PSYC 200 – 01 Statistics: An Activity Based Approach
M, W 1:10pm – 2:30pm
SCIE74
Spring 2013
Contact Information:
Instructor:
Dr. Matthew Kurtz
Office: Judd Hall 314
Phone: 685-2072
Email: mkurtz@wesleyan.edu
Office Hours: 12:30-2:30PM Tuesday or by appointment
Teaching Assistants:
Lauren Seo
Office: Judd Hall 314
Phone: (818) 970-7636
Email: lseo@wesleyan.edu
Jason Saltiel
Office: Judd Hall 314
Phone: (917) 945-9455
Email: jsaltiel@wesleyan.edu
Course Overview:
Required Text:
Moore, D.S., Notz, W.I., Fligner, M.A. (2011). The Basic Practice of Statistics (Sixth Edition).
W.H. Freeman and Company: New York. ISBN-10: 1464102546.
Calculator:
You are required to have (and know how to use) a calculator that handles two-variable statistics.
(Two-variable calculators can be used to calculate correlation and regression coefficients.) Not
all scientific calculators can do two-variable statistics. Look for symbols such as x , y , xσn-1, xσn,
yσn-1, yσn or xσ, xs, yσ, ys, on or above some of the keys. You should bring your calculator to class
every day to use for the lab activities.
Organization of the Course:
In general, the course material will conform to the organization of the text. Like the text, we will
begin with descriptive statistics and then spend most of the course dealing with inferential
statistics. The last page of the syllabus lists topics to be covered each day, the associated readings
from the textbook, assignments that are due, and the dates of the four quizzes. Note that you will
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be responsible for what is covered in lecture and the associated text material but not for
what is included in the text but not discussed in class.
Goals of the Course:
This course is designed to provide you with the basics of statistics and statistical reasoning, not
only as they apply to psychological research, but also how they are important to everyday life. I
hope to get across to you the critical importance of collecting, describing, and interpreting data
(i.e. statistics). Psychology is a science, and like all sciences, depends on developing theories
based on observation and testing those theories by collecting and analyzing appropriate data sets.
You will also learn how to use a statistical package, SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social
Sciences), to appropriately analyze data.
Academic Honesty:
You are expected to adhere to Wesleyan’s Honor Code as stated in the Student Handbook. For
quizzes, lab reports, and the final exam, no group work is acceptable. For problem sets, I
encourage you to check your work with other students. However, the work should be your own.
Answers should be in your own words and you should clearly show all calculations. Any
evidence of group work on the assignments will result in a 0 for that assignment.
Quizzes:
There will be four in-class quizzes. The purpose of this class is not to memorize formulas.
Therefore, for each quiz you are encouraged to bring one piece of paper with any notes and
formulas that you would like. Concepts build upon each other in statistics and in that way the
quizzes will be cumulative. Each quiz will be assigned a grade out of 100. NO MAKEUP
QUIZZES WILL BE ALLOWED. Quizzes are worth 30% of your final grade.
Lab Reports:
Almost every class period you will have a lab activity. You will receive a worksheet describing
the activity and will be asked to fill out certain information on these sheets. These activities
should be done independently. However, the TA will be available during this time to help you
with any difficulties you may have. At the end of class you will turn in the worksheet to the TA
before you leave. There will be a total of 20 Lab Reports during the semester. Your two labs with
the lowest grades will be dropped. Each will be graded out of 5 points. LATE LAB REPORTS
WILL BE PENALIZED 2.5 POINTS UNLESS ACCOMPANIED BY A NOTE FROM
THE HEALTH CENTER. Lab reports are worth 20% of your final grade.
Problem Sets:
There will be 11 Problem Sets assigned to you during the semester. Each Problem set will be
graded out of 10 points. Your two Problem Sets with the lowest grades will be dropped. Problem
Sets will be given to you on Thursday and will be due on the following Thursday at the
beginning of class. LATE PROBLEM SETS WILL BE PENALIZED 5 POINTS UNLESS
ACCOMPANIED BY A NOTE FROM THE HEALTH CENTER. Problem sets are worth
20% of your final grade.
Final Examination:
There is a final exam that will be scheduled during final exam week. The final exam will be
cumulative with a focus on the final fifth of the class. The final exam is worth 30% of your
grade.
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Breakdown of Final Grades:
4 Quizzes = 30%
20 Lab Reports (drop two lowest scores) = 20%
11 Problem Sets (drop two lowest scores) = 20%
Final Exam = 30%
Final grades will be determined as follows (adapted from the Wesleyan registrar grade chart;
decimals will be rounded down if < .5)
A+
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD+
D
DF
97-100
94-96
90-93
87-89
84-86
80-83
77-79
74-76
70-73
67-69
64-66
60-63
below 60
Students with Disabilities: It is the policy of Wesleyan University to provide reasonable
accommodations to students with documented disabilities. Students, however, are responsible for
registering with Disabilities Services, in addition to making requests known to me in a timely
manner. If you require accommodations in this class, please make an appointment with me as
soon as possible [during the nth week of the semester], so that appropriate arrangements can be
made. The procedures for registering with Disabilities Services can be found at
http://www.wesleyan.edu/deans/disability-students.html.
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Date
Day
Topics*
Reading
1/28
1/30
2/4
2/6
2/11
2/13
2/18
2/20
2/25
2/27
3/4
3/6
Mon
Wed
Mon
Wed
Mon
Wed
Mon
Wed
Mon
Wed
Mon
Wed
CH 1
CH 2
CH 3
CH 4-5
CH 6-7
3/83/24
3/25
3/27
4/1
4/3
4/8
4/10
4/15
4/17
4/22
4/24
4/29
5/1
5/6
5/8
Mon
Wed
Mon
Wed
Mon
Wed
Mon
Wed
Mon
Wed
Mon
Wed
Mon
Wed
Why statistics?/Graphs
Descriptive Statistics
The Normal Distribution
Correlation/ Regression
Categorical Data Analysis
Quiz 1
Producing Data
Probability
Sampling Distributions
Binomial Distributions
Quiz 2
Confidence
Intervals/Significance Test
MIDSEMESTER
RECESS
Significance Test
Statistical Power
Quiz 3
One-sample t-test
Two-sample t-tests 1
Two -sample t-tests 2
Chi-square Test
Quiz 4
NO CLASS
NO CLASS
Regression Analyses 1
Regression Analyses 2
Analysis of Variance 1
Analysis of Variance 2
Assignment Labs
Due
Prob. set 1
Prob. set 2
Lab 1
Lab 2, 3
Lab 4
Lab 5
CH 8-9
Prob. set 3
CH 10, 12
CH 11
Prob. set 4
CH 13
Prob. set 5
CH 14
Lab 6
Lab 7
Lab 8
Lab 9
CH 15
CH 15-16
Lab 11
Lab 12
Prob. set 6
Lab 10
Prob. set 7
CH 18
CH 19
CH 19
CH 23
CH 24
CH 24
CH 25
CH 25
Prob. set 8
Prob. set 9
Prob. set 10
Prob. set 11
Lab 13
Lab 14
Lab 15
Lab 16
Lab 17
Lab 18
Lab 19
Lab 20
* The topics for the course may shift days as the semester goes on. However, assignments due
dates and quizzes WILL NOT be changed.
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