STAT 200 Syllabus (Winter 2024)

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, you should

1. understand why the differences between the sample and the population are important;
2. compare and contrast several data-collection techniques in terms of bias, variance, and cost;
3. summarize the sample using appropriate graphical and numerical methods;
4. analyze statistical writing for appropriateness;
5. apply proper statistical methods to research questions; and
6. evaluate several statistical methods, select, and perform the most appropriate one (or ones).

Behavioral Expectations

If your question is “What will it take to succeed in this course?” then the answer is “Being a good student.” In my experience, your ability as a student is the greatest predictor of success in courses such as this. Being a good student means that you

• get a full night’s sleep every night;
• read and outline the readings before class;
• make sure your notes make sense to you;
• summarize your notes using diagrams and figures;
• ask questions about the readings during class;
• are an active participant in your learning;
• begin homework as soon as it is assigned;
• are aware of course deadlines;
• spend enough time on the material to learn it;
• study for mastery (not for the grade);
• are observant;
• use learning techniques you developed in previous courses; and
• recognize your limitations and work to strengthen them.

You are responsible for all material covered during the class period and all material in the readings and activities. Feel pressured to ask questions during the class regarding the material, since the material covered during the classes may or may not cover everything that is in the text. Asking questions signals to me that you are engaged. Those who do not ask questions tend to be lost.

As is required by faculty regulations, you should be prepared to spend

15 hours per week on the coursework

for this class. That includes time in class and the time outside class. Since you spend 4 hours and 40 minutes in class, you should be willing to spend 10 hours and 20 minutes outside class in preparing for class, working on homework, reviewing notes, and anything else associated with the course.

To that end, I strongly recommend that you create a calendar to plan your time for all of your classes. If you do this, and follow it, you will much less likely to be stressed in this class. You will also have a higher probability of being able to enjoy your weekends.

Academic Integrity ( honor )

Knox College is committed to the maintenance of the highest standards of academic integrity, including ethical conduct, of its citizens. Personally, I strive to maintain this level of ethical behavior and integrity in this course because it encourages you to understand how to advance humanity at the local level.

Should I discover that you participated in a behavior that violates academic integrity (e.g., unauthorized collaboration, plagiarism, cheating on examinations, fabricating information (lying), helping another person cheat, unauthorized advance access to examinations, altering or destroying the work of others, or fraudulently altering academic records), I will sanction you because your actions undercut the value of Knox College and what it offers to its students (you), its alumni (future you), and the world (all of you). Please read through the Knox College Honor System to familiarize yourself with what constitutes a violation. When in doubt, please check with me. I am here to help.

Ultimately, this all has little to do with cheating. It has everything to do with understanding what it actually means to learn and to represent yourself academically. In college, your personal value has not increased because of your grades; it has increased because of your learning. To cheat is to claim two things about yourself and your skills: I am not able to do this; and I am only focused on today and not the future.

Specifically, to be clear, for this class:

Again, please, if you are looking to take a shortcut, then chat with me. This desire often arises from what I call “life crash,” where things are just happening faster than you planned. Again, let’s chat to see how to fix this before you cheat. I’ve taught for 30 years. I have some experience.

Office of Disability Support Services ( odss )

Knox College abides by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which stipulates

No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States, as defined in section 7(20) shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance or under any program or activity conducted by any Executive agency or by the United States Postal Service.

Disabilities covered by law include, but are not limited to, learning disabilities, psychological disabilities, health impairments, hearing, and sight or mobility impairments.

If you have a disability that may have some impact on your work in class and for which you may require accommodations, please contact the awesome Stephanie Grimes in the Office of Disability Support Services (ODSS information; office: SMC E-115; email: sgrimes@knox.edu) so that such accommodations may be arranged. Note that the accommodations are not retroactive; I do not make adjustments until ODSS contacts me to let me know what I can do. Also note that accommodations must be renewed each term.

Red Room Tutoring ( CTL )

Needing— and asking for help in college is a positive sign that you are engaging your learning and coursework. I really like to hear questions! By the way: The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) wants to help you! The CTL is responsible for the academic support needs of all Knox students. Here is some information provided about the CTL tutors this term:

Writing Tutors. If you want help on a paper, no matter the course, you can find writing tutors in the Writer’s Workshop, which is at the Center for Teaching and Learning (466 S. West St., across from Post Hall), Monday through Friday, from 10:30 to 4:00pm, and again in Red Room on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights from 7:00 to 9:00pm. You can also schedule appointments to meet with a writing tutor either online or in person (should you both so desire) by visiting the Center for Teaching and Learning website.

