Course
Description:
Statistical Decision Making
is an elementary statistics course designed to show the student how
statistics is used in problem solving and decision making. Topics may
include graphical representations of data; measures of central tendency
and variability; elementary concepts in data collection and design of
experiments; elementary probability concepts; distributions including
the binomial and normal distributions; correlation and regression; and
confidence intervals and hypothesis testing for means, proportions and
differences of means and proportions. Special emphasis is placed upon
the understanding of concepts and the proper use of statistics in real
life situations. This course is a
Longwood University General
Education course and counts as 3 semester credits. Learning Objectives: This course will give students a working knowledge of the ideas and tools of practical statistics. Students will learn to:
Prerequisites: Since this is a general education course, there are no prerequisites for the course. Professor: Dr. M. Leigh Lunsford. For Dr. Lunsford's office location, phone number, email address, schedule (including office hours), and other general information, go to her homepage: http://www.mathspace.com/Lunsford/ Meeting Times and Locations: MWF 11:00-11:50 am, Ruffner 354 Course Textbook: Workshop Statistics, Discovery with Data and the Graphing Calculator, 3rd edition, by Allan J. Rossman, Beth L. Chance, and J. Barr Von Oehsen. Your book should come with a CD that has applets, data sets, and programs for the TI calculator. You can also access these resources at the link above. Required Technology/Computer Configurations:
Determination of Course Grade:
Grades will be assigned on a ten point scale (90's A; 80's B; 70's C; 60's D; 50's and below F). Honor System: I expect you to conform to the Longwood University Honor System as contained in the Student Handbook. All material handed in to me, including on-line work, falls under the honor code. Homework: Your assigned homework will generally consist of practice activities (that you will not hand in) and group hand-in homework. I will provide access to answers to practice activities so that you can check your understanding of the concepts. Please check the Class Pace and Assignments page for your practice and group hand-in homework assignments.
Quizzes: About every two weeks we will have a quiz. The quizzes will be based on your homework and our in-class discussions. The quizzes will be given out of class thus I will give a time frame during which you can take the quiz. I will try to give at least one class period notice for an upcoming quiz (please see the Class Pace and Assignments page for the latest information on quiz dates). Once a quiz has been graded and returned to the students, there will be no make-ups for that quiz, period. I will drop your lowest quiz grade when computing your quiz average. Because I will be dropping your lowest grade for computation of your quiz average there will not be any make-up quizzes. Midterm Exam: A minimum of a one week notice will be given for the midterm exam date. Please see the class schedule below for the tentative midterm exam date (for more detailed information about the exam date see the Class Pace and Assignments page). Except in the case of an emergency, a make-up exam must be scheduled before the scheduled exam date. If the exam has already been given and you have not previously scheduled a make-up, then you will receive a zero on the exam. Class Project: You will have a final project that you will be working on during the course of the semester. This project will be in conjunction with Dr. Alix Fink's Power of Water Honors class. I will give more information about the final project on the first day of class. Final Exam: The final exam for this course will be comprehensive. You cannot miss the final. Failure to take the final exam will automatically result in an F grade for the course. Please see me as soon as possible if you have a conflict with the final exam date. Final Exam Dates: Monday, December 8, 8:00-10:30 a.m. You can find the scheduled final exam dates for all your classes at this link. If you have a conflict with the final exam date and need to reschedule, please see me as soon as possible. Extra Credit: Extra Credit will NOT be given - period. Attendance & Excused Absences: You are expected to attend every class. If you miss classes it will most likely be reflected in your grades (i.e. you will perform poorly). The following college attendance policy will be followed per the Class Attendance section of the Academic Regulations chapter of the Longwood University Undergraduate Catalog: Missing 10% of class meetings may result in a lowering of one letter grade. Missing 25% of class meetings for any reason will result in an automatic “F” for the course. Absences are excused only for illness, college sponsored activities, and recognizable emergencies. You must have the proper documentation for an excused absence. Student Health Services can provide documentation only for students hospitalized locally or absent at the direction of Student Health Services personnel. You must also assume full responsibility for all material covered during your absence, including scheduling any early in-class quizzes or make-up exams. A grade of "0" will be assigned for all work missed due to unexcused absences. Resources for Students Learning Statistics:
Office of Disability Services:
Any student who
feels s/he may need
an accommodation based on the impact of a
physical, psychological, medical, or learning
disability should contact me privately.
If you have not already done so, please contact
Longwood's Office of
Disability Support Services
to register for
services.
Class Schedule: Below is a very tentative class schedule. This schedule may change due to class pace, etc. However, it is provided here for your information. For a more detailed schedule depending on our actual classroom interaction please see the Calendar page of the Stats Portal.
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