Statistics 7

Basic Statistics

Professor David van Dyk.
ICS bldg 1 room 346B
Phone: 949-824-5679
e-mail: dvd at uci.edu
Office Hours: Mo. 3:00-4:00
or by appointment

Teaching Assistant: Sean Brummel
e-mail: sbrummel at uci.edu
Section 1: W 12:00 - 12:50 in SST 220A
Section 2: W 1:00 - 1:50 in SST 220A
Office Hours: Th 10:00 -12:00 in the
ICS Student Affairs Trailer

Teaching Assistant: Adam Roy
e-mail: ajr at uci.edu
Section 1: W 12:00 - 12:50 in SST 220B
Section 2: W 1:00 - 1:50 in SST 220B
Office Hours: Th 12:00 - 2:00 in the
ICS Student Affairs Trailer

Reader: Jason Kramer
e-mail: jskramer at uci.edu
Office Hours: F 12:00 - 12:50 in the
ICS Student Affairs Trailer
Mailbox: Stat 7 Mailbox in ICS Distribution Center

Objectives and Prerequisites

The objectives of this course are:

to develop an understanding of the basic concepts of probability and statistics,
to help students to be informed and critical readers of quantitative arguments,
to provide sufficient skills to enable students to apply simple statistical techniques with the aid of a computer.

Some familiarity with elementary algebraic notation at the high school level. Graduate students who wish to tailor the course to relate to their research are also invited to discuss this with the instructor.

Lectures

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 10:00-10:50 in SSPA 1100

Sections

There will be no sections or TA office hours during the first full week of classes. Instead the TAs will be available in ICS Computer labs

Tu, Sept 26, 3:30 - 5:00 in ICS 189,
W, Sept 27, 6:00 - 8:00 in ICS 192, and
Th, Sept 28, 10:00 - 2:00 in ICS 189.

These meetings are an opportunity for you to get help with Stata in the computer lab. These will be open labs with no formal instruction. You may come and go as you wish. Once you have figured out Stata well enough to do your homework, you should feel free to leave.

Weekly section meetings will begin the week of October 2. Each section will meet each Wednesday for an hour. All sections are open to all students and cover essentially the same material.

Attendance is strongly recommended. During section you will be given feedback on previous homework, quizzes, and exams; you will have an opportunity to ask questions about the course material; and some new material will be presented. Sections are your primary opportunity to ask questions of the teaching fellow. In addition to section meetings, each teaching assistant will have office hours at the time and location listed above. You may visit any of the teaching assistants during his or her office hours. Of course, your own section leader will know you best and may best be able to help you. Office hours are listed at the top of this page,

Textbooks and References

Required Text: The Basic Practice of Statistics, 3rd. ed., by David S. Moore. The text is on sale at the UCI Bookstore. There are copies on reserve at the Science Library.

Optional Text: Statistics with Stata 8, by L. Hamilton. This is for sale at the UCI Bookstore. This book is a short introduction to and manual for Stata . While it does not describe all features of Stata , it does include most of what we need for this course. It therefore can be useful to you if you want a reference that goes beyond the course handouts.

Other References:

Statistics, by D. Freedman, R. Pisani, and R. Purves (less mathematical, more verbal explanation)
Statistics: The Exploration and Analysis of Data, by J. Devore and R. Peck
Statistics: A Guide to the Unknown, by J. Tanur, et al. (full of examples--good source for projects)

These books are at the Science Library and other libraries.

The videotape series Against All Odds: Inside Statistics is on reserve at the Science Library. This series is loosely keyed to the textbook and you may view tapes as a supplement to the lectures. You may borrow one tape at a time at the reserve desk for viewing in the video rooms in the library. See Syllabus, for further information on the video series topics will be made available during the term.

Syllabus

The following is a rough schedule of lectures and the corresponding readings in Moore. The schedule is subject to change. ("AAO #" refers to program numbers in the Against All Odds videotape series.)