Subject Tutors. Have a kink in your coding, want to test out a solution to that vexing homework problem, or wondering about the difference between accuracy and precision? You are ready for the Red Room study tables! The Red Room study tables are great resources for students wanting help with virtually any subject— including STAT 200.

There are two Red Room study areas: “Red Room” and “Red Room SMC.” Red Room SMC is intended to support most classes taught in SMC and is located in the Learning Commons in SMC (under the whale), while Red Room is for most other courses and is located in the Red Room on the second floor of Seymour Library. Both study areas are free and open on a walk-in basis from 7:00pm to 9:00pm, on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights. Specifically, for this class:

• STAT 200 is tutored in the Red Room in SMC.

You can also get help from a tutor attached to our class by scheduling an appointment to meet them one-on-one. There are two attached CTL tutors:

• Nea Schramm
• Abbey Camposeo

These tutors can be reached by visiting the Center for Teaching and Learning website.

When scheduling appointments, please be sure to sign up for them no later than 10:00pm the night before you want to get help. In this way, our tutors will have time to adjust their work and schedules and can plan to meet with you.

Remember that the CTL tutors are also Knox students. Do not waste their time. Come prepared to your tutoring session, whether it is the walk-in session or a personal appointment. To “come prepared” means that you have watched the videos, done the readings, tried the assignment, and written down preliminary questions for the tutor.

It should go without saying, but I will say it anyway:

The purpose of the tutor is not to give you the answer. The purpose of the tutor is to guide you towards the correct process and a better understanding. Help them help you by being prepared.

Treat them well and they will be a valuable resource for you. Treat them poorly… well, remember that they can refuse to help you.

By the way: I have worked with both of these students. They are, without question, awesome. Even if you don’t have statistics questions, you may want to just drop by and ask them about their research.

Flunk Day

This is the Spring at Knox. Thus, we will celebrate Flunk Day some time during the term. I do not know when it will be. I will be as surprised as you when it happens. Be aware that there will probably be at least one “false alarm” during the term (a Flunk Day Ruse). Because this will be my seventh Flunk Day, I have created some guidelines to help you avoid bothering me on Flunk Day.

• If Flunk Day is held on Tuesday, I will cancel class on Wednesday.
• If Flunk Day happens on en exam day, the examination will be postponed one class day (a Friday examination will be postponed to Monday). If Flunk Day is the day before an examination, no change will be made.
• If an assignment is due on Flunk Day, the due date will be extended to the next class period.
• If you fall for a Flunk Day Ruse and miss class because of it, it will not be an excused absence. Also, I will laugh at you.

I also enjoy Flunk Day. I will (most likely) start the day in my office because I will not know it is Flunk Day until I get there. Then, I will probably return home and enjoy the day in my yard (or on my couch watching TV if the weather is not nice).

The “One of Three” Options

To ensure a breadth in using statistics, I require that you do any one of the following three groups: Hawkes, Labs, and Practicums. The following provides explanations of these three groups, giving you some insight into selecting the option that is best for you.

Hawkes Learning Assignments ( HLS )

These assignments are located in the Hawkes Learning System part of the course. These are due at 11:59pm on the due dates provided in the schedule. I transfer the Hawkes grade to Moodle after that. Late Hawkes Assignments are worth 50%. None are accepted after March 7, 2024.

Hawkes is just the start. Think of it as a key, allowing you to open the door to the discussions we have in class. It should not be the goal for you. It should be the first step on your journey to understanding statistics and statistical analysis… the first step, not the last.

The Hawkes Learning System online assignments are designed for those who need a further introduction to the statistical concepts covered in class. These problems tend to aim towards the lower levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy (see section below).

These are 10 points per chapter (certifying at the Mastery Level). I count your best ten.

Laboratory Activities ( SLA )

Laboratory activities concern important statistical concepts like sampling schemes, the Central Limit Theorem, confidence intervals, and the p-value. These SLAs consist of a “lab” (the preparatory activity) and a “post-lab” (the submitted assignment). You are to learn from the activity. The post-labs are questions that extend the lab, checking that you were able to learn what I wanted you to learn about the material. It is this post-lab that must be printed off (with the R code) and submitted to the professor at the start of class.

The Laboratory Assignments are designed for those who want to go beyond the rote steps of elementary statistical analysis. These are designed to give a deeper understanding of statistics, statistical analyses, and statistical concepts. If you are looking to continue in statistics, data science, computer science, or mathematics, these are for you. Furthermore, if you are majoring in a science, you should do these laboratory activities to ensure that you have a deeper understanding of the statistics you will be using in your studies.

