University of Minnesota
STAT 1001: Syllabus
Fall 2009
This is an introductory course in statistics whose purpose is to promote understanding of statistical reasoning and using numerical information to make judgments and decisions. You will learn to understand graphical and numerical presentations of data, to judge the reliability of results from studies, surveys and experiments, and to realize that in an uncertain world randomness and variation are to be expected. A little elementary probability is included. The methods and concepts studied will be presented in the context of the real-world problems in the social, physical and biological sciences and other real-world questions that the methods can help students understand.
The course consists of three lecture periods per week plus a recitation section to discuss weekly homework assignments and add supplementary material.
The course prerequisite is
two years of high school mathematics. Knowledge of computers for collecting information from the internet is also assumed.
The instructor is Sanford Weisberg,
email sandy@stat.umn.edu, office hours:
W10-11 and Th2-3
in 312 Ford Hall, 625-8355. The TA is Christina Knudson,
christina@stat.umn.edu, office
hours: Tu1-2 and Th10:30-11:30 in 352 Ford Hall.
Utts, Jessica M. (2005). Seeing Through Statistics, Third Edition, Thomson Brooks-Cole. You can buy the book on-line at a discount, or get it as an ebook, at http://tinyurl.com/8td2l7. You should be sure you are getting the third edition, not an earlier edition.
The website for the textbook is http://tinyurl.com/8ogmnj. Because use of the site requires that you purchase a new copy of the book to obtain an access code, we will not rely on the website.
This is a tentative outline of the workload in the course.
- Homework
- Reading and problem assignments from the textbook will be posted on the class website and emailed each Wednesday. Some, but not all, of the material in the assignments will be covered in class. You will be responsible for all the material in the assigned sections of the book. These are primarily to help you focus on what you understand and what is unclear in the book and in lecture. Homework will be collected each Friday and returned in section the following week.
- Quizzes
- There will be quizzes on Friday September 25, October 16, November 6 and December 4. All quizzes will have the same weight in the grade, but your lowest score will be dropped. Missed quizzes will get a grade of zero; makeups will not be permitted. For each quiz you will be permitted to have up to one sheet of notes, front and back, but no other aids.
- Mini-projects
- Mini-projects will generally be due the Friday after a quiz, namely October 2, October 23, November 13 and December 11. All projects count equally. Late projects will not be accepted without advance arrangement with the instructor.
- Midterm exams
- There will be NO midterm exams.
- Final exam
- Classes end on Wednesday, December 16. The final exam will be given 10:30am-12:30pm Friday, December 18. The exam will be comprehensive. You will be permitted to have up to two sheets of notes, front and back, with anything you want on these summary pages. An early or late exam will be given only in extraordinary circumstances and must be negotiated in advance with the instructor.
Grades will be determined as follows: Homework, 10 points; quizzes, 40
points; projects, 30 points, final exam, 20 points. It is likely that 90
total points are required for an A; 80 points for a B; 70 points for a C,
and 60 points for a D.
A grade of Incomplete will be given only in extraordinary circumstances, such as serious illness or other issue. You must contact the instructor as soon as you decide an incomplete may be appropriate for you.
Sections on Tuesdays are an integral part of the course. They provide you
for an opportunity to learn in a group with topics chosen by the needs of
you and your fellow students.
You should make every effort to be to class on time. Please turn off phones, computers, pagers, iPods, and any other distractions.
If you get the flu, please stay home. We will work something out.
Class for Monday, September 28 is CANCELED.
The class website is now on Moodle. You will need an enrollment key, given out in class, to view this site, at http://tinyurl.com/nk4j7z. You will be able to access handouts, assignments, your grades, and other material from this site.
If you want to see what the course was like last year, go to
http://www.stat.umn.edu/~sandy/courses/1001.
Please take advantage of email to ask me questions about course material. Unless you tell me otherwise, I will usually answer your email with copies to everyone in the class, and old emails will be available on the Moodle site.
We will generally follow the table of contents of the textbook, at the rate of two chapters per week.
S Weisberg
2009-09-08