Course Syllabus

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Řurità Kràlovstvì

Linear Models; Winter 2024; Syllabus

 

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Course Information

The major purpose of this course is to explore linear models and problems that can be solved using them. In short, we will repeatedly examine the matrix equation

Y = XB + E

to gain new insights into modeling the world around us.

Course Catalog Description

This course develops further the ideas and techniques that were introduced in STAT 200 relative to regression modeling and experimental design, understood as instances of a matrix linear model. In addition, the student becomes familiar with at least one leading statistical package for performing the intensive calculations necessary to analyze data. Topics include linear, non-linear, and multiple regression, model-building with both quantitative and qualitative variables, model-checking, logistic regression, experimental design principles, ANOVA for one-, two-, and multiple factor experiments, and multiple comparisons.

Prerequisites:

Note that I assume you know the material from these courses. That is what it means for a course to be a prerequisite. You may want to spend some time before the end of the second week reviewing your notes from those courses. Doing so will make this course easier.

Course Objectives

[textbook cover] By the end of this course, you should

  1. know the logic behind linear models;
  2. use different definitions of “best” to model relationships;
  3. use appropriate models to reflect the experimental design;
  4. model dependent variables that are numeric, discrete, dichotomous, and categorical;
  5. understand the nomenclature of experimental design;
  6. perform and present novel research; and
  7. use the R Statistical Environment to perform statistical analyses.

Required Materials

Textbook:

Ole J. Forsberg. Linear Models and Řurità Kràlovstvì, version 0.704442ζ. ©2023.

This is the textbook for the course. Note that its price is zero. There are advantages and disadvantages of such a case. The advantage is that you are able to download and print a version of your textbook. The disadvantage is that you are not paying for the book’s editing by a professional editor. Thus, the book is rather rough.

Current research suggests that physical books help with learning more than do eBooks. Thus, while the physical textbook costs money, you need to determine if you will gain sufficiently more education from its purchase. This is a fundamental tension in education: Current cost vs. future benefit.
 

Statistics:

[R Icon] For analyses, you will need to have access to a version of the R Statistical Environment. I suggest having it installed on your laptop. The reason for selecting this particular statistical environment is four-fold:

  • it is free (in terms of cost);
  • it is free (in terms of being able to modify it);
  • it forces you to think through your analysis; and
  • it is objectively easier to work with than other options meeting these three requirements.

The R script will be your life-line to understanding your analysis (both me and you). Be sure to treat your script as an outline of the logic of your analysis. Be able to read it and to interpret it. Being able to write an essay will be helpful here.
 

Presentation:

[overleaf icon] The typesetting program we will use is the gold-standard in this field — and several others: LaTeX. This program can either be downloaded to your computer or used online at Overleaf. Please prepare yourself. We will spend part of a class going over LaTeX. However, you will need to use your college skills to make the most of your opportunities.

There are a couple of purposes for me requiring you to use LaTeX. The first is that it is the lingua franca of computer science and engineering and law and linguistics and mathematics and statistics etc. [Additionally, it is used in fields associated with these disciplines to add gravitas to the work.]

The second is that it forces you to think about your work as a whole. It separates the work from its presentation. This ensures you think about it from two different perspectives: first, from the content; second, from the presentation. No matter how original and useful the idea, if others do not understand it then it is useless. No matter how wonderful things look, if the idea is useless then it adds nothing to the conversation. Be aware of both aspects of your message.

Without question, education is an investment in yourself.


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

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.

As with most courses at this college, you should be prepared to spend 15 hours per week on the coursework for this class. That includes time in class and time outside class. Since you spend 4:40 in class, you should be willing to spend 10:20 outside class in preparing for class, working on homework, reviewing notes, helping each other, determining how this material fits into your life expericences (both past and future), and everything else associated with the course.

Key to Success: You are a full-time student. That means two things. First, you need to spend 40 hours per week on your studies (full-time part). Second, you need to dedicate yourself to learning (student part).

