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Date:         Fri, 10 Apr 1992 13:28:56 -0500
Reply-To:     R_LEHMAN@ACAD.FANDM.EDU
From:         R_LEHMAN@ACAD.FANDM.EDU
Subject:      Undergraduate statistics

I've tried several times to send a reply only to David Mostofsky
<PSY9KRN@BUACCA.BITNET>, the originator of this discussion, but I seem
unable to send to him directly. I apologize if many members of the list
aren't interested in this response, but it may be the only way I have to
get the message through...


There was a survey in American Psychologist a year or two ago concerning
what grad schools look for in applicants. I recall that "stat course" was
among the asked-for for most kinds of programs. If you want more info,
email me
back and I'll dig it out.

But for what it's worth, let me tell you what we do. Roughly 50-75% of our
grads go to grad school (maybe more if you look at a 5 year or so window).
Our people invariably get in somewhere, though it's not always their first
choice program. So in the eyes of grad schools, we're doing something
pretty much right. (And this is not just "experimental" admissions--about
50% of our
people go into helping kinds of programs.) We require a one semester
combined stat/design course. (If you've seen my book--Stat & Research
Design in>Behav Sci, Wadsworth--you have a detailed course description.
This is *NOT* intended as a
selfserving plug. It's the easiest way for me to tell you what we teach!)

We follow the course with a series of intermediate courses and advanced
research seminars. Every major has taken AT LEAST three advanced research
seminars that require independent, and fairly original,  research (in teams
of 3-5 students). So they really have to put their stat/design to use. Our
best students do a two semester senior research project on top of all the
other stuff. Between the course and the experience, they have a good
hands-on stat background. The analyses in the advanced courses tend toward
factorials, but we're seeing a lot of regressions and various more advanced
things among the senior research projects.

Grad school bound juniors and seniors are urged to take the advanced
quantitative methods course, and many do. It covers matrix algebra,
Hotellings T**2, multiple regression, discriminant analysis,
multidimensional scaling, and factor analysis. People out of this class
turn out to be the stat TAs and SPSS gurus when they get to grad school.

Does this help?


I'm also interested in the approach that Barney Beins described this
morning of linking student into ongoing projects. That sounds promising.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Richard S. Lehman                                    R_Lehman@FANDM.BITNET
Department of Psychology                           R_Lehman@ACAD.FANDM.EDU
Franklin & Marshall College
PO Box 3003                                            Voice (717)291-4202
Lancaster,  PA  17604-3003                               FAX (717)291-4387
                                "I'd rather be blowing glass."
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