Course Syllabus EPPS3405.

001: Introduction to Social Statistics with Lab Fall 2011

Times, Locations and Instructors

Monday & Wednesday 10:00 am to 11:15 am in SOM2.115 Friday 10:00 am to 11:15 am in GR3.602

Professor: Michael Tiefelsdorf GR 3.120, (972) 883-4954, tiefelsdorf@utd.edu. For course related regular communications please use eLearnings email system. Instructors Office Hours: Wednesday 11:30 am - 1:00 pm and Friday 11:30 am - 1:00 pm, when office door is open, or by appointment. TA: Chien-Chou Chen GR3.318, cxc054400@utdallas.edu. TAs Office Hours: Tuesday 1:00-2:30 pm and Thursday 1:00-2:30 pm The Home Page for the Course is on eLearning.

Course Pre-requisites, Co-requisites, and/or Other Restrictions

College Algebra (MATH1314 or equivalent). Critical thinking skills. Computer skills either on the Windows or Apple platform. You must have a Campus ID and password to use the Schools computers.

Course Description
This course introduces students to the basic tools of statistics and shows how they are used in the analysis of social science data and decision making. A fundamental understanding of these tools provides a critical foundation for gaining knowledge about real world problems in the social and physical sciences. The course covers [a]

Course Syllabus Tiefelsdorf EPPS3405

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descriptive statistics, which condenses numerically and graphically diffuse data into meaningful summary information; [b] inference and hypothesis testing from sample observations to support informed decision making under uncertainty; and [c] the basics of modeling interdependencies with regression analysis. This is both a conceptional and applied course, which requires a significant amount of time spent on the computer. This course uses the open-source statistical software R-PROJECT, which is available in the all EPPS computer lab.

Student Learning Objectives/Outcomes

Develop a critical understanding of research designs, data collection and descriptive as well as inferential data analyses. Conduct independently standard data analyses and statistical tests to address research questions. Perform an informed interpretation of the analyses results to draw conclusions about real world phenomena. Communicate analysis results efficiently.

Required Textbooks and Materials

Textbooks: David C. Howell, 2011. Fundamental Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences. 7th edition. Wadsworth Cengage Learning

Also take a look at the books website at http://www.cengage.com/cgiwadsworth/course_products_wp.pl?fid=M20bI&product_isbn_issn=9780495811251 and the authors website at http://www.uvm.edu/~dhowell/fundamentals7/index.html Data: The course website stores the data that accompanies the textbook as well as R-scripts used in this course. Other data and programs will be placed there during the course of the semester. The R-PROJECT statistical package and its menu driven interface library, the R-COMMANDER (library Rcmdr), will be introduced and utilized for data management, visualization, estimation, and hypothesis testing throughout the assignments of this course. Course participants are expected to learn mastering basic R tasks and to use the R-PROJECT for their semester projects. The R statistical environment is available in EPPSs computer labs, but it can also be freely downloaded from www.r-porject.org. It runs under a broader spectrum of operating systems, such as Windows, Apple, or Linux. One can also find a wide array to freely available books and tutorial about the statistical data analysis with R on the internet.

Other:

Tentative Course Schedule

Required readings from Howells textbook are listed for each lecture. They are supposed to have been read before the lectures. Quizzes will ensure that this has been done. Lecture

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notes are made available prior to each lecture and the participants are expected to review these notes carefully.

Date
Aug 24 Aug 26 Aug 29 Aug 31 Sep 02 Sep 05 Sep 07 Sep 09 Sep 12 Sep 14 Sep 16 Sep 19 Sep 21 Sep 23 Sep 26 Sep 28 Sep 30 Oct 03 Oct 05 Oct 07 Oct 10 Oct 12 Oct 14 Oct 17 Oct 19 Oct 21 Oct 24 Oct 26 Oct 28 Oct 31 Nov 02 Nov 04 Nov 07 Nov 09 Nov 11