These are 20 points each. I count your best five.

Practicum Assignments ( PxA )

The Hawkes Learning System is excellent in giving you practice in learning and performing the basic calculations. The R for Starters text takes it to the next level by showing you what to do when the basic assumptions of Hawkes are not met in genuine analyses. These form the foundation of your statistical knowledge.

Be aware that no textbook is the goal; textbooks are merely the first step on your path to mastery. The next step consists of the applying what you have learned to practical problems. These “practicum” activities serve as checks on your ability to actually do statistics in a non-classroom setting.

The Practicum Assignments are designed for those who want to perform statistical analyses. These assignments will give practice in doing the calculations on realistic data as well as give you practice in presenting results in a meaningful and compelling manner.

These are 20 points each. I count your best five.

The R Assignments ( TRA )

The calendar frequently provides assignments related to R. These are aimed at the lowest levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy so that you can obtain quick practice in using R.

These are three points each and are “officially” due at by the start of the class period in which they are due. Submission is done via the activity itself. Note that if the R Assignment is still available, it is still open to you for full credit.
 

Key to Success: Practice helps one learn the material better. Practice is very important. The textbook offers several examples of each type of analysis. Project Scarlet also offers practice in many of the more difficult calculations. Make good use of everything to help you better analyze data. This means YouTube will help.

Statistical Computing Activities ( SCA )

Frequently, I (or the calendar) will give an activity to do at home or during class. These “Statistical Computing Activities” serve one primary purpose: to give you hands-on practice of the topics covered in the course. Their value rests in this alone.

While these are not graded, you need to take responsibility for your education and do all of these. One cannot learn statistics without doing statistics. These give you an opportunity to “do statistics.”

Key to Success: Take these activities seriously. Make sure you do all of them. Practice always helps. Also, think about what the activity is teaching, not what it is having you do. Anyone can follow the steps. A good student will think about why those steps exist.

Quizzes and Other Things

Infrequently, I will give a quiz at the start of the class. These quizzes are designed to encourage you to properly prepare for the class. This means you read through the slide decks before class. Thus, I tend to have quizzes more frequently in the beginning of the term. This is the time you are forming habits for the term.

• If you arrive to class after I hand out the quizzes, you will not receive one. Be on time; it shows that you care about your learning.

My definition of “quiz” is very broad. If I give a small assignment that fits nowhere else in the grading scheme, it will be counted as a quiz.

• Specifically, if we have activities held during class, they will be counted here.

These “quizzes” are worth three to ten points each.

Examinations

There is a 50-point examination following the first chapter, a 100-point examination following the introduction to hypothesis testing, and a 100-point cumulative final examination during the finals period. The second examination is “soft-cumulative,” meaning it tests all previous material but focuses on the material since the previous examination.

Key to Success: You are prepared for an examination when you can do any problem without having to think through the process. An analogy is that you are ready to go to kindergarten when you can tie your shoes without thinking about it. Reflex indicates mastery. Attack the problem!

To encourage you to properly study, I will have no review sessions. When you show up for the examination, you should have already determined what will be on it.

To that end, I encourage all of you to meet up and hold weekly study sessions. While past courses have frequetly formed these based on the major field of study, some of the more successful ones have been formed by those with an opening in their Tuesday schedule.

Late Assignments

The last day to turn in any assignment is the end of the Reading Days: March 7, 2024. Except for the Hawkes Learning System assignments, I accept no late assignments without an excuse that I find acceptable. Such excuses include varsity sports, deaths, dismemberments, and zombie apocalypses (apocalypsi?). Most likely, they do not include illnesses.

It is always better to communicate with your professor once you know that there may be a problem handing in the assignment on time. I am much more flexible in such cases.

Key to Success: To be early is to be on time. Plan ahead. As emergencies can (and do) come up, you should aim to have all major assignments completed at least 48 hours before they are due. Such a safety margin allows you to focus on the emergency when it happens, thus reducing the stress in your life.

I do not count an assignment late until I start to grade it, however.

Note that college is an easy on-ramp to professional adulthood. Mistakes can be made here without you necessarily being fired (given an F). Missing two days of class will hurt your grade, but you will still have a job. In your profession, many deadlines are sacrosanct. Start treating them as such; it will make the transition much easier.

Attendance

I expect you to attend every single class period. If I’m there, you should be there. If you are not there, I expect you to accept the consequences for that decision. To make things more complicated, if you are sick (cold, flu, etc.), then you are morally responsible for those who get sick because of you.

