Stat 200 Basic Applied Statistics

Spring 2015, Mon.Wed.Fri. 10:00 (CRN 10845) or 11:00 (CRN 10846) or 12:00 (CRN 10869) CL 332, 4 credits
Department of Statistics
University of Pittsburgh

Instructor Dr. Nancy Pfenning
Office Cathedral 2710
Website www.pitt.edu/~nancyp/stat-0200/index.html
E-mail nancypfenning@gmail.com
Phone 412-521-8349 (home, if urgent, before 10pm)
  412-624-8336 (during office hours)
Office Hrs Thurs. 10:45-1:30 in CL 2710/2712 or by appt.
Stat Lab CL G26; for hours of operation and names of TAs on staff, see schedule but avoid times when it's been reserved (schedule to be posted on the door).
Tutors Contact the Academic Resource Center 648-7920 for free tutoring by undergrads or visit their website

News

  • Practice Final and Solutions
  • Extra office hours: Dr. Pfenning Tuesday, April 14 from 1:30 to 3:00 in CL 2712. Brian McGill Monday, April 13 from 2 to 4 and Wednesday, April 22 from 3 to 5, in CL 2617.
  • Practice Midterm 2 and Solutions to Practice Midterm 2
  • Practice Midterm 1 and Solutions to Practice Midterm 1
  • Powerpoint Lecture Slides
  • Practice Quizzes and Solutions
  • Blank Homework Forms (to be printed if you didn't pick one up in class)
  • Recitations on the following dates will be held in the Stat Lab CL G26 Jan. 6-9, Feb.17-20, Apr.7-10, Apr.14-17.
  • Student Survey data: Fall2012StudentSurveyData.txt a tab-delimited text file, is now available. To download it into MINITAB, Type ctrl A to highlight, ctrl C to copy, start up MINITAB, type ctrl V to paste it. If it asks about delimiters, click OK.
  • Here is a brief guide to MINITAB 17 Basics , used in this course; for work on a Mac, see MinitabForMac .
  • MINITAB is available on the PCs 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 Download Service offers MINITAB for free. Alternatively, a free fully functional demo can be downloaded from Minitab but it will only run for 30 days, so consider waiting until later in the semester!

    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.

    Textbook/Calculator

    Pfenning Elementary Statistics: Looking at the Big Picture (c)2011 Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning, STUDENT edition. Note that the looseleaf version is an option, as is eBook rental. If you'd like to consult other statistics books for reference, ask me in office hours. A calculator (any kind) is needed.

    Requirements

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

    Grading

    11 Homeworks 350
    12 Lab Problems 50
    Best 10 of 11 Quizzes 100
    Midterm 1 150
    Midterm 2 150
    Final Exam [see calendar for dates] 250
    Total 1050
    Course % Total divided by 10

    Course Grade

    90-105% 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 all the assignments throughout the semester can help you to optimize your chances for the best possible grade; no late homeworks will be accepted.

    Recitations: *Students from all lectures can use any TA's office hours. Check this website for updates of times and locations.*

    10:00 Lecture
    • Tuesday, 9:00-9:50 CL 236 [CRN 10859]
    • Tuesday, 10:00-10:50 CL 236 [CRN 10860]
      Benjamin Case email bsc28@pitt.edu Office Hrs* Wednesdays 4:00-5:00 and Thursdays 1:30-2:30 in WWPH 2415
    • Tuesday, 11:00-11:50 CL 236 [CRN 10861]
      Brian Lynch email bcl28@pitt.edu Office Hrs* Wednesdays 5:00-6:00 in CL G26 (Stat Lab)
    • Tuesday, 2:00-2:50 BEN G26 [CRN 10858]
      Brian McGill email bsm36@pitt.edu Office Hrs* Wednesdays 3:00-4:00 in CL 2617
    11:00 Lecture
    • Wednesday, 12:00-12:50 CL 219 [CRN 10862]
    • Wednesday, 1:00-1:50 CL 219 [CRN 10863]
      Benjamin Case email bsc28@pitt.edu Office Hrs* Wednesdays 4:00-5:00 and Thursdays 1:30-2:30 in WWPH 2415
    • Wednesday, 2:00-2:50 CL 219 [CRN 10864]
      Qiyao Wang: email qiw31@pitt.edu Office Hrs* Fridays 10:00-11:00 by Yun Zhang in CL 2504
    • Thursday, 9:00-9:50 LANG A202 [CRN 10995]
      Yun Zhang email yuz52@pitt.edu Office Hrs* Fridays 11:00-12:00 in CL 2504
    12:00 Lecture Byungwon Kim email byk4@pitt.edu Office Hrs* Wednesdays 1:00-3:00 in CL 2504;
    • Thursday, 4:00-4:50 CL 335 [CRN 10870]
    • Friday, 9:00-9:50 CL 218 [CRN 10871]
    • Friday, 10:00-10:50 CL 218 [CRN 11165]
    • Friday, 11:00-11:50 CL 218 [CRN 10872]

    Recitations will concentrate on the use of MINITAB (our computer package) and on the clarification and review of lecture material. All quizzes except Quiz 10 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

    Academic Integrity Every student is responsible for understanding and abiding by the University's code for ethical behavior, as outlined on this website: http://www.as.pitt.edu/fac/policies/academic-integrity

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