ECO 138Economic Reasoning Using Statistics Fall 2017

Syllabus

Dr. Adrienne Ohler

E-mail:

Office Hours: Mon. & Wed. 3:30 -5:30 PMand by Appointment

PREREQUISITES: MAT 120 or MAT 130 or MAT 145

CLASS WEBSITE: (gradebook,supplemental videos)

HOMEWORK & TEST WEBSITE: tests)

REQUIRED TEXT: Statistics for Managers 8th Ed., by David M. Levine, David F. Stephan, and Kathryn Szabat, Pearson Education, Inc.

REQUIRED SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS: MyLab/Masteringby Pearson

Register at:

CourseID: ohler09133

How to Enroll

To enroll in this course, you need to have a:

  • Student access code, a valid credit card, or a PayPal account– Students get an access code with a new book purchase or by buying the code separately in a student access kit/card at the campus bookstore. Students can also buy access to a course online with a credit card or PayPal account while they are enrolling.
  • Important: The student access code is nontransferable and can be used only once.
  • Course ID –ohler09133
  • Email address – Your registration and enrollment confirmation will be sent to this email address. This address is also available to the instructor, for course-based communications.

See the class handout for more detailed instructions.

The homework website will be used to post homework assignments, which the student will solve and submit online. In addition, the instructor highly encourages students to take full advantage of learning features available in the homework website (see the MyStatLab learning aids video at: registration at other helpful hints and tips at: To access the homework website you will need to follow the enrollment instructions below

ATTENDANCE POLICY: Attendance is required and affects your grade. Attendance is critically important because it helps you to practice and learn statistics.

TIME REQUIREMENTS: For many of you, this will be one of THE hardest classes you take in college. Reading the book, watching instructional videos, and completing homeworks are critically important because it helps you to practice and learn statistics. As such, this class is a 3 credit class, and you should expect to spend at least 9 hours each week working on activities related to this course, not including lecture time.

ASSESSMENT: Your grade in the course will be based on your homework and exam grades. Your grade should reflect your understanding of economic reasoning using statistics. Homeworksare meant to help you learn, but most of your understanding is revealed through the exams as each are timed. AND you will feel constrained by the time limit of the Exam.

COURSE GRADE:

Attendance 2%

Homework10%

Quizzes 10%

Book Chapter Review 6%

First Exam 18%

Second Exam18%

Third Exam18%

Fourth Exam18%

Final Exam (cumulative) replaces your lowest midterm grade. Taking the final cannot hurt your grade.

GRADING SCALE: The grading scale for thecourse is:

A range:90-100%

B range:80-89.9%

C range: 70-79.9%

D range: 60-69.9%

F range:equal to or less than 59.9%

I. Class Attendance: Attendance is required and is taken every class session. Your class attendance grade is calculated as a percentage of the student with the highest attendance record. For example, if the student with the highest attendance made it to class 21 out of 23 sessions, his/her grade would be 21/21*100=100%. If you only made it to class 20 times, your grade would be 20/21*100=95.24%.

II. Quizzes: This is an opportunity for you to build confidence in your statistical knowledge and show off your skills. Quizzes should be a signal to yourself of how much you still need to practice the homeworks. Quizzes are like the ‘regular season’ and tests are like the ‘play-offs’. You can play badly all season long and still do well during the play-offs, it’s just really rare.

You will take 23 quizzes throughout the semesters. Only 20 count toward your final grade. The lowest quizzes score is dropped. Quizzes are open book/open note. You are encouraged to ask me or your classmates questions. NO MAKE-UP QUIZZES WILL BE ALLOWED.

III. Homeworks: Like sports, hobbies, or foreign languages, learning statistics require lots of practice to master. If you do not practice your statistics by doing the homeworks, you will NOT do well on the exams.

  1. You will complete 12 homework assignments throughout the course. Only 10 count toward your final grade. The lowest 2 homework scores are dropped.
  2. MyStatLab gives you access to tools that “Help Me Solve This” problem.
  3. The online problems allow you to re-attempt problems a maximum of 99 tries.
  4. You can always review past homeworks to study for the exams.
  5. NO MAKE-UP HOMEWORKS WILL BE ALLOWED.

IV. Exams: You will take 4 exams and a cumulative final. Only your 4 highest scores count toward your final grade. The lowest exam score is dropped.

  1. Each exam will consist of a combination of multiple-choice questions and short-answer problems that require the use of graphical and algebraic analysis.
  2. You will feel time constrained under these time limits, so practicing the homeworks is important.
  3. NO MAKE-UP EXAMS WILL BE GIVEN unless arrangements have been made with me prior to the regularly scheduled exam.

V. Book Chapter Review: You will complete a 2-3page book chapter review. This assignment is due at the end of semester, when you have more fully developed your understanding of statistics and are ability to critique analysis. You will read and review on chapter from one of the following books:

1. The Drunkard’s Walk by Leonard Mlodinow

2. How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff

3. Chances are… Adventures in Probability by Michael Kaplan and Ellen Kaplan

4. The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver

Books are available on reserve in the library for the whole semester. More information will be given at the end of the semester regarding the assignment’s rubric.

VI. Study Plan: MyStatLab provides additional questions to help prepare you for the exams. Answering these questions will not count toward your grade, but is highly recommended. There is a very strong correlation between a student’s exam score and how many questions they answer on the study plan. That is, students who spend a lot of time on the study plan tend to do better on the exam.

EXTRA CREDIT: No additional extra credit will be offered. Please don’t ask.

POLICY ON CELL PHONES AND OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES: Cell phones must be turned off beforeyou enter the classroom. I will not tolerate the use of cell phones, e.g., voice or text messaging, during class under anycircumstances.