Note that being an A-student is very difficult. It requires you to be a success as a student. Just because you have received A grades in the past does not mean you are an A-student. Being a good student requires a specific set of skills that you may not have. Working on those skills will help will help you in life, since learning is a life-long endeavor. Receiving A grades does not ensure you are an A-student. Similarly, receiving B-(or less)-grades does not label you as not-an-A-student. Being a “student” requires you to exercise a set of intellectual muscles that are only indirectly tested in your college classes— and your career.

Key to Success: Whilst this course focuses on statistics, it actually exists to emphasize your learning. This requires you to realize that college is not about the final grade; it is about preparing you for the future. This means you will be frustrated at times… learn from it. This means you will be struggling at times… figure out how to achieve your goals. This means you will be failing at times… accept that life is tough and that the goal of success requires overcoming barriers.

Academic Integrity (honor)

[Academic Honor @Knox] 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, and 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 (you), and the world (you).

Please read through the Knox College Honor System to familiarize yourself with what constitutes a violation. Ultimately, this has little to do with cheating. It has everything to do with understanding what it actually means to learn and to represent yourself academically. Your personal value has not increased because of your grades. It increased because of your learning.

To cheat is to claim two things about yourself: You have given up on yourself; and You are only focused on today and not the future.

Specifically, for this class:

  • The in-class examinations must entirely be done by you with absolutely no help (no calculator, notes, people, etc.); you are allowed only the testing sheet and a pen or pencil — nothing else.
  • The take-home examinations must entirely be done by you with absolutely no non-you help. You are allowed only the testing sheet, a word processing program (e.g. Word), a spreadsheet program (e.g. Excel), and R statistical environment— nothing else.
  • The quizzes may (or may not) allow you to use your notes. I will make that announcement at the start of the quiz.
  • The project, ultimately, is an individual activity. The project reflects your ability to bring together your knowledge and the material you are able to amass throughout the course. Copying, without appropriate citation and reference, is explicitly proscribed. My questions during the course — especially during your presentation — serve as an indicator of your understanding of the material you present.
  • For the other assignments, I thoroughly expect you to work with others. This means you should discuss your work with your fellow classmates, but writing the solutions needs to be done alone. Do not copy. If you do, then you are wasting your life.

Office of Disability Support Services (odss)

[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.

Red Room and Writing Tutoring ( ctl )

[ctl] Needing 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 Red Room, Seymour Library, 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.


For this class our writing tutor is:

 

Subject Tutors. Got a kink in your coding or want to test out a solution to that vexing homework problem? 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.

There are two Red Room Study areas: “Red Room” and “Red Room SMC.” Red Room SMC is intended to support those classes taught in SMC and is located in the Atrium of SMC, 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.

You can also get help from a subject tutor by scheduling an appointment to meet one-on-one with a tutor (especially those attached to the course). 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.


Specifically, for this class our subject tutor is:

 

Furthermore, it is important to make connections in the class — and with your professor. Other reasons to meet with your professor during office hours include:

Grading Information

Your grade for this course depends on how well you meet the requirements set forth in the syllabus. The following section provides information about the various grade inputs. All times are Galesburg, IL, time (CT).

Attendance

I expect you to be there for each and every class period. I do not grade attendance. You are responsible for what you miss. If you want a really good way to fail, stop coming to class.

Key to Success: If you want to succeed, you will be in class early. Spend the time before class looking over your notes from the readings you did. This will help you understand what the professor will be talking about in class on that day.

Homework Assignments (hwk)

These are assigned throughout the term. Make sure you start them as soon as you are able. When you get to the real world, your boss will not gauge the assignment based on what s/he has taught you; that is, your boss will base the assignment based on what s/he needs. Now is the time to step up to practice those skills.

In-Class Quizzes

I may infrequently give quizzes in class covering the assigned readings. These will take the first few minutes of the class. I design these to ensure that you have obtained a basic understanding from the readings and have understood previous assignments, readings, lectures, and activities. Be on time, because these cannot be replaced.

