MATH 1342, Mary Parker, Spring 2013 page 1 of 13

First-Day Handout for Students

MATH 1342 Elementary Statistics

Spring 2013

Synonym and Section: 1342.014
(23942)
Time: MW 1:20 – 2:50 pm
Classroom: NRG 2245
Instructor: Dr. Mary Parker
Office Number: NRG 2147
Office Phone: 223-4846
(fax 223-4641)
Email:
Web: / Office Hours: MW 8:00– 8:55 a.m.
MW 10:20 – 11:45 a.m.
MW 2:50 – 3:05 p.m.
By appointment: Email to request an appointment at least a day in advance. Please suggest some choice of times.
(StatsPortal)
(Blackboard Discussion Board and main Gradebook.)

Time required: As are most college courses, this course is designed to require about 2 to 3 hours of productive work outside of class for every hour in class. So you should plan to spend about 6-9 hours of productive work on the course outside of class each week. One of my responsibilities is to provide you with enough structure and guidance that you can use those 6-9 hours each week productively.

I hope that you find the particular mix of activities I assign to be helpful. If you want more guidance, or have comments about how you think I should change these, I’d be happy to talk with you in my office, but not in class. (It is helpful to most students to use class time to discuss statistics, not the course policies!) I want to help you learn the material in the course and not waste your time.

Read on through the handout to find the description of the activities and the grading policy and some assignments. Find the quiz assignments and the homework assignments for chapters not included here in Blackboard.

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Course Description: A first course in statistics for students in business; nursing; allied health; or the social, physical, or behavioral sciences; or for any student requiring knowledge of the fundamental procedures for data organization and analysis. Topics include frequency distributions, graphing, measures of location and variation, the binomial and normal distributions, z-scores, t-test, chi-square test, F-test, hypothesis testing, analysis of variance, regression, and correlation. Skills: S Prerequisites: A satisfactory score on the ACC Mathematics Assessment Test. A second option is an appropriate secondary school course (Algebra II) and completion of any TSI-mandated mathematics remediation.

Note: TexasStateUniversity recently changed their Transfer Guide to show that MATH 1342 is no longer considered equivalent to their QMST 2333 (Quantitative Methods). ACC’s BUSG 2371 is the correct equivalent to that course, which is needed for most majors in business.

Statement of Prerequisite Requirements: Students who satisfied the TSI math requirement by passing the THEA, COMPASS, or ASSET, or by ACC courses have satisfied the math prerequisite requirement for this course. Students should also have college-level reading skills. A student who is exempt from TSI or satisfied the TSI requirement in another way must also pass one of those tests unless she has passed high school Algebra II to satisfy the prerequisite. MATD 0385 is specifically designed to prepare students for 1332, 1333, and 1342.

Students in MATH 1342 will be expected to:

  1. understand material from the text after reading it.

2. do homework using fairly complicated formulas after seeing one example

3. do some, but not much, algebraic manipulation of formulas

Required Materials:

  • Access to the textbook: The Basic Practice of Statistics, 6h ed., by David S. Moore
  • StatTutor. Video tutorials for each chapter, in segments of about 2 minutes to 7 minutes.
  • Statistical Applets, for students to explore the concepts.
  • Videos: of demos/mini-lectures (StatClips); of examples (StatClips); statistics in the real world (SnapShots)
  • Learning Curve. This is an adaptive study tool, by chapter, which helps to build your understanding of concepts through questioning. Wrong answers don’t deduct points from your score; they just lead to suggestions for study and an additional question or two on that idea as you work toward the target score.And when you reach the target score, you have a perfect grade on this activity!
  • Student Study Guide, with expanded solutions (more than in the back of the book) for about one-quarter of the odd-numbered exercises.
  • Minitab Manual, with instructions and screenshots solving examples like those in our text, matching it chapter by chapter.
  • Pretests and Posttests for each chapter which you can use to guide your reading/working.
  • Crunch-It 2.0 software, which is similar to Minitab. Use it to do some statistical analyses at home.

Options for purchasing the required materials:

  1. StatsPortal alone includes all these materials. It includes access to an electronic version of the book, which you can use while you are online, and all the other required materials, which are in StatsPortal.
    Purchase StatsPortal directly from for about $84 (Jan 2013) and there is a refund period. (Read from the link at the end of the web page.)
    Purchase from the ACC bookstore ( ISBN 9781429280020) for about $96 (Jan. 2013). No refunds from bookstores on software.
  2. Package including a folder with an access code for StatsPortal and a paper copy of the text, hole-punched, so that you can put it in a binder. The cost for this package (Jan 2013) is $116.45 from the ACC bookstore and $109.39 from Amazon (July 2012). ISBN 9781464111259. There are no refunds from the bookstores on opened packages.
  3. Separately purchase a book and StatsPortal. Minimum cost: about $170 if you find a used book.
  4. Separately purchase an electronic book and StatsPortal. Minimum cost: about $150.
  5. Rent a book and purchase StatsPortal. Minimum cost: about $150.

