Meeting Times:	800- 850	M W F
Meeting Location:	201 Bachelor Hall

Prerequisites:	graduate standing or consent of the instructor; willingness to work hard and ask questions when confused; desire to understand more about how statistical methods are used to analyze experimental and observational studies.
Instructor:	Dr. John Bailer
E-mail address:	baileraj@muohio.edu
URL:	http://www.users.muohio.edu/baileraj
Office (phone):	292 Bachelor (9-3538) * 369C Upham (9-2648)
Office Hours:	* 900-1000 Monday, Wednesday, Friday (other times by appointment - don't be shy!)
Teaching Assistant/Grader	TBA

Purpose of Course:

1. A. Gain Skills in Statistical Reasoning

   Introduce the student to the basic principles of probability and statistical theory in order to:

   1. Translate real world experimental concerns into statistical concerns.
   2. Select the appropriate statistical procedures to address these statistical concerns.
   3. Apply the statistical procedures to available data.
   4. Determine correct statistical conclusions.
   5. Translate these statistical conclusions into experimental conclusions.

   B. Gain skills in the use of the computer as a data analytic tool

   Course Objectives:

1. Provide the statistical foundation to be an informed consumer of research in the environmental sciences which includes the ability to read basic statistics in articles and popular literature.
2. Provide the background to know which statistical method is appropriate for a given data analysis problem.
3. Develop the link between research methods in the environmental sciences and the practice of statistics.
4. Enhance skills in written presentation of quantitative information.
   

Texts:

Basic stat text (+hw problems) [required]	(OL) Ott, R.L. and Longnecker, M. (2001) Statistical Methods and Data Analysis, 5th Ed., Pacific Grove, CA,  Duxbury.
R statistics book [strongly recommended]	(D) Dalgaard, P. (2002) Introductory Statistics with R. Springer, NY.
General interest [recommended]	(CC) Cohn, V. and Cope, L. (2001) News and Numbers. 2nd edition. Iowa State Press, Ames.

Grading:           Straight 90-80-70-60 split for A,B,C,D, respect. (+/- used on boundaries)

Contribution to letter grade

Exam 1	25%
Exam 2	25%
Homework	15%
Project	10%
Final	25%

Grading and Exam comments:

1. Homework must be in my mailbox by 3 p.m. on the assigned due date in order to be considered.
2. Most class days will begin with a small quiz on the assigned reading.
3. Midterm exams will be given on weeks 6, and 11 (±1 week) of the semester.
4. Midterm exams will (most likely) be out of class exams.
5. Final exam will be CUMULATIVE. Additionally, the final exam will be an out of class (i.e. take home) exam that will be handed out during the last regularly scheduled class period and will be due Monday of Finals week.

Project comments:

Details attached.

Attendance Policy:

Do not miss class. Lecture and classroom activities are intended to complement the text and out-of-class activities.

Exam Make-up Policy:

There will be NO make-up exams. If you miss an exam during the semester due to illness or for some other excused reason, then the contribution of this grade to your final grade will be transferred to the Final exam. For example, if you miss Exam 1, then your final exam will now contribute 40% to your course grade.

Tentative course outline

Week	Date	Reading	Topics	Comments
1	8/23	OL 1; D 1	Introduction
	8/25
2	8/28	OL 2; CC 4,5,9,10	Collecting Data	Surveys; Experiments
	8/30
	9/1
3	9/4	XXXXXXX		NO CLASS
	9/5	OL 3; CC 3,7; D 3	Summarizing Data	Graphical and Numeric summaries
	9/6
	9/8
4	9/11
	9/13
	9/15	OL 4; CC 2; D 2	Tools and Concepts	Probability, variables, sampling distributions
5	9/18
	9/20
	9/22
6	9/25
	9/27
	9/29			MST Conference
7	10/2	OL 5; CC 2,3,6; D 4.1,4.2	Analyzing Data	Hypothesis tests; CIs
	10/4
	10/6
8	10/9
	10/11
	10/13	XXXXXXX		NO CLASS
9	10/16	OL 6, D 4.3, 4.5-4.7		Two sample mean comparisons
	10/18
	10/20
10	10/23	OL 8; D 6.1,6.2		>2 means compared
	10/25
	10/27
11	10/30	OL 10, D 7		Categorical data methods
	11/1			pinch hitter? IWUVPKM
	11/3
12	11/6			pinch hitter? SETAC
	11/8
	11/10
13	11/13	OL 11; D 5		Regression
	11/15
	11/17
14	11/20
	11/22	XXXXXXX		NO CLASS
	11/24	XXXXXXX		NO CLASS
15	11/27
	11/29
	12/1
16	12/4
	12/6
	12/8

Other dates of potential interest (use as a rough guide - make sure you check dates independently!)
Aug. 22	classes begin
Sept. 4	NO CLASSES- Labor Day
Sept. 5	Monday/Tuesday Class Exchange (no Tuesday classes, Monday classes meet this day)
Sept. 12	Credit/No credit deadline
Oct. 2	Last day to change to audit
Oct. 13	NO CLASSES - Fall Mid-term Holiday
Oct. 24	Last day to withdraw from a course
Nov.22-26	NO CLASSES - Thanksgiving Holiday Break
Dec. 8	Last day of classes

 

STA 671 Project Description

Purpose of Project:

This project is intended to give students experience in conducting a simple research study with emphasis on the analysis of data and on the presentation of statistical results.

I want you to "triple up" - form groups of approximately 3 (say, 1-5) members. Let me know by next Friday (Sept. 1) who is in your group. I encourage the IES students to team up with other students in their PSP group and focus their statistics project on the PSP. For students in other departments, it is suggested that your project be related to your thesis.

Make sure that the data and analysis are of interest to you. You will have more fun and learn more if it is.Components of the Project:

Proposal:

Each group will submit a 1-3 page proposal containing the following information:

• Description: Briefly describe the nature and goal of the proposed project in terms clear to those outside your immediate discipline. Is your project of primarily a descriptive or inferential nature (or some combination of the two)?

• Methods: Describe the specific methods, techniques or procedures you will use to accomplish the project's objectives.

• Analysis: Describe your initial thinking as to the appropriate method of statistical analysis.

DEADLINE for proposal receipt: September 22, 2006.

(Submit 3 copies of your proposal. The instructor and two of your classmates/groups will provide a peer review of your proposal.)

Proposal Revision and Methods Enhancement:

Each group will resubmit the proposal containing revisions based on suggestions from the reviewers. In addition to your revisions, supplement the methods section with greater description of the statistical methods that will be used. Submit a point-by-point reply to the reviewers concerns.

DEADLINE for revision: October 20, 2006 (Submit 3 copies.)

Final Project Report

Each group will submit a written report of their project. This report should contain the following information.

1. Introduction.
2. Methods of data collection
3. Results
4. Discussion including possible directions for future research.

DEADLINE for written report: November 24, 2006. (Submit 3 copies.)

STA 671 Project Review Guidelines

Questions to consider when reviewing project proposals...

1. Is the question to be addressed by this project clearly stated?
2. Does the data that will be [has been] collected address this question
3. Do you see any potential difficulties in the data collection? (e.g. possible selection bias of sampling units)
4. Do the proposed statistical methods for analyzing the data seem appropriate?
5. Do you have any suggestions that would have improved the design or analysis of this project?

Feel free to write your comments on the copy of the proposal that you are reviewing. Any suggestions to improve the "readability" of the proposal (spelling, grammar, etc.) would be appreciated.

Be Constructive in your comments!