Course Description
This course will focus on the fundamentals of modern statistics. Topics include: basic concepts of descriptive statistics, inferences about the mean, proportion, differences in means and differences in proportions; the binomial distribution, confidence intervals, and hypothesis testing. Other topics in this course include an introduction to probability and bivariate data, including linear correlation and regression. (3 credits)
Recommended Prerequisite
- MAT 100: Elementary Algebra or High school Algebra (2 years)
Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)
Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:
- Perform a complete statistical investigation involving the exploration, summarization, and analysis of data to generate answers to real-world questions.
- Identify key features (variables, subjects, cases, observational units, parameters, and statistics) of a statistical study.
- Design statistical questions that can be answered given a specific set of data.
- Describe sampling methods and explain the presence of bias in a sampling method.
- Describe key components of an experiment and an observational study (treatment groups, explanatory variables, response variables, nuisance factors, random assignment, replication, and possible confounding variables).
- Construct graphical displays of data, describe important characteristics of the data from graphical displays, and interpret displays to answer research questions.
- Describe features of a univariate data distribution by summarizing the shape, center, spread, and presence of outliers.
- Compare shape, center and spread of distributions across groups.
- Compute and interpret measures of center (mean, median, mode) and measures of variability (range, IQR, standard deviation) to describe data distributions, identify the presence of outliers, and answer real-world questions.
- Compute and interpret Z-scores to analyze observed values and compare observations from different groups.
- Apply the Empirical Rule to describe features of data distributions.
- Describe features of a bivariate data distribution by summarizing the trend, shape, strength, and presence of outliers.
- Perform least-square regression analysis on bivariate data to make predictions, assess the model accuracy and fit, and make appropriate predictions/extrapolations.
- Interpret key features (slope, y-intercept) of a least-squares regression line in the context of a problem.
- Compute and interpret the correlation coefficient of bivariate data.
- Calculate and interpret different types of probability and apply concepts of theoretical probability and empirical probability to solve problems.
- Discuss and apply features of discrete and continuous probability distributions to examine features of data distributions and answer real-world questions.
- Use technology to construct probability distributions, create graphical displays, compute probabilities, and determine cutoff values to answer real-world questions.
- Construct and examine features of sampling distributions of sample statistics
- Discuss the role of sampling variability in statistical inference problems
- Apply statistical inference methods (confidence intervals, hypothesis tests) to estimate and test claims about population means, population proportions, differences in population means, and differences in population proportions.
- Describe the steps needed to perform statistical inference, including the assumptions that must be met, drawing conclusions, and stating conclusions in the context of real-world problems.
Course Activities and Grading
| Assignments | Weight |
|---|---|
Study Plan Activities (100 Pts, Weeks 1-8) | 10% |
Discussions (100 Pts, Weeks 1-8) | 10% |
Module Quizzes (300 Pts, Weeks 1 – 8) | 30% |
Exam 1 (80 Pts, Week 3) | 16% |
Exam 2 (120 Pts, Week 6) | 17% |
Exam 3 (110 Pts, Week 8) | 17% |
Total | 100% |
Required Textbook
- Lumen Learning. Statistics.
- Students who are participating in the Charter Oak Book Bundle will have inclusive access to their course materials on day one of the term.
- Students will need to click on Course Content, Week 1, Submit Assignments, and click on ‘Quiz’, (it brings you directly into your course materials with Lumen Learning).
- Students who opt out of the Charter Oak Book Bundle program:
- Will have access to course materials for ten days from the start of the term; after this period, they will lose access.
- Must purchase their materials, out of pocket, from the Charter Oak Bookstore. More details can be found here: Charter Oak Bookstore
Course Schedule
Week | SLOs | Readings and Exercises | Assignments |
1 | 2,3,4,5 | Topic: Data, Statistical Studies, and Sampling
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2 | 6,7,8,9.10,11 | Topic: Describing Data Graphically & Numerically
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3 | 12,15 | Topic: EXAM 1 & Displaying & Describing Bivariate Data
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4 | 1,13, 14,15, 16 | Topic: Modeling Bivariate Data and Probability
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5 | 17,18, | Topic: Probability Distributions and Sampling Distributions
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6 | 1,20, | Topic: EXAM 2 & Confidence Intervals for Population Proportions
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7 | 1,20, | Topic: Hypothesis Tests for Population Proportions & Confidence Intervals for Population Means
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8 | 1,20, | Topic: EXAM 3 & Hypothesis Tests for Population Means
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COSC Accessibility Statement
Charter Oak State College encourages students with disabilities, including non-visible disabilities such as chronic diseases, learning disabilities, head injury, attention deficit/hyperactive disorder, or psychiatric disabilities, to discuss appropriate accommodations with the Office of Accessibility Services at OAS@charteroak.edu.
COSC Policies, Course Policies, Academic Support Services and Resources
Students are responsible for knowing all Charter Oak State College (COSC) institutional policies, course-specific policies, procedures, and available academic support services and resources. Please see COSC Policies for COSC institutional policies, and see also specific policies related to this course. See COSC Resources for information regarding available academic support services and resources.