Required Technology: (More information –

  1. Scientific calculator
  2. Access to MINITAB computer software. You are not required to buy/rent this. Use it in the math labs, IRT labs, and the Learning Labs.
    Data for our text:
  3. Internet access to use the material in StatsPortal. Internet access is provided in several computer labs at ACC.

Instructional Methodology: This course is taught in the classroom as a lecture/discussion course.

Course Rationale: Students will learn to

  1. Determine the aspects of a question, if any, for which statistics can provide relevant information.
  2. Analyze statistical studies, particularly regarding appropriate sampling and experimental design.
  3. Select and use appropriate statistical analyses to get useful information from data.
  4. Communicate knowledge using standard statistical language and also interpret it in non-technical language.

This course meets the Core Curriculum requirement in mathematics. It meets the requirement for an introductory statistics course for students in many majors such as business, health sciences, and social sciences.

Course Objectives/Learning Outcomes:

Course Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of this course, students will:

1. Explain the use of data collection and statistics as tools to reach reasonable conclusions.

2. Recognize, examine, and interpret the basic principles of describing and presenting data.

3. Compute and interpret empirical and theoretical probabilities.

4. Explain the role of probability in statistics.

5. Examine, analyze, and compare various sampling distributions for both discrete and continuous random variables.

6. Describe and compute confidence intervals.

7. Solve linear regression and correlation problems.

8. Perform hypothesis testing using statistical methods.

Learning Objectives:

1. Interpret ideas of population versus sample, random variables, and techniques of descriptive statistics including frequency distributions, histograms, stem and leaf plots, boxplots, and scatterplots.

2. Calculate and interpret measures of central tendency and dispersion, including mean, median, standard deviation, and quartiles.

3. Apply the 68-95-99.7 rule to normal distributions and use the normal tables to answer questions about the proportion of scores in a certain range or find various percentiles.

4. Analyze relationships between two quantitative variables using correlation and linear regression. Analyze residual plots and determine how to handle outliers and influential points.

5. Analyze data presented in two-way and three-way tables to provide information about relationships between categorical variables, including understanding and interpreting situations to which Simpson's Paradox applies.

6. Apply ideas of appropriate sampling techniques and experimental design to data production.

7. Use the basic ideas of probability and apply them to statistics.

8. Use the sampling distributions of sample proportions and sample means to answer appropriate questions.

9. Estimate single means, difference of two means, single proportions and difference of two proportions using confidence intervals. Interpret the results.

10. Demonstrate skills in hypothesis testing for means and proportions, for single populations and comparison of two populations.

11. Demonstrate skills in hypothesis testing using the chi-squared test to compare several proportions and to test independence.

12. Demonstrate skills in inference for regression or ANOVA techniques.

Throughout the course, students will learn to do almost all the calculations by hand with a scientific calculator on small data sets and also students will learn to use a substantial statistical computer software package to do the statistical calculations quickly and on larger data sets. Some of the regression inference analyses will not be done by hand.

Learning the material:

What to do at home.

  1. Watch short video lectures in StatTutor and use the Vocabulary Flash Cards.
  2. Read material in the text.
  3. Do the Pre-tests and Post-tests in StatsPortal.
  4. Participate in the Blackboard Discussion Board to ask questions about Pre-test, Post-test, and homework and quizproblems and answer other student’s questions about these. You can also ask and answer other questions here, but NO discussion of test problems, test rules, test dates, or anything involving tests is allowed on the Discussion Board. (Email those questions to the instructor instead of posting them.)
  5. Do homework and quiz problems.
  6. Use statistical software (CrunchIt) at home and at school (CrunchIt and Minitab) to make graphs and do statistical calculations quickly and easily.

What to do at school (in class and outside class)

  1. Submit your homework report (Monday) or Quiz (Wednesday) when you arrive in class. Even if you’re late – bring it to the front. You’re counted absent if you don’t submit something each day.
  2. Attend class to participate in activities designed to introduce and/or reinforce some concepts.
  3. Use Minitab software to make graphs and do statistical calculations. Available in the classroom, the IRT Computer Lab in NRG 1203, and the Learning Lab and IRT lab at other campuses.)
  4. Take tests (mostly in TestingCenter, but some in class)
  5. Get to know other students and explain statistics concepts.
  6. Turn in papers.

Graded work.

