STA442/1008: Methods of Applied Statistics, Winter 2002

University of Toronto at Mississauga

http://www.utm.toronto.edu/~jbrunner/442

Lecture: Monday and Wednesday 1:10 - 2:00 pm, Room 3101 South Building

Tutorials: Friday 1:10 - 2:00 Room 3101, South Building. There is no tutorial the first week. There will be a quiz in the first tutorial, on Friday Jan. 19th. On tutorial days when there is no quiz, the TA will be available to help with homework, computer assignments and other class-related questions.

Text: Class notes available online. Lectures and published class notes will overlap, but are not identical; you are responsible for both.

Topics: Basics of research design and significance testing, The elementary significance tests, A bit of unix, Introduction to SAS, Multiple regression, Categorical independent variables, interactions, Multivariate analysis of variance, Case study of ethnicity and mathematics performance, Repeated measures, A little time series, Introduction to the S language, Simulation, Permutation tests, Bootstrapping.

Grading: This course has a graduate section (STA1008H) and an undergraduate section (STA442H). Graduate students will do the same work that undergraduates do, and also hand in a project based on a set of real data from their fields of study. Details of the projects will be arranged on an individual basis.

There will be six quizzes based on the class notes, lectures, and (usually) computer assignments. They will be given during tutorial. Quiz dates are Jan 19th, Jan 26th, Feb 8th, March 1st, March 15th and April 5th.

Quizzes will made up by Jerry and marked by Alison. You may discuss the answers with either Jerry or Alison, but Jerry will not comment on the marking of any question until you have first discussed it with the TA.

If you miss a quiz for any reason, your mark is zero. However, you can make up for one or two bad quizzes by taking the final exam, which is optional.

The final exam will be comprehensive. You do not have to take it, but if you do take the final, the mark you receive will be substituted for either your lowest quiz score or your two lowest quiz scores, whichever will help you more. If your final exam mark is lower than your lowest quiz score, it will still be substituted. So in theory, taking the final could hurt your mark. However, I have never seen this happen.

Plagiarism

It is academic dishonesty to present someone else's work as your own, or to allow your work to be copied for this purpose. To repeat: the person who allows her/his work to be copied is equally guilty, and subject to disciplinary action by the university.

Note that if I catch you, I am not allowed to impose some reasonable penalty (like a zero on the assignment). I am required to pass it on to the Dean. In the past I have done this, even though I liked the students involved. The penalties were harsh.

Here are some guidelines. It is fine to discuss the assignments and to learn from each other, but don't copy. Never look at anyone else's work or show anyone your work before the time when it might be handed in -- these times will be very explicit. Do not give anyone a copy of your program file before a computer assignment is due, and do not look at anyone else's.

For some of the quizzes, you will be asked to bring your printout to class; maybe you will hand part of it in, and maybe you will use it to answer some questions. Never, ever, bring a copy of somebody else's printout, or allow anyone to have a copy of yours.

Don't copy. If we catch you, you will get in big trouble. And even if we do not catch you, after you die you will be reincarnated as a tadpole in a polluted stream.

A final note: You must use your own computer account, and only your own computer account to do the work for this course. If you use the account of another student -- or allow your account to be used by another student in this class -- your computer account will be cancelled, and so will your friend's. This will make it very difficult for you to pass this course (and possibly others). The reason for this seemingly insane rule is to prevent the following well-worn defense (never believed) for having identical printouts: "I was using my friend's account and I accidentally printed the wrong file."