Research Project (proj)

There will be a single project in this course worth 200 points. It will cover a much larger swath of the material than any single homework assignment, testing if you can perform the entire statistical analysis process, from start to finish. It is broken into six parts. Here are the parts and their values:

1. Research Question 10 points
2. Thesis Statement 20 points
3. Data Collected 30 points
4. Full-Sentence Outline 30 points
5. Research Presentation 30 points
6. Final Paper 80 points

Examinations

There are intra-term examinations at the end of each of Part O, Part I, and Part II. The first two are worth 50 points; the third, 100 points. All intra-term examinations are weakly cumulative (meaning that the current topic is emphasized, but previous one are necessary background information). Expect the first examination to be entirely “in-class.” The other two should have an “in-class” and a take-home part.

This course has one final examination (100 points). It is fully cumulative, covering all material in this course. It is entirely take-home, which will be given to you the final week of classes and due at the end of our assigned final examination period.

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.

To encourage you to properly study for all examinations, I will have no review sessions (feel free to drop by my office hours and discuss statistics, however). When you show up for the examination, you should have already determined what will be on it. Pay attention to what is said in class— especially to the emphasis placed on them.

This policy also encourages you to form study (a.k.a. research) groups to better understand the material. Since statistics is a discipline that depends on both the individual and the group, this forces you to form bonds and to learn from others and to help others and to work together to better understand statistics.

Key to Success: Start studying for the final on the first day of classes. Briefly review the current day’s every evening; the current week’s each weekend. Keep working with the material. If you are cramming, you are losing. Remember, you should be willing to spend 15 hours a week on this course. That is what it means to be a “full time” student.

By the way: If you see a take-home exam as an opportunity to slack off and not study, then your punishment is time and future understanding. You will spend a lot more time on the examination than you should… and you will understand less.

Late Assignments

The last day to turn in any late assignment is the last day of classes – March 7, 2024. I accept no late assignments without an excuse that I find acceptable. Such excuses include varsity sports, deaths, dismemberments, and zombie apocalypses.

Note that an assignment is not technically late until I start grading them. Thus, if you submit an assignment before I start grading, I will not count it late.

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 assignments completed at least 24 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.

What Counts

As with all courses in college, there are two types of assignments: those that offer points towards the grade and those that do not. Be clear that all assignments offer understanding of the material.

The following is a link to the assignments that offer points towards your grade in this course.

The “What Counts” Spreadsheet

In addition to it being a list, it also provides a starting and an ending point for when you are able (should be able) to work on the material in the assignment. Make sure you use this document appropriately.

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.

A-90 – 93%   A 93% and above     
B-80 – 83%   B 83 – 87%   B+87 – 90%
C-70 – 73%   C 73 – 77%   C+77 – 80%
D-60 – 63%   D 63 – 67%   D+67 – 70%
  Fbelow 60%  

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 should have the skills to do so.

The student with the highest score will receive the A+ for the course… as long as their score is above 97%.

What it Means to Learn in College

Remember that college is not high school. Strive for a deeper understanding. Bloom’s Taxonomy is helpful here. You may not appreciate it until you do poorly on an examination, but you should be very familiar with it.

[bloom’s pyramid]

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.

[bloom’s verbs]

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.

Life tests you first, then gives you the lesson.

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” shows either that you do not care about mastery or that you think I do not know what I am doing.

So, sit back and watch these videos seriously. Do not watch them all at once. Spread them out over the first couple of weeks. Doing this will help you learn from the 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).

Course Topic Overview

[course calendar icon] The actual schedule can be downloaded from the STAT 225 online calendar page. You should make sure the assignments are moved to your personal calendar or planner. Remember that one of the goals of this class is to teach you how to be a better student.

Your grade at the end of the course will reflect how well you were a student. Don’t believe otherwise. Each of you has the ability to earn an A in this course. Please do so; it makes my life (and yours) easier.

Brief Topic Schedule

Here is a general overview of the course: