COURSE SYLLABUS for STAT 110 – Introduction to Statistics
May 2010
Instructor:Brant Deppa, Ph.D.
Office: 311 Gildemeister Hall
Phone: 457-5457
e-mail:
Website: http://course1.winona.edu/bdeppa > Courses > Stat 110
Office Hours:
Monday - Friday / An hour before and after classor by appointment
Tutoring will be available starting next week.
Grading: Your course grade will be based on the following
Homework & Quizzes / 50 %Semester Exams (2 or 3) / 30 %
Final Exam / 20 %
Final grades will be fairly close to straight percentages
(90% = A, 80% = B, 70% = C, etc...)
Homework Assignments:
Homework will consist of problems assigned from the text or problems posted on this website.Most of the homework assignments will require the use the statistical software package JMP 8.The software is installed on computer cluster on the first floor of the Krueger Library and if you have a WSU laptop you are able to load the software onto your laptop.Also you can buy a 6-month student license by providing a valid university e-mail from e-Academy (http://www.onthehub.com/jmp/).
On assignments where JMP is required, all relevant tables and graphs should be incorporated into your solutions. I expect you to copy/paste relevant JMP output into Microsoft Word and word process your answers to the questions. Homework must be turned in on the due date. No late homework will be accepted.
Exams:
There will be two or three exams given during the session, plus a cumulative final.I will announce the exam dates at later.
Course Outline
1. Introduction
2. Types of studies and study design issues
3. Descriptive Statistics
· Describing a single categorical variable
· Describing the relationship between two categorical variables
· Describing a single numeric variable
· Comparative displays
· Describing the relationship between two numeric variables
4. Brief Overview of Probability and Probability Distributions
· Conditional probabilities
· Relative risk and Odds Ratio
5. Discrete random variables
· Binomial distribution and applications to decision making
6. Continuous random variables
7. Sampling Distributions and Applications
8. Confidence Intervals for a Single Population Parameter
9. Hypothesis Testing for a Single Population Parameter
10. Testing and CI’s for Two Populations
· Comparing two population means using dependent samples
· Comparing two population means using independent samples
· Comparing two population proportions
· Comparing more than two population means
11. Nonparametric Procedures
12. Analysis of Categorical Data
13. Introduction to Regression
This course can be used to satisfy the University Studies requirements for Basic Skills in Mathematics. This course includes requirements and learning activities that promote students’ abilities to...
a. use logical reasoning by studying mathematical patterns and relationships;
One of the major goals of statistics is to find patterns and relationships in datasets. Hence almost all lectures, homework problems, and test questions in the course have the study of patterns for variables and relationships between variables as their basis.
b. use mathematical models to describe real-world phenomena and to solve real-world problems - as well as understand the limitations of models in making predictions and drawing conclusions;
In all of the textbooks and course notes used in STAT 110 the majority of the problems are real-world based and are “word” problems. Further, all instructors require the students when doing such problems to write conclusions and discuss limitations.
c. organize data, communicate the essential features of the data, and interpret the data in a meaningful way;
This is the heart of STAT 110. The topics covered are chosen so that students who complete the course can organize data, communicate essential features of the data both numerically and graphically and provide interpretations/conclusions.
d. do a critical analysis of scientific and other research;
The scientific method is discussed early in the course. The logic of hypothesis testing is discussed in detail. Further, on tests and written assignments the students are expected to go beyond a simple analysis and provide implications, interpretations, and conclusions.
e. extract correct information from tables and common graphical displays, such as line graphs, scatter plots, histograms, and frequency tables;
All of these topics are explicitly taught in STAT 110 and are on the course outline. Please note that “line graphs” is subsumed under “Frequency distributions and histograms”. Also, please note that “scatter plots” are more formally called “Bivariate displays” by statisticians.
f.express the relationships illustrated in graphical displays and tables clearly and correctly in words; and/or
As can be seen from the course outline, graphical displays and tables cover a significant portion of the course content. As discussed above, interpretation in words is expected by all instructors on homework and tests.
g.use appropriate technology to describe and solve quantitative problems.
As stated on the course outline, “It is required that at least one assignment using an appropriate computer package be included in the course.” In this STAT 110, technology utilized generally includes calculators, statistical software such as JMP or MINITAB, or spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel.