Students write a description of the project, the hypothesis tests, and their conclusions using a format derived from research articles in social science journals. Students will understand quantitative problems. Students will learn how to analyze and interpret quantitative information, to use statistical thinking, and to communicate using the language of statistics. Every topic in statistics has an associated set of formulas and procedures. Activities are designed to teach procedures to students, such as the calculation of the standard deviation and correlation coefficient, or procedures for setting up a two-sample hypothesis test for a difference between means.
Homework assignments contain mostly applied problems in contexts which use real data.
Students will be able to use a computer. Students will be able to use a computer program to enter data and perform statistical analyses, and will know how to interpret the statistical output of the program. Students will also become familiar with the computer as a tool for promoting conceptual understanding. Students use a statistics program for every concept presented in the course. Students also use the statistics program to enter and analyze data for the midterm and final projects.