COURSE OUTLINE:   Stat 201, Fall 2009

Instructor:     Sheila O'Leary Weaver   sweaver@uvm.edu

Office:  307 Mansfield House

Office Phone:  656-2192

Office Hours:     Monday, 9 to 10:30am      Tuesday, 1 to 2pm      Wednesday, 2 to 3pm            and by appointment.

Teaching Assistant:   Kiran McCormick    kmaccorm@uvm.edu     

Office:   B6 Mansfield House

Office Phone:   656-3349

Office Hours:   Tuesday 11:30am to 2:15pm     and      Wednesday 8 to 9:20am          and by appointment.
   

Section A -- 92388 --  Tues - Thur  --    8:30 to 9:45am  --  205 Votey (Computer lab)

Stat201 is "Statistical Analysis Via Computers."  The main goal of this course is to give you some experience with real data analysis.

In the process, we will review what you've learned in Stat141 (or a similar course) and learn some additional statistical techniques. 

We'll discuss some practical issues of using the techniques with real data.  To accomplish these goals, we'll learn to use the

SAS statistical software package, as well as an introduction to R*

Course Materials:

Calculator:    You will need a calculator for this course.  We won't do a lot of calculations, but there will be a bit. Graphing calculators are great to have, but all you really need is something that can add, subtract, multiply, divide and do square roots.  

SAS:  You don't need to buy SAS.  I'll give you a copy that you can put on your own computer.  Here's how we'll get it to you: 

• If you have Windows XP Professional, or Windows Vista Enterprise, Business or Ultimate editions, you should use SAS version 9.2.  

• If you have an earlier version of Windows (XP Home, for example), you'll need to use SAS 8.2.  Version 8.2 has all you'll need for this class (except for one procedure, and you can do that one task on campus). 

• If you have a Mac, I'm afraid SAS is not available (unless you have a dual-boot Intel Mac with Windows).  Please don't despair:  SAS is available on many computers around campus.

Please bring your laptop PC to class on Thursday, September 3.  Alan Howard will come to class then, and he'll have several flash drives with both versions of SAS.  He'll help you install it.  If necessary, he can send you home with a flash drive and instructions, and you can install it on your own computer.   Alan's email is abh@uvm.edu, and his office is on the main floor of Bailey-Howe Library, if you need to get in touch with him.

SAS is available on many computers around campus (e.g., all the Dells in rooms 113 and 113Q Waterman, and all the computers in Votey 229, 206, 246).

R:   We'll use R later in the semester, but at anytime before that, you can Download R.  It's open sourceware (free) and available for PC or Mac. 

Read about R in this January 6, 2009 article from the New York Times

Some response from SAS:  

Texts:  (There is one copy of each on reserve at the Bailey Howe Library Reserve Desk) 

Required Applied Statistics and the SAS^® Programming Language, Cody and Smith, 5th edition, Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2006.

Recommended A First Course in Statistical Methods, Ott and Longnecker, 1st edition, Thomson/Brooks/Cole, 2004.

Note:  If you have the Ott and Longnecker text An Introduction to Statistical Methods and Data Analysis, 5th edition, that's fine, too.  An older edition is even ok...  I can let you know which chapters correspond to the ones in our text.... 

In Cody and Smith (CS), we'll read chapters 1,2,3,part of 4,5,6,7,and some of 8 and 9, and use the remaining chapters for reference.   You're expected to read the sections we'll cover before class time.  Because the exact schedule may change, I'll update it online, and I'll remind you of the current reading in class.  Ott and Longnecker (OL) will be used for statistical reference.  If you've taken several statistics classes and feel strong in statistics, you don't have to buy this.  The less confident you are, the more you need this book as a backup.

Some useful links:

Some useful SAS programs and data sets for learning techniques -- We'll use some of these in class.

Online Documentation for SAS:     Version 9.1*            Version 8.2

Note that we will use procedures in Base SAS, SAS/Graph, and (later) SAS/GLM

*Documentation link for version 9.1 is listed; so far, I think it's easier to use than the new 9.2 documentation, and there's nothing we need that isn't in version 9.1.....

All about IQ Scores....

Applets:

• Binomial Distribution

• Central Limit Theorem with Dice

• Sampling Distributions

• Confidence Intervals

• Power

• Normal Probability Calculator

Topics covered in Stat201  (Click here for list)

Grading:

Your course grade will be determined by:

Homework     30% of grade (about 8 homework assignments)
Midterms        30% of grade -- two midterms, each worth 15%

Project           20% of grade
Final Exam    20% of grade

I'll compute an overall percentage based on this formula, and use this Grade Distribution.

Homework Assignments:   As you know, math classes have that nasty habit of making you feel really behind if you get behind, so it's really important to keep up with homework assignments.  

Some other important things:

Schedule:

This is approximately the order of events, though the exact coverage of topics is subject to change.

Date                               Daily Assignments due for this class,  Exams,  HW, projects, etc.