Basic Applied Statistics
STAT 200

Spring 2004, CRN 13783(10:00) or 14153(12:00) 4 credits
Department of Statistics
University of Pittsburgh

( (old) StatTutor Labs 3&4 on displaying and describing relationships are available here; use with Internet explorer, not Netscape.( (old) StatTutor Labs 1&2 on displaying and describing distributions are still available here.)( (upcoming) StatTutor Labs 9-12 on inference for regression, ANOVA, chi-square, and single proportions available here; use with Internet explorer, not Netscape.


Time/Place	MWF 10:00-10:50, CL G8 or 12:00-12:50 CL 232
StatTutor	(new) StatTutor Labs 5-8 on inference for quantitative variables are available here; use with Internet explorer, not Netscape.
Instructor	Dr. Nancy Pfenning
Office	Cathedral 2710
Website	www.pitt.edu/~nancyp
E-mail	nancyp+@pitt.edu
Phone	624-8729 (statistics office, leave message with Diane)
	521-8349 (home, if urgent, before 10pm)
	624-8336 (during office hours)
Office Hrs.	Thursdays 9:00-11:30 or by appt.
Stat Lab	435 Cathedral (take stairs up from Bigelow side of Cathedral); for hours of operation and names of TAs on staff, see schedule
	but avoid times when the lab is reserved
Free Tutors	Contact the Academic Support Center 648-7920 or visit their website and refer to Math Assistance

News

Sangdae's Office Hours changed for Thursday, April 15: he will be available from 12:00 to 2:30.
Additional Office Hours during finals week: Dr. Pfenning: Monday, April 19nd from 9 to 11:30 and Thursday, April 22 from 9 to 11:30; Sangdae: Tuesday, April 20 from 1:00 to 3:00; Mihnea: Wednesday, April 21 from 3:00 to 5:00
4/2/04 Practice Final handed out in class; here are the solutions
4/2/04 Midterm 2 scores had mean 73%, standard deviation 16%;
3/31/04 Practice Midterm 2 handed out in class; see solutions .
2-19-04 Information on Jessica Utts' talk Investigating Psychic Phenomena with Statistics at Pitt (WWPH 1P56) at 12noon, March 25
2-19-04 Normal Practice Exercises Solutions now available
2-16-04 Midterm 1 scores had mean 73%; solutions handed out in lecture.
2-9-04 Read coincidence stories of our class members! or coincidence stories from the class of 2003 coincidence stories from the class of 2002 or coincidence stories from the class of 2001 or coincidence stories from the class of 2000
2/6/03 Practice Midterm 1 handed out in class; see solutions .
Spring 2004 Survey data: survey1-21-04.txt. a tab-delimited text file, is now available;
8/25/03 MINITAB is available at all campus computing labs, such as Cathedral, Forbes Quad, Benedum, and of course the Stat Lab. If in addition you would like to have MINITAB on your PC, Pitt's Software Licensing Service at 105 Bellefield Hall (behind Heinz Chapel) is now offering MINITAB CDs for only $5 a copy (be sure to have your student ID with you)! Otherwise, a free fully functional demo can be downloaded from www.minitab.com BUT it will only run for 30 days, so consider waiting until later in the semester!
All Tues or Thurs recitations on the following dates: Jan. 6,8; Jan. 13,15; Feb. 17,19; Apr. 6,8; Aprl 13,15 will be held in the Stat Lab 435 CL (enter on Bigelow side of Cathedral, take steps up to 4th floor.
All Friday recitations on the following dates: Jan. 9; Jan. 16; Feb. 20; Apr. 9; Aprl 16 will be held in the Cathedral Computer Classroom G27 Otherwise recitations will meet in the assigned classroom (CL 219 or 129 or G13 or 229 or 2628)
Jan. 2004 Handout in recitation on MINITAB Basics to be used as a reference for all MINITAB work.

Description

This is a course for students who wish to learn basic methods in order to analyze simple studies and experiments. This course will present the basic methods of applied statistics, utilizing an easy-to-use interactive statistical computing package called MINITAB. Students will be provided with readily understandable and intuitive descriptions of statistical analyses. The topics to be covered include: basic descriptive statistics for univariate and bivariate data, very elementary probability theory, random samplings from populations and random allocation to experimental treatments, sampling distributions, concepts of confidence intervals and hypothesis testing, tests of means in one-sample, two-sample, paired-sample and standard analysis of variance contexts. Categorical data analysis will also be discussed. Most students taking this course will probably not pursue further formal undergraduate study in applied statistics.

Prerequisites

MATH 0031 (Algebra) or equivalent. No Comp. Sci. background needed.

Requirements

Homework,computer lab problems, quizzes, two midterms, and a comprehensive final exam.

Grading

11 Homeworks	190
12 Lab Problems	60
Best 10 of 11 Quizzes	100
Midterm 1	150
Midterm 2	200
Final Exam	300
Total	1000
Extra Credit	max 50

Course Grade

90-100% A; 80-89% B; etc. Plusses are assigned to the students at the top of each grade range and minuses to the students at the bottom. None of us can know in advance if an individual student will be a "borderline case"; completing extra credit assignments (specified in lecture notes) throughout the semester can help you to optimize your chances for the best possible grade. These are to be handed in to me by the following lecture; no late homeworks or extra credits will be accepted.

Textbook

Utts and Heckard: Mind on Statistics, 2nd ed., Duxbury Press

Lecture Notes

Handed out weekly in class; also available for copying in Math/Stats library 4th floor Thackeray

Recitations

10:00 Lecture

Tuesday, 9:00-9:50 CL 219 [CRN 14101]
Tuesday, 10:00-10:50 CL 219 [CRN 14106]
Tuesday, 11:00-11:50 CL 129 [CRN 14114]
Tuesday, 2:00-2:50 CL 219 [CRN 14097]

Instructor: Mihnea Vasilescu miv4@pitt.edu Office Hours: Fridays, 11:00AM to 1:00PM Posvar Hall 4D23 (closer to Bouquet St.)

12:00 Lecture

Thursday, 4:00-4:50 CL G13 [CRN 14158]
Friday, 9:00-9:50 CL 229 [CRN 14164]
Friday, 10:00-10:50 CL 2628* [CRN 23158]
Friday, 11:00-11:50 CL 2628* [CRN 14169]
*To get to CL 2628, take an elevator to 27 and walk down a flight, or to 23 and walk up 3 flights

Instructor: Sangdae Han sah15@pitt.edu Office Hours Thursdays 1:30-3:30 CL 2617 (take elevator to 27, walk down a flight.

Thursday, 5:00-5:50 CL G13 [CRN ?]

Instructor: Tony Signoriello bigsig11@hotmail.com Office Hours Thursdays 3:00-4:45 CL 2617 (take elevator to 27, walk down a flight)

Recitations will concentrate on the use of MINITAB (our computer package) and on the clarification and review of lecture material. All quizzes except Quizzes 10 and 11 will be administered in recitation. In addition, individual questions, especially those pertaining to the homework assignments, may be addressed.

Note: The material in this course is cumulative in nature. Thus, it is important not to fall behind in your reading or assignments or you will find yourself lost. If you are confused, see me or your recitation instructor for help.

Note to Students with Disabilities: If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, you are encouraged to contact both your instructor and Disability Resources and Services, 216 WPU (412) 648-7890, as early as possible in the term. DRS will verify your disability and determine reasonable accommodations for this course. See their website www.drs.pitt.edu

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Basic Applied Statistics STAT 200