STA 671 - Environmental Statistics

Fall 1999

Course (Section)

STA 671 (A)

Meeting Time:

800-915 T Th

Meeting Location

112 Bachelor Hall

Prerequisites:

graduate standing or consent of instructor

 

 

Professor

Dr. John Bailer

E-mail:

ajbailer@muohio.edu

URL:

http://www.muohio.edu/~ajbailer

 

 

Office (phone)

292 Bachelor Hall (529-3538)

369B Upham Hall (529-2648)

Office Hours

9:30 - 10:30 T, Th – 120 Bachelor (open hour)

(other hours by appointment – don’t be shy!)

 

Course Purpose:

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.

Text:

Samuels, M. L. and Witmer, J. A. (SW) (1999).Statistics for the Life Sciences, 2nd edition. Prentice Hall. [REQUIRED]

McLaughlin and Wakefield (1999) An Introduction to Data Analysis using MINITAB for Windows, Prentice Hall. [OPTIONAL]

Grading:

Straight 90-80-70-60 split for A,B,C,D, respect. (+/- for borderline cases)

item 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.

Dates of interest:

Sept. 6

LABOR DAY, no classes

Sept. 7

Monday/Tuesday class exchange day (Monday classes meet).

Sept. 14

Last day to drop a class without a grade (W).

Sept. 23

Project proposal due

 

 

Oct. 5

Last day to drop a course with a grade of W

Oct. 8

Mid-term break, no classes

Oct. 19

Project proposal revision and methods enhancement due.

 

 

Nov. 18

Project final report due

Nov. 24-26

Thanksgiving break

 

 

Dec. 10

Last day of classes (Last day to drop with a WP or WF)

 

 

STA 671 Tentative Course Outline

 

Week

Day

Comments

Reading and topic

Expanded topic list

1

8/24

First day of classes

SW Ch. 1 – Introduction

 

 

8/26

 

SW Ch. 2 – Description

Freq. Dist, measures of center, boxplots, dispersion measures

2

8/31

Pinch hitter? I will be participating in the Endocrine Disruptor Research priority mtg.

SW Ch. 2 (ctd) – Minitab

 

 

9/2

 

SW Ch.2 (ctd)

 

3

9/7

M/T exchange day???

 

 

 

9/9

 

SW Ch. 3 – Random Sampling, Prob. and Binomial

Probability, random sampling, probability trees, density curves, binomial distn.

4

9/14

 

SW Ch. 3 (ctd)

 

 

9/16

 

SW Ch. 3(ctd)

 

5

9/21

 

SW Ch. 4 – Normal

Normal curves, areas, assessing normality, continuity corrections

 

9/23

PROJECT: first draft due

SW Ch. 4 (ctd)

 

6

9/28

 

SW Ch. 4 (ctd)

 

 

9/30

 

SW Ch. 5 – Sampling Distrib.

Dichotomous obs., quantitative obs., CLT, normal approx. to binomial

7

10/5

 

SW Ch. 5 (ctd)

 

 

10/7

 

SW Ch. 5 (ctd)

 

8

10/12

 

SW Ch. 5 (ctd)

 

 

10/14

Pinch hitter? I will be participating in a Biostatistics symposium.

SW Ch. 6 – Confidence Intervals

Estimation, std. Error, CI for m, study planning, CI for proportion

9

10/19

PROJECT: revision due

SW Ch. 6 (ctd)

 

 

10/21

 

SW Ch. 6 (ctd)

 

10

10/26

 

SW Ch. 7 – Two indep. Samples

SE for diff. in sample means, CI for m1 – m2, hypothesis testing, t tests, Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney

 

10/28

 

SW Ch. 7 (ctd)

 

11

11/2

 

SW Ch. 7 (ctd)

 

 

11/4

 

SW Ch. 8 – Design Principles

Observ. Studies, experiments, randomization (blocking and stratif.), replication

12

11/9

 

SW Ch. 9 – Paired Samples

t test and CI, Sign test

 

11/11

 

SW Ch. 10 – Categorical Data

Goodness-of-Fit test, Test for a 2x2 table, independence and association, rxk tables, RR and ORs

13

11/16

 

SW Ch. 10 (ctd)

 

 

11/18

PROJECT: final report due

SW Ch. 11 – Comparing K indep. Samples

ANOVA, F test, linear combinations of means, multiple comparisons

14

11/23

Pinch hitter?

SW Ch. 11 (ctd.)

 

 

11/25

No Class. Thanksgiving break.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

15

11/30

 

SW Ch. 12 – Regression and Correlation

Fitted regression line, inference for slope parameter, correlation

 

12/2

 

SW Ch. 12 (ctd)

 

16

12/7

 

 

 

 

12/9

Last Day of Classes