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SPPA 6190 Syllabus and Course Outline, Hillenbrand, Fall 2012
SPPA 6190
Quantitative Methods
I. Text
Recommended: Concepts and Applications of Inferential Statistics, Richard Lowry. This is a free (good price, eh?) online text. This is not required, and I have not used this text in the past, but take a look at it. It is a very well written book that covers most of what we’ll be talking about and a great deal more. A few of the concepts are explained in way that’s a little different from how I will cover them, but mostly it’s pretty similar. You can find the text here:
http://faculty.vassar.edu/lowry/webtext.html
II. Grading
o Exam 1 (Descriptive Statistics): 65%
o Exam 2 (Inferential Statistics): 35%
[final grade = (exam1*0.65) + (exam2*0.35)]
A. Letter grades. Assignment of letter grades to scores will occur using something fairly close to the scheme shown below. Adjustments might be made to this scheme depending on the exact distribution of grades in the class.
94 - 100: A
89 - 93: BA
82 - 88: B
78 - 81: CB
70 - 77: C
66 - 69: D
below 66: E
B. Exams. Exams will be a combination of short answer, short essay, definitions, statistics problems, drawing and possibly labeling graphs, multiple choice, and maybe some matching. The date for the exam 1 will be announced one week in advance. The date for the final is published in the schedule of classes.
III. Assignments. There will be at least one required assignment (see “Correlation Assignment” on http://homepages.wmich.edu/~hillenbr/619.html), and there may be others. Due dates will be announced at the time the assignment is given. Assignments will be graded pass/fail, but assignments must be turned in. A half of a letter grade will be deducted from your final grade if an assignment is not turned in, or if it is turned in more than a week late; two points will be deducted from the final grade for assignments that are turned in one day to one week late. Assignments that are turned in more than one week past the due date will not be accepted. Assignments are due at class time on the appropriate date.
IV. Homework exercises. There are quite a few exercises on my web page for this course (see below). Solutions and, in some cases, explanations are attached to each set of exercises. The exercises do not have to be turned in, but if you have problems with them please see me. I’ll try my best to give you a reminder to do these exercises when the time comes, but it’s pretty obvious, and you don’t need to wait for me. When we finish covering z scores, do the z score problems; after we cover the standard error of estimate, do the standard error of estimate problems.
V. Office: CHHS 4468
Phone: 387-8066
Office Hours: T-Th, 3:30 - 4:30, M after class
(It’s best to email me to set up an appointment, even during my office hours.)
Web page: http://hompages.wmich.edu/~hillenbr
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SPPA 6190 Syllabus and Course Outline, Hillenbrand, Fall 2012
Web page for 6190: http://homepages.wmich.edu/~hillenbr/619.html
VI. Keeping up
This class meets just once a week. This is a great convenience for those of you who have a long drive, but it’s also awkward in one very important way – even if you have paid attention, taken good notes, and followed along with the previous lecture, there is quite a bit of time for those ideas to leak out of your head. This is a big problem for any course, but especially the very sequential material we will be covering in this class. By sequential I mean that it is very hard to understand idea 5 if you only half remember idea 4 on which it is based. Each week I will give a brief review of some of the concepts that were covered in the previous lecture, but it’s obvious that I cannot go through the entire lecture. It is essential that you take time to review your notes from the previous lecture on the day of or day before our meeting. This should only take you about 30 minutes or so. The workload for this course is not heavy so you should have plenty of time to fit that into your schedule. Also, if you are having any trouble following along, I strongly recommend that you take some time to copy over your notes.
VII. Email
A. From time to time I’ll communicate with you by email. You’ll need to get in the habit of checking your email regularly. Nearly all of you already are. The only email address that I have for you is your official WMU account. I don’t have a way to substitute a personal email address.
B. Every now and then a class will have to be cancelled, usually because of poor weather, but occasionally other things come up. Especially for those of you who have a fairly long drive, check your email before you head out.
C. I’m happy to take questions by email as long as it’s something that can be answered in a sentence or two. I just don’t have time to write essays, so I may ask you to make an appointment, or maybe contact me by phone.
D. I won’t respond to questions on the day or weekend prior to an exam. This is a brand new issue and it’s beginning to be a real problem.
VIII. Knowledge and Skills
This course will contribute to the development of your knowledge and skills related to KASA Standard III-F: Knowledge of processes used in research and the integration of research principles into evidence-based clinical practice, as well as KASA Standard III-A: knowledge of the principles of mathematics. NOTE: It is important to recognize that ASHA Academic Accreditation standards are now based upon students demonstrating competencies across a wide range of areas rather than simply completing a course sequence successfully. Therefore, it is conceivable that a student could receive a passing grade in a course, but fail to demonstrate competency across all of the topics covered in that course. If you fail to demonstrate competencies in a particular area through organized class activities (tests & assignments), you may have to complete additional work (i.e. remediation) in that area before a passing grade can be assigned.
IX. Academic honesty, diversity, religious observance, and student disabilities
You are responsible for making yourself aware of and understanding the policies and procedures in the Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogs that pertain to Academic Honesty. These policies include cheating, fabrication, falsification and forgery, multiple submission, plagiarism, complicity and computer misuse. [The policies can be found at http://catalog.wmich.edu under Academic Policies, Student Rights and Responsibilities.] If there is reason to believe you have been involved in academic dishonesty, you will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. You will be given the opportunity to review the charge(s). If you believe you are not responsible, you will have the opportunity for a hearing. You should consult with your instructor if you are uncertain about an issue of academic honesty prior to the submission of an assignment or test.
For information on the Code of Honor, and general academic policies on such issues as diversity, religious observance, and student disabilities, see http://osc.wmich.edu and www.wmich.edu/registrar.
SPPA 6190
Quantitative Methods
Course Outline
I. Overview: Course Content and Course Objectives
II. Statistics
A. measurement scales
B. graphing and frequency distributions
C. descriptive statistics
1. central tendency
2. variability
3. relative standing
4. the standard normal distribution
5. basic assumptions of parametric statistics
6. correlation and regression
7. explained and unexplained variance
III. Reliability and Validity
A. reliability vs. validity
B. internal vs. external validity
C. factors that influence internal and external validity
IV. Inferential Statistics
A. The z test: Comparing a sample with a population
B. The t test: Comparing two samples
C. The F test (ANOVA): Comparing many samples