Statistics Background

Hammett, University of Michigan

SixSigmaBlackBeltPreparation
IntroductiontoStatisticsandMinitabTutorial

SixSigmaBlackBelttrainingincorporatesnumerousstatisticalanalysistoolsandconcepts.In
preparationforthistrainingcourse,werecommendsomeprecoursematerialtoreviewthe
followingtopics.Sincethesetopicsarecoveredinanintroductorystatisticscourse,youmay
alreadybefamiliar.However,ifyouhavenotstudiedtheseconceptsrecently,youwilllikelyfind
thisinformationusefultoreviewpriortotraining.

Fortheseconcepts,werecommendthefollowingintroductorymaterial:
StatPrimer(Version6.4)www.sjsu.edu/faculty/gerstman/StatPrimer/Aneffective
summaryofkeystatisticalconceptswithsampleexercises.IMPORTANT:Pleaseseetopic
listbelowforprerequisitetopics.

Note:Thesesameconceptsarecoveredinnumeroustextbooksandonlinereferencesincluding:
www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/index.htmlHandbookforstatisticalanalysistools
davidmlane.com/hyperstat/index.html Reference for basic statistical concepts including
severalwebbasedtoolsexplainedinaconciseway.
www.seeingstatistic.comExcellentonlinetextbookwithnumerousappletstohelpvisualize
statisticalconcepts.
www.statsoft.com/textbook/StatSoft(2013).ElectronicStatisticsTextbook.Tulsa,OK
statpages.org/Searchenginetofindonlinestatisticsbooks,tutorials,resources,etc.

CoreStatisticalTopics

Theprerequisitetopicslistedbelowincludeseveralstatisticalconceptswhichshouldbe
understoodbyaSixSigmaBlackBelt(Note:Werecommendonlyreviewingthespecifictopics
listedbelowforthefollowingsectionsfromtheStatPrimer(Version6.4)reference).

StatPrimer(Version6.4)Part A (Introductory)
Obtainvia:www.sjsu.edu/faculty/gerstman/StatPrimer/

1) MeasurementandSampling(statisticsandlearningfromdata)
o VariablesCategorical,Ordinal,andQuantitativeVariables(Scales)
o SamplingPopulationsandSamples,SimpleRandomSample
2) FrequencyDistributionShape,Symmetry,Skew,Location,Spread,FrequencyTable
3) SummaryStatisticsMean,Median,Mode,Range,StandardDeviation,Variance
o QuartilesandBoxPlotsInterquartilerange(IQRderivedfromQ1andQ3)
4) ProbabilityProbability,rangeofpossibleprobabilities,randomvariables,Normal
ProbabilityDistribution(Note:Calculatingprobabilitieswillbedoneusingsoftwareand
thusisnotnecessarytolearntodothesemanuallywithstatisticallookuptables).

Statistics Background

Hammett, University of Michigan

AdditionalPrerequisiteTopics(Recommended:www.sjsu.edu/faculty/gerstman/StatPrimer/)

Thetopicsbelowrepresentadditionalconceptsthatareusefultobetterunderstandthe
statisticalanalysistoolsdiscussedinBlackBelttraining.Severalofthesetopicsalsowillbe
discussedduringclass.

5) IntroductiontoEstimation(Statisticalinference,parametersandestimators,sampling
distribution,centrallimittheorem(CLT),NormalZdistribution,standarderror,
confidenceintervalformeanandmarginoferrorgivenaknownstandarddeviation)
o Studentstdistribution(confidenceintervalonmeanbasedonunknownor
estimatedstandarddeviation)
6) IntroductiontoHypothesisTesting(Nullversusalternativehypothesis,pvalueand
conclusions,alphalevelthreshold(TypeIerror)
o Onesamplettest(Testmeanvs.standardwherestandarddeviationisunknown)

MinitabPreWorkTutorials

Finally,Minitabstatisticalanalysissoftwarewillbeusedextensivelyduringthisclass.Tobetter
prepareforclass,werecommendeither:
ReviewMeetMinitabUserGuide(www.minitab.com)
IntroductiontoMinitabTutorial,P.Hammett,Ph.D.,UniversityofMichigan