Introduction to Statistics for Beginners

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Brief Description:

To provide an easy introduction to statistics for those with little or no prior exposure to basic probability and descriptive statistics.

Instructor(s):
Level: Beginner

Who Should Take This Course:

Anyone with no prior statistical background who wishes to take Introduction to Statistics I:  Inference for a Single Variable.

Dates:
March 02, 2012 to March 23, 2012May 04, 2012 to May 25, 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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Introduction to Statistics for Beginners

Aim of Course:

To provide an easy introduction to statistics for those with little or no prior exposure to basic probability and descriptive statistics in preparation for the two course sequence Introduction to Statistics 1:  Inference for a Single Variable and Introduction to Statistics 2: Working with Bivariate Data.

Prerequisite(s):
No prior study of statistics is required. The only mathematics you need is arithmetic.
Course Program:

SESSION 1: Designing a Statistical Study

• Gathering and organizing data
• Looking at your (measurement) data
• Simple numerical and graphical summaries
• Introduction to statistical inference via resampling

SESSION 2: Categorical Data and Probability

• Observational studies, polls and surveys
• Looking at your (categorical) data
• Letting the computer do the work
• Random variables and their distributions
• Expected value
• The normal distribution

SESSION 3: Relationships Between (Two Categorical) Variables

• Two-way Tables
• Conditional probabilities
• Bayes rule
• Independence
• Simpson's paradox

Organization of the Course:

This course takes place over the internet, at statistics.com 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 you will receive individual feedback on your homework answers.

Credit:
Students come to The Institute for a variety of reasons:

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 (Program in Advanced 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).

As you begin the class, you will be asked to specify your category.

This course offers continuing education units (CEU's). For those successfully completing the course (generally this means marks of 50% or better on the homework), 3.75 CEU's and a record of course completion will be issued by Statistics.com, upon request.

Course Text:

No text is required for this course. All the course materials will be provided during the course. 

Software:

In this course, software is needed for statistical analysis and simple resampling/simulation operations. We recommend one of these 3 options:

1. Excel and Box Sampler
2. Excel and Resampling Stats for Excel
3. StatCrunch

Excel: you will need to have some facility with using formulas in Excel. If you don't, please review this tutorial before the course starts.

Box Sampler: this is a free add-in for Excel, designed as a visual teaching and learning tool for doing resampling simulations. Runs only on Windows.

Resampling Stats for Excel: this is a commercial add-in for Excel, designed as a practitioner's tool for doing resampling simulations. A free license is available to all course participants, while they are enrolled in the statistics.com sequence of introductory statistics courses. Runs only on Windows.

StatCrunch: this is a very affordable web-based statistical software program, which also has simulation and resampling capabilities. Runs over the web, so can be used with both Windows and Mac. Resampling is not as intuitive as with Box Sampler and Resampling Stats for Excel.

For a comprehensive listing of these and other programs, click here.

Register Now

Yes, I want to register for:

Introduction to Statistics for Beginners

Instructor(s):
Dates:
March 02, 2012 to March 23, 2012May 04, 2012 to May 25, 2012
Course Fee: $399
Academic Discounted 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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