Instructor: Edward F. Connor
Office: Hensill Hall 760 Phone: 338-6997 E-Mail:
Lecture: Tu Th 11:00 - 12:15 Th 429 Office Hours: Tu 9:30 - 10:30, W 1-3
Lab: Th 2:10 - 4:50 pm HH 501
Text: None Prerequisite: One semester of college biology
Last day to Drop or Add Class: September 14, 2016
This course is designed to provide a firm grounding in hypothesis testing, experimental design, and the analysis of data. We will concentrate on hypothesis testing, the principles of experimental design, regression, and the analysis of variance. Illustrative examples will be drawn from the biological sciences.
The laboratory portion of the class will focus on data analysis and interpretation using R. R is an open source statistical language that is freely downloadable and compatible with all operating systems (Mac, Windows, and Linux). R is a comprehensive programming language and statistical package that is growing in use around the world. You can download R from the R Project website ( https://www.r-project.org/). After downloading and installing R, download and install "R Studio" (https://www.rstudio.com/). R Studio will enhance your use of R. R is a largely command line driven package, so it is more difficult to learn than menu driven packages such as SPSS, but you will always have access even after you graduate. Besides R, we will also have access to the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) on computers available for use by students and faculty in several computer laboratories on campus. Many of these laboratories have extensive hours and offer access to SPSS. We can also access R and SPSS via labspace (https:/labspace.sfsu.edu). I will conduct most of the instruction using R, but if you choose to use SPSS, I will also provide assistance
The class website is http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~efc/classes/biol458/biol458an.htm. Most class materials are posted on this website, but some materials are on the class iLearn site. For those of you in the online sections of the lab portion of the class, you can access the necessary data sets from links embedded in the pdf versions of the lab exercises.
All students including those of you in the online sections of the lab are invited to come to the in person version of the lab to ask questions or get help. The in person lab is Thursdays 2:10 - 4:50 pm in HH 501.
For those of you who have not yet set up an internet account at SFSU, you can do so online from the computer labs or your colleagues computers by pointing your internet browser to the SFSU Computer Services Helpdesk (http://tech.sfsu.edu/support).
Class Grade
Lab write-ups and Exams: The class grade will be based on the 3 exams and 7 written lab reports from computer-based exercises (labs 4-10). Each exam will comprise 20%, the combined 7 laboratory write-ups will comprise 35%, and 5% of the class grade will be subjective.
Students may work in groups to complete and submit lab write-ups, but only those students whose names appear on a write-up at the time it was submitted will receive credit for that write-up.
Students must complete their exams individually. The class exams will be open book, open note, take home exams. Students whose exam papers are so similar that they must have all or in part been prepared collaboratively will receive a 0 on that exam. You must pledge on each test that you neither gave nor received help on the exam.
Subjective: I will assign a subjective evaluation of each students class performance. Students who attend class, submit their labs in a timely fashion, and are clearly making an effort will receive the full 5 points.
There is a $15 lab fee associated with this course.
Students who do not pay their lab fees by this date will have a Financial Obligation Hold placed on their record until their lab fees are paid and they will not be able to register for any classes. As soon as the lab fee is paid, the hold will be released within the next 24 hours.
Student disclosures of sexual violence
SF State fosters a campus free of sexual violence including sexual harassment, domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, and/or any form of sex or gender discrimination. If you disclose a personal experience as an SF State student, the course instructor is required to notify the Title IX Coordinator. To disclose any such violence confidentially, contact:
The SAFE Place - (415) 338-2208; http://www.sfsu.edu/~safe_plc/
Counseling and Psychological Services Center - (415) 338-2208; http://psyservs.sfsu.edu/
For more information on your rights and available resources: [http://titleix.sfsu.edu]