Lecture 1 - 6

Lectures 7 - 12

Lectures 13 - 15

Lectures 16 - 21

Lectures 22 - 23

Lectures 24 - 27

Describing Data
Chapters 1, 2 and 4 -- 6
AAO: #1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Probability and Distributions
Chapters 3 and 9 -- 12
(We will only cover the first two topics of Chapter 11.)
AAO #15, 16, 17, 4, 5

Producing Data: Surveys, Designed Experiments, Observational Studies
Chapters 7 and 8
AAO #11, 12, 13, 14

Statistical Analysis with One Sample
Chapter 13 --16 and 18
AAO #19, 20, 21

Statistical Analysis with Two Samples
Chapters 17 and 19
AAO #22, 23

Topics in Inference
Chapters 20 -- 22
AAO #24, 25

Quizzes and Exams

The quiz and exam dates are tentative; watch announcements for confirmation.

There will be two 30 minutes quizzes, one hour-long midterm exam, and one two-hour-long final exam.

First 30 Minute Quiz -- Friday, October 13, in class
Midterm Exam -- Friday, October 27, in class
Second 30 Minute Quiz -- Friday, November 17, in class
Final Exam -- Monday, December 4, 10:30 a.m. -- 12:30 p.m.

All quizzes and exams are closed book. You will, however, be allowed to bring one sheet of notes for your reference. A hand calculator is required for all quizzes and exams.

Homework

Homework and other handouts are distributed during lectures, or may be downloaded from the course homepage.

There will be weekly homework assignments usually distributed on Fridays and due the following Friday, except when announced otherwise. The first assignment will be distributed on Friday, September 22 and will be due Friday, September 29.

Homework is due IN CLASS on the due date or in the ICS Distribution Center by noon on the data due.

You may discuss homework problems with other students but should write them up independently. Use the homework template when writing up you homework. The template describes the format you should use to get full credit for your homework paper. Please show your work.

The official course policy is:
NO LATE HOMEWORK WILL BE ACCEPTED.
In cases with extenuating circumstances your teaching assistant may agree to accept late work. You should be aware that if your teaching assistant does not agree to accept and grade a late assignment then you will receive a grade of zero on that assignment.

In return for your timely submission of homework, we will make every effort to return graded homework, quizzes, and examinations promptly. This rapid feedback should help you be aware of any problems in your own understanding of the material.

Since we realize that from time to time conflicts arise that may prevent you from turning in your work on time,
your lowest homework grade will be dropped.

Some homework problems are graded on a credit no-credit basis. In this case, feedback will be given during sections.

Computer Work

Homework will include computer assignments to be done using Stata . Do not hand in piles of computer paper with your homework; cut out the relevant pieces and paste them up in place in your written assignments (or incorporate them using your word processor), just as tables and graphs would be included in an article. The quality of your write up may contribute to your grade.

No prior computing experience is needed. You will be taught everything that you need to know. A handout describing how to use the computer and Stata is forthcoming. Stata is quite simple to learn, but it is sufficiently powerful and versatile to be useful for real projects that you might carry out in this class or later.

Stata is available in the ICS computer labs (room 183, 189, 192, and 364 in ICS bldg 1). To use Stata in the ICS computer labs you need to have an account with ICS computing. To get an account you must visit the lab and talk to the lab manager. The lab manager will want to see your UCI ID card and will have you complete an online "Ethics of Computing" questionnaire.

IT WILL TAKE ABOUT 24 HOURS FOR YOUR ACCOUNT TO ACTIVATE.

So it is important that you visit the lab as soon as possible. ( Click here to find the lab hours.) You can also purchase Stata for use on your own computer. Click here to learn how.

Grading

Course grades will be determined by these components, with approximate weights as shown:

Homework and computer assignments*
Quizzes
Midterm Exams
Final

20%
20%
20%
40%

*Students' lowest homework grade will be dropped when computing final grades.

Notices and E-mail

You should check your E-mail regularly for course notices. E-mail is also useful for communicating questions on course content or administrative issues.

The course e-mail is set up as a discussion list; this means that you can e-mail your fellow students and the teaching staff by e-mailing Stat7-F06@classes.uci.edu. Please use this list appropriately:

Student Help & How-to: How to Use Course E-mail
Use of Course Mailing Lists falls under the UCI Computer and Network Use Policy.
Inappropriate use of or abuse of this electronic service could result in the loss of network access and other penalties.
Report inappropriate use or abuse to EEE immediately: Contact EEE

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Please send comments to Prof. David van Dyk
URL: www.ics.uci.edu /~dvd/Courses/7/syllabus.html
Last modified: Tuesday, 14-Nov-2006 16:23:39 PST