the use of social statistics within society and will cover issues associated with the use of statistics in the public domain.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this course students should be able to:

  • use appropriate statistics, graphs and tables to explore data;
  • develop contingency tables to explore relationships with categorical data;
  • apply probability theory and understand the concept of independence;
  • use techniques to measure relationships between variables and build simple linear regression models;
  • carry out hypothesis testing and interpret the results of statistical analyses;
  • develop skills in performing statistical analysis and presentation of data and results in Excel.

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures
Tutorials/Exercise Classes

Please note the information in scheduled activity hours are for guidance only and may change.

Assessment methods

Method Weight
Written exam 100%

Feedback methods

For information about feedback please follow this link:
http://www.campus.manchester.ac.uk/tlso/map/teachinglearningassessment/assessment/sectionb-thepracticeofassessment/policyonfeedbacktostudents/.

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Assessment written exam 1.5
Lectures 14
Tutorials 8
Independent study hours
Independent study 76.5

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Diego Perez Ruiz Unit coordinator

Fees and funding

Fees

Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2027 will be £10,050 per annum. Tuition fees for international students will be £34,800 per annum.

For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.

Policy on additional costs

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

Scholarships/sponsorships

We know that student finance can be complicated. The links below provide further information to help guide you.

Learn more about student finance options for UK students.

Learn more about fees and finance for international students.

As an international student you may be eligible for our Global Futures Scholarships. This is open to students starting their studies in September 2026.

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