Student Access and Accommodation Services: Reasonable accommodations are available for students who have a documented disability. Please notify the instructor the first week of class of any accommodations needed for the course. Late notification may cause the requested accommodations to not be available. Any student needing to arrange a reasonable accommodation for a documented disability and/or medical/mental health condition should contact Student Access and Accommodation Services at 350 Fell Hall, 309-438-5853, or visit

Academic Honesty:

Cheating, plagiarism, collusion, abuse of resource materials, and their consequences are defined and described in ISU Undergraduate Catalog 2017-2018, Section: University Policies Article: Academic Dishonesty (Page 28) and Code of Student Conducts under VI.A.1 Academic Dishonesty.

Disclaimer:

This syllabus is subject to change to facilitate instructional and/or student needs.

Addressing Challenges:

Some of the challenges include these:

  • Many statistical ideas and rules are complex, difficult, and/or counterintuitive. You are going to have to work hard in learning statistics.
  • Many students have difficulty with the underlying mathematics (such as fractions, decimals, and algebraic formulas), and that difficulty interferes with learning the related statistical content.
  • The language used in statistics includes many familiar words but with different or more precise meanings than students use. For example: normal, random, sample, average, variable, and distribution are introduced to students as new vocabulary words with statistical definitions, yet students often resort to their own familiar interpretations of these terms.
  • Students equate statistics with mathematics and expect the focus to be on numbers, computations, and one right answer. They are uncomfortable with the messiness of data, the different possible interpretations based on different assumptions, and the extensive use of writing and communication skills.

COURSE GOAL AND OBJECTIVES:

The course objectives are to learn the basic ideas and tools behind statistics and probability theory, develop an understanding of statistical thinking, apply the basic statistical techniques, and accurately interpret results. In line with the goals of the General Education Program, students will have gained

  1. intellectual and practical skills, allowing them to
  1. make informed judgments
  2. analyze data to examine research questions and test hypotheses
  3. report information effectively and responsibly
  1. personal and social responsibility, allowing them to
  1. demonstrate the ability to think reflectively
  1. integrative and applied learning, allowing them to
  2. identify and solve problems
  3. transfer learning to novel situations
  4. work effectively in teams

COURSE SCHEDULE

Week / Date / Material / Action Items
1 / M 8/21 / How to Use MyStatLab Questions
FTF.1-4 – Intro to Statistics & Excel / Quiz 1
W 8/23 / Chapter 1.1 - Categorical vs. Quantitative Data
Chapter 2.1 & 2.3 – Describing Categorical Variables / Quiz 2
2 / M
8/28 / Chapter 2.2 & 2.4 – Describing Quantitative Variables / Quiz 3
HW1 –due (8/29) by 11:59pm
W 8/30 / Chapter 3.1 & 3.2 – Comparing distributions using histograms
Chapter 3.3 – Comparing distributions using boxplots / Quiz 4
3 / M
9/4 / No Class – Labor Day / HW2–due (9/5) by 11:59pm
W
9/6 / Chapter 6.2 – The z-score: Why standard deviation is important! / Quiz 5
4 / M
9/11 / Chapter 6.3 – Evaluating Normality / Quiz 6
HW3–due (9/12) by 11:59pm
W
9/13 / Exam #1
5 / M
9/18 / Chapter 4.1 – Basic Probability Concepts / Quiz 7
HW 4–due (9/19) by 11:59pm
W 9/20 / Chapter 4.2 – Conditional Probability / Quiz 8
6 / M
9/25 / Chapter 5.1 – Expected Value, and Standard Deviation of R.V.s / Quiz 9
HW5–due (9/26) by 11:59pm
W
9/27 / Chapter 5.1 - Expected Value, and Standard Deviation of R.V.s / Quiz 10
7 / M
10/2 / Chapter 5.1 - Expected Value, and Standard Deviation of R.V.s / Quiz 11
HW6–due (10/3) by 11:59pm
W
10/4 / Chapter 6.2 – Revisiting Normality / Quiz 12
8 / M
10/9 / Exam #2
W
10/11 / Chapter 7.1 & 7.3 – Sampling Distribution of Proportions / Quiz 13
9 / M
10/16 / Chapter 7.1 & 7.3 – Sampling Distribution of Proportions / Quiz 14
HW7–due (10/17) by 11:59pm
W
10/18 / Chapter 8.3 & 8.4 – Confidence Intervals for Proportions & Sample Size / Quiz 15
10 / M
10/23 / Chapter 9.1 – Hypothesis Testing / Quiz 16
HW8–due (10/24) by 11:59pm
W 10/25 / Chapter 9.3 & 9.4 – Hypothesis Testing for Proportions / Quiz 17
11 / M 10/30 / Chapter 10.3 – Comparing two proportions / Quiz 18
HW9–due (10/31) by 11:59pm
W 11/1 / Exam #3
12 / M 11/6 / Chapter 7.1 & 7.2 – Sampling Distribution of Means / Quiz 19
HW10–due (11/7) by 11:59pm
W 11/8 / Chapter 8.1 & 8.2 & 8.4 – Confidence Intervals of Means & Sample Size / Quiz 20
13 / M 11/13 / Chapter 9.1 – Hypothesis Testing / Quiz 21
HW11–due (11/14) by 11:59pm
W 11/15 / Chapter 9.2 & 9.3 & 9.5 – Hypothesis Testing for Mean / Quiz 22
14 / M 11/20 / Thanksgiving
W 11/22 / Thanksgiving
15 / M 11/27 / Chapter 10.1 – Comparing two means / Quiz 23
HW12–due (11/28) by 11:59pm
W 11/29 / Exam #4
16 / M 12/4 / Success Week
W 12/6 / Success Week / Book Chapter Review due
TBD / Cumulative Final Exam / Optional Comprehensive
Exam