Topic
Welcome & Overview Installing R and Rcmdr Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Basic Concepts Rcmdr: Introduction Labor Day Excursion: Basic Statistical Algebra Rcmdr: Basic Calculations and Data Manipulations Chapter 3: Displaying Data Chapter 4: Measures of Central Tendency Rcmdr: Data Visualization Chapter 5: Measures of Variability Chapter 6: The Normal Distribution Rcmdr: Working with Continuously Distributed Variables Chapter 7: Basic Concepts of Probability Chapter 7: continued Rcmdr: Working with Discretely distributed Variables Excursion: The Binomial Distribution and Relatives Chapter 8: Sampling Distributions and Hypothesis Testing Rcmdr: Sampling from a Population and Simulation Experiments Chapter 8: continued Review Session Mid Term Exam Excursion: Survey Design I Excursion: Survey Design II Qualtrics: Your First Online Survey Chapter 9: Correlation Chapter 9: continued Rcmdr: Measuring and Visualizing Relationships among Variables Chapter 10: Regression Chapter 10: continued Rcmdr: Bivariate Regression Analysis Chapter 11: Multiple Regression Excursion: Special Regression Models Rcmdr: Multiple Regression

Action

Quiz01

Lab01 out Quiz02 Quiz03 Lab01 due Quiz04 Quiz05 Lab02 out Quiz06 Lab02 due Lab03 out Quiz07 Lab03 due

Lab04 out

Quiz08 Lab04 due Quiz09 Lab05 out Quiz10 Lab05 due Quiz11 Quiz12 Lab06 out Quiz13

Nov 14 Chapter 12: Hypothesis Tests Applied to Means: One Sample Nov 16 Chapter 13: Hypothesis Tests Applied to Means: Two Related Samples Nov 18 Rcmdr: t-Tests Nov 21 Chapter 14: Hypothesis Tests Applied to Means: Two Independent Samples

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Nov 23 Chapter 15: Power Nov 25 Thanksgiving Nov 28 Chapter 19: Chi-Square Nov 30 Chapter 20: Nonparametric and Distribution Free Statistical Tests Dec 02 Rcmdr: More Tests Dec 05 Review Session T.B.A. Final Exam

Quiz14 Quiz15 Lab06 due Quiz16

List of Labs
Labs
Lab01 Lab02 Lab03 Lab04 Lab05 Lab06

Topics
Getting started with Rcmdr Basic descriptive statistics Probability calculus Survey Design Correlation and bivariate regression Battery of difference of means tests

Points
6 pts 6 pts 6 pts 6 pts 6 pts 6 pts

Grading Scheme
Tasks
Quizzes: 16 @ 1 pt. The three weakest quizzes will receive full pts. Closed Book. Questions related to the chapter of the day. Labs: 6 @ 6 pts. The weakest lab will receive full grade. Midterm Exam: Open book and open notes. Material covered up to Oct. 03: The Binomial Distribution Final Exam: Open book and open notes. Material covered from Oct. 05: Sampling Distribution to Nov. 28: Chi-square

Points
16 pts

36 pts 20 pts

28 pts

Course & Instructor Policies

Make-up exams/Late assignment policy: Exam dates will not be changed; I will adjust material for the exam if we get behind schedule. Make-up exams will only be given in extenuating circumstances with the exam itself likely being more difficult per the additional time and information available. Extra assignments: No extra credit assignments will be given and late work will be penalized heavily and not accepted after we have gone through the answers.

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Plagiarism: The universitys rules of plagiarism will be strictly enforces. While you are encouraged to discuss the labs with other course participants to enhance your understanding of the course material, the labs must be answered individually by each course participant unless teamwork is explicitly requested by the instructor. The labs prepare you for the exams and give you useful technical skills. Class attendance: Class attendance is expected. Students, who consistently miss classes, are on their own and will be reported to their program director.

Decorum during class:

No cell phones on during class or text messaging. Respect the labs no food and drink policies. Respectful interaction among all participants. No laptops in use other than for class-related activities you may use laptops, but when I walk around the room I dont expect to see e-mail, games, social network sites, etc. No gum, please

Additional information relating to University policy on Religious Holy Days, Grade Appeals Disability Services, Student Conduct, etc. can be found at: http://go.utdallas.edu/syllabus-policies These descriptions and timelines are subject to change at the discretion of the instructor.

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