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Fundamentally, statistics is the art of finding useful answers to important questions.
According to the authors of Misused Statistics, the uses (and misuses) of the tools of statistics "affect the outcomes of elections, change public policy, win arguments", and "impress audiences". They argue further that statistics can be used to support or combat predjudices, inflame or mollify hatreds, provoke or allay fears, encourage or deter aggression and repression. Their goal is to help readers learn "to make sound judgements of statistical uses".
I refer to those authors because their goal is similar to mine. It would be nice if by the end of this course you could be experts in designing and carrying out scientific experiments and surveys, in collecting and analyzing statistical data, and in writing scientific research reports. Unfortunately, we don't have the time to adequately cover those important ideas and skills in this one-semester course. However, what you learn in this course will serve as a good foundation if you choose to go on in your study and use of statistics. Experience with former students assures me that some of you will go on to expertise with statistics.
The primary requirement for success in this course is quite comparable to that for success in learning a foreign language: consistent daily study. There are many new ideas, terms and symbols with which you need to become comfortable. Necessary computations will not go beyond the level of high school algebra. However, you will have to understand written material well enough to determine appropriate statistical procedures and computations. You will learn to calculate rather than guess when faced with a question. You will also begin learning how to use R statistical software to help with statistical computations.
The textbook we will use for this course is unique among introductory statistics texts. The most obvious difference is that there are few algebraic equations to memorize. The few equations tend to include words or numerals, rather than abstract symbols. Some students complain that this book is "not mathematical" because they perceive mathematics as "plug the numbers into the right places in the right equations and solve". What they find is that the absence of equations makes this text more difficult because one must understand the concepts in order to answer the questions: "plugging and chugging" is no longer a viable option. Finally, many students do not see mathematics textbooks as something one actually reads. BE WARNED: this text is written to be read carefully.
Class will begin promptly at 11 with a moment of silence. Then we will take a few minutes for you to ask questions concerning the assigned reading and exercises. I'll try to answer those questions and to clarify any common misconceptions in your daily responses from the previous chapter. On days dedicated to chapters from the textbook, I will discuss key notions and present a few examples of the material in the assigned readings: note that you need to do the assigned readings, exercises and responses BEFORE we talk about them in class. On workshop days, you will practice calculations and statistical graphing techniques by hand or with R, or learn how to design and carry out statistical studies: we'll "work out" the ideas we discuss on the other days.
You need to read the assigned chapter and work through assigned exercise sets prior to each class meeting. Make use of Appendix A, which contains an acceptable answer to each exercise. At the beginning of each meeting, turn in a concise and thorough response to the reading and exercises: 3 to 5 "things" (concepts, procedures, examples, exercises) from the assigned work that you found most surprising, perplexing, or important. I will read and respond to your summaries, and return them to you by the next class meeting.
Note that I am not collecting and grading your work on daily exercises, but I do expect you to do all of them. The ideas and skills covered in the section exercises serve as a basis for the review exercises, and will show up on quizzes and tests. Your goal should be to understand each of the section exercises: seek help from classmates, tutors and me to reach that goal each day. Your success in this course will depend upon your understanding of the notions behind these exercises and mastery of the skills employed in them. This is an unusual way to assign mathematics homework, but I guarantee that if you do as I ask, you will finish this course with a mastery of important statistical concepts and skills and a good grade. If you do less, you'll understand less and do less well.
Each Monday, you'll hand in a small number of Review Exercises assigned during the previous week. These will graded and returned to you by the following Monday. I encourage you to study and learn in small groups, and hand in your own best work each meeting.
There will always be assignments due for workshop days: sometimes you'll be able to finish the assignment during class, but sometimes you'll start the assignment in class and finish before the next class meeting. Those assignments will be handed in, graded and returned to you within a few days.
Students with a documented disability (e.g., physical, learning, psychiatric, visual, hearing, etc.) who need to arrange reasonable classroom accommodations need to request an accommodation memorandum from the Academic Enrichment Center and contact their instructors each semester. For a greater chance of success, students are strongly encouraged to visit the Academic Enrichment Center within the first two weeks of each semester to begin the process.
Unfulfilled expectations often are the cause of frustration or anger. They tend to result from the fact that each person enters a relationship with a different notion of what is "normal", based on their own experiences and training. I've been teaching college for about 30 years, grew up in the 50's and 60's as the son of a blue-collar factory worker. I am a white Anglo Saxon protestant (WASP) male, served in the Air Force during Viet Nam, and so on. It is unlikely that any of you share a similar background or life history. So we will tend to start out with different expectations for our time together. Here are some of mine:
You should plan to study 2+ hours between each class meeting. Find a few classmates who will be reliable study partners, and help one another.
Within the first week of class, drop-in tutoring will be available two or three evenings each week. Tutors will be available in the Science Library to answer questions on the material covered in class and in the textbook.
You can also meet with me during office hours. I recommend that daytime student study groups meet in the vicinity of the Mathematics Lounge. That way, you'll have regular access to me, other mathematics professors, and other students.
Your grade on each daily response will be 0 or 1, with the overall letter grade based on the percentage of possible points. If you must miss class, send your response with a classmate or send it to me in the body of an email (not as an attachment).
You will earn a letter grade for each of the workshop assignments, with the overall letter grade being the average of the individual grades. Your lowest workshop grade, including a failure for absence, will be dropped.
You will earn a letter grade for each weekly assignment from the Review Exercises, with the overall letter grade being the average of the individual grades. Your lowest Review Exercises grade will be dropped.
Three tests will be given as shown on the schedule. I will design the tests to be do-able within 50 minutes. If you need more time, you can work through the lunch hour, but all tests must be turned in by 12:50. All test questions will be based on vocabulary, the Review Exercises at the end of each chapter, and the Special Review Exercises.
If you do poorly on one test and want a chance to make it up, you may take an optional cumulative test during our final examination period (0800, Thursday, 3 May). Your grade on that test will replace your unwanted test grade.
Your grade for the course will be an average of the letter grades earned on the daily responses, the workshops, the weekly assignments, and the tests. The weekly assignment total, the daily responses total, the workshops total and each test will carry the same weight. For example, if your average for daily summaries was an C, for workshop assigments was a A, for weekly assignments was a C, and you earned B's on the first two tests and a c on the third; your overall grade would be [(2 + 4 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 2)/6 = 16/6 = 2.67], a B- for the course.
I did my undergraduate work at the United States Air Force Academy, far away from Earlham in many ways, surprisingly close in others. There are some experiences from my Academy days that still hold me strongly: one of these is the Cadet Honor Code: We will not lie, cheat or steal, nor tolerate among us anyone who does. The last phrase in that code sounds pretty harsh, but in the Air Force, where one person's lack of integrity can mean immediate loss of life for many, it makes sense. For those of us who live in a less dangerous world, I think that last phrase is still worth considering At Earlham, the fundamental notion is, "If I leave you alone, I trust you will do the right thing." That is a true gift to each of us, and not one to be lightly spurned.
Earlham has an honor code comparable in spirit and in application to the one I learned to value during my undergraduate experience. Please see my comments on integrity. You also should consider Earlham's statement on academic integrity.
It is possible that you have left considerations of integrity up to others. You certainly live in a society for which integrity in our dealings with others does not seem to be a high priority. Now is a good time for you to consider it for yourself. I argue that personal integrity is one's most important possession because healthy adult relationships are founded on trust.