Course Description

This course is designed to develop a working understanding of the
fundamental concepts used in descriptive and inferential statistics.
The purpose is to understand the use of statistics in educational
research as a tool to analyze and interpret data. To this aim the
course activities will focus on generating and interpreting sample
statistics. The course also includes a weekly lab which will provide
opportunities for students to practice analyzing and interpreting
data using SPSS for Windows. The lab is designed to assist students
working on the assigned projects and homework.

Prerequisite: Y520 or equivalent. Students also are expected to have
a working knowledge of arithmetic and basic algebra.

Course Requirements and Assignments
Students are responsible for the assigned readings and for in-
class/lab and homework assignments. Please bring the book, handouts,
notes and a calculator to class.

In addition there will be two exams (each 30 % of final grade) and
two written projects (each 20% of final grade) which will require
analysis and interpretation of a data set.  Assigned labwork and
homework is required—it will not be graded but will be checked for
completion, adequacy and accuracy.  To receive full credit, all
assignments have to be completed and turned in on time.  If work is
not turned in or is systematically late, your final grade will be
decreased by one grade level or two (e.g., A will turn into A- or B+)
depending on the number of late and incomplete assignments.  A course
grade of “Incomplete” will not be assigned except in the case of
illness or other emergencies.  Intended or unintended cheating and/or
plagiarism (see academic handbook) will yield an F in the course.

Reading
Harris M. B. (1998).  Basic Statistics for Behavioral Science
Research.  MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Other readings may be assigned as judged appropriate


Tentative Course Outline and Class Schedule (subject to change)

June 23	Overview and Introduction			
Chapter 1
Review of basic concepts
Descriptive Statistics– Tables and Graphs	
Chapter 3
Frequency Distribution
Normal Distribution
Percentiles
Descriptive Statistics – Central Tendency, Variability	
Chapter 4
Mean, Mode, Median
Range, Variance, Standard Deviation
Standards Scores

June 25	Probability and Theoretical Distribution	
Chapter 5
Probabilities
Normal Distribution - review
Z Scores
Logic of Inferential Statistics			
Chapter 8
Sampling
Sampling Distributions
z-Tests
Hypothesis Testing – Significance Tests

June 30	Correlation					
Chapter 6
Scattergraphs
Pearson r – Restriction of Range
Significant Correlation
Other Types of Correlation

July 2 Review / Catch-up

July 7 Exam #1

July 9 Regression					
Chapter 7

July 14	Simple Linear Regression
Regression Toward the Mean
Standard Error of Estimate
Multiple Regression

July 16	t-Test						
Chapter 9
Testing Hypotheses about Two Means
Independent-Samples t-Test
Dependent-Samples t-Test

July 21	One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)		
Chapter 10

July 23	The F-distribution
Relationship between t-test and F test
Comparisons Among Means 				
Chapter 11
Planned and Post Hoc Comparisons

July 28	Two-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)		
Chapter 12

July 30	Factorial Designs
Main Effects
Interactions

August 4 Chi-Square					
Chapter 13
Goodness-of-Fit Test
Goodness Test of Independence

August 6 Course Wrap-Up and Review

August 13 Exam #2

Other References

Hinkle, D. E., Wiersma, W., Jurs, S. G., (1998).  Applied statistics
for the behavioral sciences.  NY: Houghton Mifflin.

Hopkins, K. D., Hopkins, B. R. and Glass, G. V. (1996). Basic
statistics for the behavioral sciences.  MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Kirk, R. E. (1999). Statistics-An introduction (4th ed.,), Orlando,
FL: Harcourt Brace & Company.

Hayes, W. A. II. & Hayes, C. A. (1999). Study guide to accompany
statistics-An introduction, Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace & Company.

SPSS Inc. (latest). SPSS Base 10.0: Application Guide. Chicago, IL:
SPSS Co.

Web Resources
http://www.amstat.org/  - American Statistical Association
http://research.ed.asu.edu/ - Arizona State U Statistics Research
Resources
http://www.isds.duke.edu/sites/software.html - Duke University
Institute of Statistics and Decision Sciences
http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/ - Carnegie Mellon University StatLib Index
http://www.stat.ufl.edu/vlib/statistics.html – University of Florida
Department of Statistics.
http://www.statisticalengineering.com/central_limit_theorem.htm