  1. Chapter Post-tests in StatsPortal. These must be completed in the week the chapter is introduced in class. Deadline Sunday evening. No credit for late submissions.
  1. Asking and answering questions: Appropriate participation in the Blackboard Discussion Board. There will be 18 forums. Full credit is earned for timely appropriate participation in fourteen of them. See the explanation at the beginning of the Discussion Board.
  2. Homework. Assigned by chapter and to be mostly done during the week the chapter is introduced. Submit the report each Monday at the beginning of class. Reports can be submitted by email or in the NRG mailroom on Monday before class. Turn in a folder with the entire set of homework for those chapters just after the test deadline. No late homework is accepted because, of course, it is crucial that you do the homework before taking the test.
  3. Quizzes. Assigned weekly and due at the beginning of class each Wednesday over the previous week’s material. No late quizzes accepted, but the lowest four quiz grades are dropped before averaging. Quizzes can be submitted by email or in the NRG mailroom if submitted before the deadline, and a penalty of 20% is deducted for not attending class that day.
  4. Chapter Learning Curve assignments in StatsPortal. (optional) For each chapter’s Learning Curve assignment completed no later than the day before taking the relevant test, you can earn 1 point extra credit on that test grade.
  1. Tests. The large majority of credit on each test will come from questions similar to those in the sections called “Chapter __ Exercises.” A few multiple-choice questions or short-answer questions will be included.
    You must receive permission to earn any credit for a test taken late. Typically, it can be only one day late, and receives a 20% penalty.

Collaboration:

I encourage you to work with other students, tutors, and all the material available to you on homework, quizzes, and all other non-test activities. The work you turn in should be what YOU understand. Tests must be done strictly on your own.

Grading:

Percentage
9% / Quizzes
9% / Homework
3% / Chapter Post-tests in StatsPortal
4% / Discussion Board
75% / Tests 1-5 (equally weighted)

A: 90-100; B: 80-89; C: 70-79; D: 60-69; F: below 60

Tests.

Several of the first four tests will be in the TestingCenter at NRG and the last test will be in class on the last day or two of class. You may prepare some handwritten notes and use them on the test. These will not be comprehensive. Enough room is provided to enable you to write a few formulas or procedures that you are having trouble memorizing. Those notes must be

in your own handwriting

turned in with the test

originals, not copies, particularly not copies that are reduced

include only words and formulas (Do NOT include worked-out examples.)
For Test 1, you may take ONE sheet of paper for notes, front only.
For Test 2, you may take ONE sheet of paper for notes, front and back.
For Tests 3 and 4, you may take TWO sheets of paper for notes, front and back.
For Test 5, you may take THREE sheets of paper for notes, front and back.
The Testing Center Monitor will not necessarily tell you if your notes are in violation of the class rules. You are responsible.If you violate any of the rules about notes, I will either give you a zero on that test or else deduct some points from your test grade, depending on what I judge to be the severity of the violation.

After the test deadline has passed, the test grades will be posted in Blackboard, and an email sent to you through Blackboard, and you may review your test during my office hours or by appointment.

Tests must be done entirely on your own, with no help from anyone else. Violating the rules of the testing center, or giving or receiving help on tests is scholastic dishonesty, and the punishments are severe.

In the TestingCenter, you will need your ACC student ID and a picture ID, like your driver’s license, and you will need to know the instructor's name, course number and section number. Also see the section of this handout on “TestingCenter.”

Tests must be taken in one sitting – no leaving to go to the restroom or any other reason. If you are unable to take tests in one sitting, please tell the instructor at the beginning of the semester so that she can help you make arrangements for the accommodations you need. It will not be possible to make such accommodations if you wait until time for the test to ask.

For Tests 1 – 3, a student who misses a test or who makes below 60 on a test may come to me for additional make-up work. This will usually include taking another test. When that work is satisfactorily completed, the test grade will be raised to a 60. Test grades of above 60 can only be earned by taking the regular test on time. Such make-up work can be done on no more than two tests and some part of the make-up work must be turned in within a week of when the test is returned. (No makeup is provided for Test 4 because it is too late in the semester for makeup work to be completed.)

The lowest of the grades on Tests 1 – 3, if it is a 60 or higher, will be replaced by the Test 5 / Final Exam grade.

Deadlines for the tests will be enforced very strictly. When the test is in the testing center from Thursday through Wednesday, you are expected to take the test by Monday, and then there are a couple of extra days for you to take it late if you had car trouble or babysitter trouble, or some other difficulty getting in earlier.

Course-specific support services:

ACC main campuses have Learning Labs which offer free first-come first-serve tutoring in mathematics courses. Not all mathematics tutors can tutor statistics. Check the lab schedule to see when statistics tutors are available. Students should bring their course handouts and notes when they come to the Learning Lab. The locations, contact information, and hours of availability of the Learning Labs are available from

MATH 1342 Lab class: Starting the week of Feb. 11, 2013, we have a weekly tutoring lab for this course, meeting in NRG PB1 on Fridays 12:00 – 2:25 p.m. Register for MATH 0159, section 001, synonym 25891, no later than Feb. 4.

Attendance and withdrawals:

Attendance is required in this course. Students who miss more than 10% the class time (more than 5 class hours) may be withdrawn. The final withdrawal date for Spring 2013 is Monday, April 22, 2013.

Reinstatement Policy:

In order to be reinstated, the student must demonstrate that he is caught up with the required work as of the date on which he wishes to be reinstated. This must be done before the official last date to withdraw for the semester.