<style type="text/css"> ol li {list-style-type: decimal;} ul li {list-style-type: disc; padding:1em;} </style> <p><em>Elements of Statistics</em> is an introductory statistics course with the main goal of helping students understand the basic concepts in statistics and become statistically literate. Emphasis is placed on the critical thinking that goes into using data in the real world and how it applies to a students? field of study and everyday life. No statistical software used.</p> <p><strong>Course topics</strong></p> <ol> <li>Basic overview and data classification</li> <li>Descriptive statistics <ul> <li>Frequency distributions and graphs</li> <li>Measures of center, variation and position</li> </ul></li> <li>Study design and data collection <ul><li>Randomness and sampling techniques</li> <li>Basic experimental design</li> </ul></li> <li>Probability <ul><li>Key concepts, including conditional probability, independence, and mutual exclusivity</li> <li>Probability distributions, including Binomial and Normal (and Standard Normal)</li> <li>Sampling distributions for means and proportions</li> </ul></li> <li>Confidence intervals <ul><li>Estimating a single proportion and single mean</li> <li>Introduction to estimating the difference in proportions and the differences in means</li> </ul></li> <li>Hypothesis testing <ul><li>Key concepts, including statistical significance and p-values</li> <li>Testing a single proportion and a single mean</li> <li>Introduction to testing the difference in proportions and the difference in means</li> <li>Chi-square tests of independence and goodness-of-fit</li> </ul></li> <li>Correlation and regression <ul><li>Scatterplots and the least squares regression line</li> </ul></li> </ol> <p><strong>Course goals</strong></p> <ol> <li>To gain an appreciation for the utility and limitations of data and statistical methods for solving real world problems.</li> <li>To gain an appreciation for the methods of data collection, including an understanding of potential pitfalls, biases, and ethical issues.</li> <li>To gain facility with basic statistical terminology, notation, and tools.</li> <li>To gain a basic understanding of the laws and rules of probability, and how they relate to statistics, with a focus on the ideas of randomness and statistical significance.</li> <li>To gain facility with basic statistical methods, including confidence intervals and hypothesis tests, with a focus on the appreciation of when a particular method is appropriate and how to interpret results in the context of a stated problem.</li> <li>To be comfortable reading and understanding an article citing summarized statistics, and be able to dissect it into relevant course-related components.</li> <li>To formulate and communicate solutions to problems in clear, grammatically correct, precise English.</li> </ol>