Introductory Statistics: In-person meetings

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Notes

  • A "week" begins on a Sunday and ends on a Saturday.
  • In-person meetings are on Thursday, 9-10:30am.
  • Recommendation: take scheduled quizzes following Thursday in-person meetings.
  • Link to online course schedule


In-person meetings: first semester (DRAFT work in progress)

Meeting Topics Assignment Discussion/Activities
#1
Sep 3
Intro; Using Spreadsheets Set up your notebook/journal Intro stuff

Spreadsheet tips and tricks

M&M data collection

#2
Sep 10
Graphs
  1. Find a use of statistics in a publication designed for the general population and prepare a summary for discussion in your journal. Put the summary/reflection in your journal and bring your journal to the session.
  2. Find an interesting graph, bring paper version to session or email electronic version to Alison by Wed EOD. Reflect on the graphs effectiveness and issues (if any) in your journal and bring your journal to the session.
Finish m&m data collection

Use of statistics

#3
Sep 17
Center; Spread Find three uses of the terms average, median or mean, evaluate each use for reasonableness (correct use of statistic, clear description of use), and prepare a summary for discussion. Put the summary/reflection in your journal and bring your journal to the session. Debrief on m&m data collection

Use of graphs for communication

#4
Sep 24
Boxplot; Standard Deviation
  1. Read "2. Graphing Distributions, Introduction" at Online Statistics. In your journal, note any questions you have about the story and respond to the following:
    • Is it reasonable to rely on random assignment to keep outcomes fair?
    • Can you think of any other processes that use a random procedure to maintain fairness?
  2. Find a graph that is misleading, erroneous or otherwise lacking in its presentation of data. Describe the graph's failings in your journal and bring your journal to the session.
Use of average/median/mean

1969 draft lottery story

Common problems with graphs

Begin EDA of m&m data

#5
Oct 1
StatTutor Project; Quiz At onlinestatbook.com read

Note in your journal a few ideas that you find interesting.

Exploratory data analysis of m&m data

m&m weight distributions

#6
Oct 8
Two-Way Table; Scatterplot Create (or find) three research questions that involve 2 variables. In your journal (for each research question), identify the relationship "case" to which each question belongs, determine which variable is explanatory and which is response, and suggest a method of analysis. Two-variable research questions

Exploratory data analysis of m&m data

#7
Oct 15
Correlation; Regression
  1. At onlinestatbook.com:
  2. Identify a case III research question the meets the following criteria: 1) you believe the two variables are related, 2) the two variables are definable (without undue gyrations), 3) the two variables are measurable, and 4) you could actually collect the data yourself (if someone granted you some extra time in your life). In your journal
    • Write out the research question in a sentence.
    • Define each variable
    • Describe how each variable would be measured
    • Draw a scatterplot showing the predicted relationship between the variables
    • Predict whether the variables will be linearly related, and if so, describe the predicted relationship (direction, form, and strength)
Example question: Is the number of pieces of dog food consumed related to the amount of time that my dog, Marcie, takes to eat her food?
Case III research questions

Exploratory data analysis of m&m data

#8
Oct 22
Causation
  1. Work with your m&m group to complete your m&m data analysis and report. Email the report (1 per group) to your teacher by Wed end-of-day. The report should include:
    • the question related to the m&m data that you investigated
    • a data analysis section with relevant data displays (tables and charts) and a written description of the data (don't forget to include appropriate summary statistics for each variable)
    • a conclusion section in which you answer the question posed using the data to support your answer
  2. Rework the research question that you developed last week, if needed, such that it meets the requirements listed in week 7, with the revised requirement that you could actually do the research (you yourself given an hour or two of time).
Present results of m&m data analysis

Discuss revised Case III research questions

#9
Oct 29
Relationships Wrap-up Find an instance where it is easy to assume causation based on a correlation or even just that the two variables seem like they are related or associated (e.g., amount of violence in a city related to the number of police officers on the street), develop a theory on possible lurking variable(s), and draw a causation diagram. Present results of m&m data analysis

Discuss "association does not imply causation" examples

Groups work on regression of m&m data

#10
Nov 5
Sampling; Designing Studies Spend some extra time studying the terms and concepts in sampling and study design.
#11
Nov 12
Designing Studies Choose one of the two following activities.
  1. Find and read a full-text version of an actual research study. ideas to help you locate a study report are available here.
  2. At "The Laboratory" on Research Methods: Review the 4 different study designs: experimental, correlation, naturalistic observation, and survey. Review some of the actual research studies (by selecting a discipline) in each design. Choose one of the research studies to summarize and present to the group.

Write a summary of your chosen study (from either method) in your journal that includes:

  1. the question asked in the study (If there's more than one, just choose one.)
  2. the explanatory and response variables
  3. how the sample was selected (method and sampling plan)
  4. the study design (experimental, observational, or survey)
  5. the treatment groups, if any
  6. the outcome
  7. a causal diagram
#12
Nov 19
Designing Studies Think about possible research questions and how (design-wise) you might address the question via a research study. Write about these potential questions in your journal.
#13
No meeting
Quiz; Intro to Probability
#14
Dec 3
Relative Freq; Equally Likely (For over Thanksgiving break) Bring up some aspect of what we've studied so far in a discussion with an adult (that is, someone over 18). For example (although I'm not suggesting you do this), you could initiate a discussion of the saying: "4 out of 5 dentists recommend..." and discuss where did this phrase come from--was there once a study of dentists' recommendations? Write about your discussion in your journal and plan to report about the conversation at the next meeting. use of the term odds
#15
Dec 10
Probability Rules Analyze a game of chance. The goal is to identify a random experiment in the game (such as winning/losing a round or hand), identify the outcomes--write out the sample space, and determine the probability of each outcome (if the number of outcomes is very large, you can describe them rather than write them out). You should aim to choose a very simple game and email your choice to the group (each of you should choose a different game). Be prepared to describe your game at the Dec 10 session.
#16
Dec 17
Probability Rules; Quiz

In-person meetings: second semester (DRAFT work in progress)

Week Topics Assignment Activity
#17 Conditional Probability Baye's Theorem practice problems Discuss how and why for solutions
Week 18 Prob Dist for Discrete Random Variable
Week 19 Mean and Variance for Discrete Random Variable
Week 17 Binomial Random Variable
Week 18 Normal Distribution
Week 19 Rand Var Wrap-Up; Quiz
Week 20 Sampling Distributions
Week 21 Sampling Distributions; Quiz
Week 22 Point Estimation
Week 23 Confidence Intervals
Week 24 Hypothesis Testing
Week 25 Hypothesis Testing
Week 26 Inference for One Variable Wrap-Up; Quiz
Week 27 Two Sample t-test
Week 28 Paired t-test
Week 29 ANOVA
Week 30 Chi-Square Discuss example professional conference presentations
Week 31 Linear Relationship Submit study project reports Study presentations
Week 32 Inference for Relationships Wrap-Up; Quiz Study presentations