To help when you miss class because of illness, there are videos posted for many of the lectures. You can find them here.

Key to Success: Do not wait to study for the examinations. You should be studying for them throughout the term. Every class night, review your notes from that day and check that they make sense. Every weekend, review your notes from that week and check that they all make sense. At the start of every class, look over your notes to see what I will be talking about in class. (Get off your phone!) In all cases, look for patterns and connections. If you do this, then there will be no need for cramming, because you will have actually learned the material.

What Actually Counts

So, those are all of the components to this course. Not all of it needs to count towards your grade, however. Here is a list of the planned assignments for the course. Please download it, print it off, add the information to your calendar, etc.

Assignment Calendar, Winter 2024

Note that these are the planned assignments. Quizzes and small assignments are not listed.

Overall Course Grade

I calculate your percent in the course by adding all of the points you earned during the semester and dividing by the total number of points that you could have earned. This percentage is then used to determine your final letter grade for the course. I do not round.

Should you ask me what your grade is, or what you need on the final to get a _________ (whichever the grade), I will suggest you calculate it for yourself. You have the mathematical skills to do so; they are a prerequisite for the course.

By the way: If you have the highest score in the course, and if your score is greater than 97%, then I will award you an A+.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

To better understand the levels of learning, it is helpful to learn a bit about Bloom’s Taxonomy. You may not appreciate it until you do poorly on an examination, but you should be very familiar with it.

Look through it to check the level you were expected to achieve in high school. In college, you need to hit all levels. The higher you get, the better you have mastered the material. For many of you, this is your only chance to master the elementary levels of statistics. Take advantage of me for your edification.

Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is […] the first law of Equivalent Exchange.

Here is a list of the verbs associated with each level. Use them to ensure that you are operating at the college level.

Source: Fractus Learning

Finally, there is an old adage that one never knows more than when teaching. That means you will never understand the material better than when you can teach it to others. You will want to achieve that level. It takes a lot of time, but the activities and labs push you to achieve the higher levels of mastery. Take advantage of them; you are paying for them.

The Support Videos

Here are some videos that will help you better understand what it means to be a successful adult (college student). They encourage you to think about thinking. “Blowing these off” suggests that you do not care about mastery. I encourage you to watch these over the first couple of weeks of the course, not all at once. There is some wisdom in these videos.

• Scientifically Proven Best Ways to Study. What is it makes learning more effective? This video looks at some scientifically-proven methods. Some methods are obvious (exercise and avoiding cramming) others may be surprising (testing and sleeping).
  
  Link: Scientifically Proven Best Ways to Study
  [5:38]
• Marty Lobdell. If you spend hours and hours of studying, without improving your grades, or information retention, then learn how to study smart by Marty Lobdell. Lobdell taught Psychology at Pierce College in Washington State for 40 years. During Lobdell’s career, he has taught tens of thousands of students and he wants students to succeed. After watching students cram for eight hours or more for a test without any improvement, Lobdell has developed a studying technique that helps the brain retain the information that you are studying in this video.
  
  Link: Study Less, Study Smart
  [59:56]
• Matt Walker. Sleep is your life-support system and Mother Nature’s best effort yet at immortality, says sleep scientist Matt Walker. In this deep dive into the science of slumber, Walker shares the wonderfully good things that happen when you get sleep — and the alarmingly bad things that happen when you don’t, for both your brain and body. Learn more about sleep’s impact on your learning, memory, immune system and even your genetic code — as well as some helpful tips for getting some shut-eye.
  
  Link: Sleep is Your Superpower
  [19:09]
• Lera Boroditsky. There are about 7,000 languages spoken around the world — and they all have different sounds, vocabularies and structures. But do they shape the way we think? Cognitive scientist Lera Boroditsky shares examples of language — from an Aboriginal community in Australia that uses cardinal directions instead of left and right to the multiple words for blue in Russian — that suggest the answer is a resounding yes. “The beauty of linguistic diversity is that it reveals to us just how ingenious and how flexible the human mind is,” Boroditsky says. “Human minds have invented not one cognitive universe, but 7,000.”
  
  Link: How Language Shapes the Way We Think
  [14:03]

By the way… One of the most important things you can do to ensure your success in a course is to read — and understand — the entire syllabus. To help encourage you to gain proper habits in college, I will give five points of extra credit for those who email me a meme that makes me smile. Since I am easily amused, this should be an easy five points for you. I like cats and dogs and beavers and clever wordplay. This must be done by the end of the first Sunday of class (January 7, 2024).