Survey of Statistics for Beginners

taught by Bob Hayden

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Brief Description:

This course provides an easy introduction to statistics and statistical terminology through a series of practical applications. Once you've completed this course you'll be able to summarize data and interpret reports and newspaper accounts that use statistics and probability. You'll use simulation and resampling to fully grasp the difficult concept of "statistical significance."

Instructor(s):
Level: Novice

Who Should Take This Course:

Anyone who encounters statistics in their work. Also, anyone who has taken (or is now taking) a standard introductory statistics sequence and needs either a different angle on the subject or a brief refresher. This first course in statistics requires no prior training in the subject. The only mathematics you need is arithmetic. This survey course is not a substitute for a full college introductory statistics course. See our guide to how our introductory courses fit together and how they match up to traditional college courses.

Dates:
November 23, 2012 to December 14, 2012
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Registration:
Please read the syllabus tab, noting the prerequisites, text and software requirements.

Register Online -$399
Register Online -$299 (you must be affiliated with a college, university or high school)

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Courses may fill up at any time and registrations are processed in the order in which they are received. Your registration will be confirmed for the first available course date, unless you specify otherwise. Multiple course registrations may be entitled to tuition discounts; read more.

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Survey of Statistics for Beginners

taught by Bob Hayden

Aim of Course:

To provide an easy overview of statistics and statistical terminology through a series of practical applications. Once you've completed this course you'll be able to summarize data and interpret reports and newspaper accounts that use statistics and probability. You'll use simulation and resampling to fully grasp the difficult concept of "statistical significance."   This course can also serve as an alternative preliminary course to "Introduction to Statistics 1," instead of "Introduction to Statistics for Beginners" (which concentrates more on the foundations of where data come from -- surveys, observational studies, experiments).

Prerequisite(s):
No statistical background is required. You should have access to a pair of dice.
Course Program:

SESSION 1: Summarizing your data

• Mean, median, and mode; range, variance, and standard deviation
• Box plots and stem-and-leaf plots and other histograms
• Frequency distributions
• Types of data (measurement and categorical variables)

SESSION 2: Probability models

• Probability, conditional probability
• Independence
• Samples and populations
• Random Sample
• Parameters and parameter estimates

SESSION 3: Testing a hypothesis

• Variation
• Testing via simulations
• Median test
• Testing via a theoretical probability distribution
• Chi-squared goodness-of-fit test

HOMEWORK:

Homework in this course consists of short answer questions to test concept and guided data analysis problems using software.

Organization of the Course:

This course takes place over the internet at the Institute for 3 weeks. During each course week, you participate at times of your own choosing - there are no set times when you must be online. Course participants will be given access to a private discussion board. In class discussions led by the instructor, you can post questions, seek clarification, and interact with your fellow students and the instructor.

The course typically requires 15 hours per week. At the beginning of each week, you receive the relevant material, in addition to answers to exercises from the previous session. During the week, you are expected to go over the course materials, work through exercises, and submit answers. Discussion among participants is encouraged. The instructor will provide answers and comments, and at the end of the week, you will receive individual feedback on your homework answers.

Credit:
Students come to the Institute for a variety of reasons. As you begin the course, you will be asked to specify your category:

1. You may be interested only in learning the material presented, and not be concerned with grades or a record of completion.
2. You may be enrolled in PASS (Programs in Analytics and Statistical Studies) that requires demonstration of proficiency in the subject, in which case your work will be assessed for a grade.
3. You may require a "Record of Course Completion," along with professional development credit in the form of Continuing Education Units (CEU's).  For those successfully completing the course, 3.75 CEU's and a record of course completion will be issued by The Institute, upon request.

Course Text:

The text is Statistics: Making Sense of Data, by Stout, Marden and Travers. It will be provided in electronic form.

Software:

No software is required for this course. Students will be given access to an Excel add-in (Windows only) called Box Sampler that will run many demos to illustrate course concepts. Information about Box Sampler (and other statistical software) can be found here.

Register Now

Yes, I want to register for:

Survey of Statistics for Beginners

taught by Bob Hayden

Instructor(s):
Dates:
November 23, 2012 to December 14, 2012
Course Fee: $399
Academic Rate: $299

Before registering, please read the syllabus tab, noting the prerequisites, text and software requirements. When you click the register button, you will be taken to our secure transaction page.

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