Syllabus, class mechanics
Handouts: Syllabus,
Pretest, Student questionnaire (Return when finished)
Data collection: Class, height, hair color, shoe size, heart rate
(pulse). Pick a card. Record on questionnaire.
Honor code: This community of learners is a rare and fragile thing. Trust is the foundation of its structure. Betraying the trust damages the whole community. Please do not betray my or your fellows' trust, and I will do my best to reciprocate. The flip side of this is that if you do betray our trust, I will definitely pursue it in Community Court. See my door for an interesting psychology experiment on this issue.
Activstats: Very
rich. Prof. Velleman's life work.
Requires a Windows machine, because of
SPSS. Email me if your personal computer is a Macintosh.
You'll need earphones unless you have
a single room and speakers on your computer. Possibly an extension
cable.
We'll go into the lab to get going on it NEXT
CLASS. Don't worry too much till then.
You'll be using this a lot. I
don't recommend sharing it. If you are going to share, you'll want
a splitter so you can work together in a lab. Email me if
you're sharing.
Activstats goes through the concepts one by one,
with an activity, exercises, self-tests. You can stop, start, repeat
as often as you like. Eliminates the "I dropped my pencil and missed
3 definitions" problem with lectures, also class diversity problem.
You will need to take notes! Writing
it down is important for remembering!
SPSS instruction:
is built in. I suggest a small notebook just for SPSS info--build
your personal handbook. I'll supplement with handouts from time to
time.
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Not covered today:
Data: Information (usually numbers)
in context: What, Who (how many), Why? When and Where?
How?
Variable (possible values), individuals (cases)
Categorical (can be
ordinal--has
natural order) or Quantitative (can add, average)
Distribution of one variable: what
values, how many (or what proportion) of each.
Bar or pie graph: (categorical)|
| Histogram, Dotplot, or Stemplot (Stem-and-leaf):(quantitative)
(I
will only require you to read, not make histograms by hand. You'll
Make
stemplots,
dotplots.)
Describing: Pattern--
and deviations from it
Shape (symmetric, skewed (think smeared) right or left), center,
spread--outliers?
What do we see? What can we infer? (Teaser--inference
is 3rd part of course)
Data source? Lurking variables?
Variability happens.
Things settle down on average. BUT conclusions are never certain.
Statistics gives us a language
for talking about uncertainty.
| --Leave under my door, Mac 102: Pretest and Student questionnaire,
if not finished in class today.
--Bring to class: Your copy of Activstats. A Windows Floppy Disk or Zip disk, to keep with Activstats Headphones (like for a walkman). An extra pair of headphones if you have them. Notebook (or whatever you'll take notes in.) |
HW assignment Day 1,
ACT: From Activstats Homework
MRB: From David S. Moore, The Basic Practice of Statistics
Reading-- MRB: Read ahead: Intro, xxv-xxxi [very good],
Chapter 1, section 1.1(Distributions with graphs).
Not yet: Handout on Stem-and-leaf
(stemplot)
Not assigned: Italicized notes give
me a hint which problem it is. [my comments]
Problems on the same line
usually cover similar issues.
| Hand in (All MRB)
p.5, 1.2 cat/quant p.8, 1.4 bar/pie |
Read, be able
to discuss 1.1 indiv/vble
1.3 bar (pie OK?) |
Optional
p. 20, 1.11 |
| Sievers home | Math151-Sp02/Day1.htm | 2pm | 1/27/02 |