Introductory Statistics: In-person meetings

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	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. 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	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? 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 2. Graphing Distributions, Qualitative Variables 2. Graphing Distributions, Quantitative Variables, Bar Charts 2. Graphing Distributions, Quantitative Variables, Line Graphs 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	At onlinestatbook.com: Read Introduction to Bivariate Data. Use the Guessing Correlations Simulation (requires Java-enabled browser) to improve your understanding of the strength of a correlation value. 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	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 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. Find and read a full-text version of an actual research study. ideas to help you locate a study report are available here. 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: the question asked in the study (If there's more than one, just choose one.) the explanatory and response variables how the sample was selected (method and sampling plan) the study design (experimental, observational, or survey) the treatment groups, if any the outcome 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