Dr. Eric Anderman
251 D Dickey Hall
Phone:  257-7532
E-mail:  eande1@ukcc.uky.edu
Office Hours:       Wednesday 1:00-2:00
                    Thursday 3:00-4:00 or by appointment
          
 
Required Text
 
     Sprinthall, R.C.  (1994).  Basic statistical analysis, 4th Edition. 
Boston, MA:  Allyn & Bacon. (the book should come with a computer disk
included)
 
General Description of Course
 
 
EDP 557 is designed to provide students with a working knowledge of basic
techniques in statistics.  This course will not emphasize the memorization of
formulas; rather, the course focuses on developing your conceptual
understanding of statistics, and developing your ability to apply and
interpret statistics in meaningful ways.  Since this course is offered through
the department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, many of the examples
will be taken from educational and psychological research.  However, the same
techniques are used in other disciplines, and I will make an attempt to use
examples from other fields as well, based on who is in the class.
 
I have structured the course to try to minimize stress for those students who
identify themselves as "math" or "number" phobic.  The course does require an
understanding of basic algebra, so completion of MA 109 or the equivalent is a
prerequisite.  No knowledge of calculus is assumed or required.  Most problem
sets will be done by hand, although there will be a few computer exercises. 
You will need a calculator, but there is no need to buy an expensive, fancy
statistical calculator; an inexpensive calculator that can add, subtract,
multiply, divide, do square roots, and has some storage capacity is sufficient
for this course.
 
My main goals for this course is to convey to you how statistics can be
important, useful, and practical.  I will provide as many "real-world"
examples as possible, and I will do my best to convince you that statistics
are not something to dread!!
 
EDP 557 is offered for students enrolled in the College of Education.  Other
students may be admitted, with instructor permission, on a space-available
basis.
 
 
Objectives of EDP 557
 
1. To develop a conceptual understanding of how and why researchers use
statistics.
2. To be able to understand how statistics are used in various research
studies.
3. To plan and carry out simple statistical analyses, both by hand and via
computer.
4. To develop an understanding of the assumptions, limitations, and abuses of
statistics.
 
 
 
Course Requirements
 
1. Attendance at the class sessions is extremely important.  The first
half of each class will be spent reviewing problem sets and/or computer
assignments, and the second half will usually be spent discussing new
material.  If you have an excused absence, you will be given the opportunity
to make up any missed work.  Class participation is also extremely important
-- do not be shy!  If you have a question, ask!
 
2. Required readings -- the reading for this course is minimal, but it
is extremely important.  The text that we will be using (Sprinthall) is an
excellent text -- it is very easy to read and easy to understand, and it makes
a lot of "sense" to people who have not done statistics before.  Please try to
do the reading before class -- this is for your benefit.  If you have done the
reading before class, the lecture/discussion of the new techniques each week
will be much easier for you, and you will have a much easier time doing the
assignments.
 
3. Assignments are due by class time on the date listed in the class
schedule.  All submitted work must be your own.  While you are encouraged to
work on assignments together and to study together, each student must turn in
individual assignments.  There will be a class e-mail group where you can
discuss homework problems "on line" with me and your classmates.  Cheating or
plagiarism carries a minimum penalty of a failing grade in the course.
 
Problem sets are due at the beginning of class.  Make two copies of each
problem set -- one to hand in to me, and the other to keep and write on as
we go over the assignment.  If you have problems doing an assignment, it is
better to hand in what you have done than to not hand in anything at all. 
Make sure you show all of your work and answer all parts of the questions on
the problem sets -- don't lose points because of carelessness.  On many of
these assignments, you will be asked to describe in your own (non-statistical)
words exactly what each of these techniques does -- in other words, to
describe for a non statistical person why what you have learned is important.
 
4. Exams -- There will be two exams in this course.  As an additional
incentive for you to do the problem sets, I offer this dividend: 
approximately half of the questions/problems you will see on each of the exams
will be problems you have already done as homework.  The other problems on the
exams will be new but will be quite comparable to the problems on the homework
assignments.  In addition, you will be asked to "describe" some of the
techniques that we have learned to somebody who knows nothing about statistics
(just like in some of the assignments).  Be sure to bring a calculator to the
exam.  Make up exams will only be given in the case of an illness that is
documented by a note from a doctor.
 
Evaluation
 
Midterm examination           75 points
Final examination             75 points
Homework assignments          150 points
 
Three points will be deducted for each unexcused absence.
Up to six additional points will be added for class participation.
There may be possibilities for some extra credit options during the semester.
 
Grading Scale:
Graduate Students             Undergraduate Students
A = 272-300 points            A = 272-300 points
B = 243-271 points            B = 243-271 points
C = 185-242 points            C = 214-242 points
E = 0-184 points              D = 185-213 points
                              E = 0-184 points

Class Schedule
 
 
Date                Topic                           Reading
 
1/10              Overview of Course              Chapter 1
                  Basic Concepts in Statistics    Find one misleading use
                  Statistical Notation            of statistics in the 
                  Scales of Measurement           media for next week. 
 
1/17              Organizing and Displaying Data  Chapter 2
                  Measures of Central Tendency
 
1/24              Variability:  Variance and      Chapter 3
                  Standard Deviation
 
1/31              The Normal Curve and Z-Scores   Chapter 4
 
2/7               Transformations Involving       Chapter 5
                  the Normal Curve
 
2/14              Correlation                     Chapter 10
 
2/21              MIDTERM EXAM
 
2/28              The Logic of Inferential        Chapter 7
                  Statistics
                  Sampling Distributions
 
3/6               Hypothesis Testing              Chapters 8 & 9
 
3/13              Spring Break, No Class
 
3/20              Review of Hypothesis Testing    Chapters 8 & 9
                  One Way Analysis of Variance    Chapter 12
 
3/27              Two and Three Way Analysis      Chapter 12
                  of Variance
                  Graphing of Interactions
 
4/3               Chi Square                      Chapter 13
 
4/10              No Class, Annual Meeting of American Educational Research    
                  Association*
 
4/17              Regression Analysis             Chapter 14
 
4/24              Catch up and Review for Final Exam
 
 
 
* A session will be scheduled to make up this class.  This will be an optional
session, to catch up and to get general assistance. 
 
Final exam is held during regularly scheduled final exam time.