Syllabus for STA-201

PRINCIPLES OF STATISTICS


COURSE DESCRIPTION

Principles of Statistics is designed to meet the needs of students in many disciplines and professions. The sciences, social sciences, and business are increasingly using quantitative methods. This course provides the tools and techniques needed to design studies that provide representative data for mathematical analysis and statistical interpretation. Topics include types of statistics, data representations (tables, graphs, and charts), measures of location and variation, probability concepts, continuous and discrete distributions, confidence intervals, hypothesis tests, and regression and correlation analysis. The emphasis of the course is on the application of statistical methods to real-world problems. In solving these problems, students are required to use the appropriate notation and formulas. Problems may be viewed as statistical studies, and as such you should be able to interpret results and justify conclusions. This course is also designed to measure the student’s competency in quantitative reasoning/literacy, one of the institutional learning outcomes.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The overall objective of Principles of Statistics is to provide you with the skills needed to perform statistical computations and analyze data. These skills have practical applications in many disciplines, including the sciences, technology, and the social sciences.

After completing this course, you should be able to:

*Course Objective.

COURSE MATERIALS

You will need the following materials to do the work of the course. The required textbooks are available from the University's textbook supplier, MBS Direct.

Required Textbooks

ISBN-13: 978-0321989178  Textbook Companion Site

ISBN-13: 978-0321989284

Resources

COURSE STRUCTURE

Principles of Statistics is a 3-credit online course, consisting of six modules. Modules include topics, learning objectives, study materials, and activities. Module titles are listed below.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

For your formal work in the course, you are required to participate in six online discussions, complete six written assignments, take four module quizzes and a proctored online final exam, and complete a final project.

Consult the Course Calendar for due dates.

Promoting Originality

One or more of your course activities may utilize a tool designed to promote original work and evaluate your submissions for plagiarism. More information about this tool is available in this document.

Discussion Forums

You are required to participate in six discussion forums, each focusing on a different topic. Communication with the mentor and among fellow students is a critical component of online learning. Participation in online discussions involves two distinct activities: an initial response to a discussion question and at least two subsequent comments on classmates’ responses. Meaningful participation is relevant to the content, adds value, and advances the discussion. Comments such as “I agree” and “ditto” are not considered value-adding participation. Therefore, when you agree or disagree with a classmate, the reading, or your mentor, you should state and support your agreement or disagreement. You will be evaluated on the quality and quantity of your participation. Responses and comments should be properly proofread and edited, professional, and respectful.

Written Assignments

You are required to complete six written assignments. The written assignments draw on case study discussion exercises at the end of chapters with focus on application and data analysis.

Assignments should be prepared electronically with a word processor, preferably using whatever equation editor comes with your word processing software. However, you may check with your mentor to determine if handwritten and scanned assignments are acceptable. (Important: Use the equation editor to insert equations into your word-processed document, not to create the document itself.)

When preparing your answers, please identify each exercise clearly by textbook section and exercise number. Be sure to include your name at the top of the paper, as well as the course name and code and the semester and year in which you are enrolled. To receive full credit for your answers, you must show all work and include complete solutions.

Quizzes

There will be four modular quizzes for this course. The quizzes should be taken after you complete the reading assignment, online discussion, and written assignment for each module. There will be various number of multiple-choice questions in each quiz, each question worth one point. There is no time limit for taking each quiz. You can take each quiz an unlimited number of times, but the gradebook will only record your most recent score.

The quiz is an unproctored online quiz. It is open book, but not open notes. In this regard you are permitted to use a calculator (scientific, graphing, or financial) but may not use a calculator on a phone, PDA, or any similar device and the authorized textbook.

Final Exam

For a list of key concepts that may appear on your exam, refer to the study guide available in the Examinations section of the course website.

You are required to take a proctored online final examination. The final exam requires that you use the University's Online Proctor Service (OPS). Please refer to the "Examinations and Proctors" section of the Online Student Handbook (see General Information area of the course Web site) for further information about scheduling and taking online exams and for all exam policies and procedures. You are strongly advised to schedule your exam within the first week of the semester.

Online exams are administered through the course Web site.  

The final exam is three hours long and covers modules 5 and 6 of the course (textbook chapters 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, and 15). It consists of twenty multiple-choice questions.

The exam is open book, but not open notes. In this regard you are permitted to use only the authorized textbook. You are not allowed to consult a solutions manual, notes of any kind (including graded or ungraded activities), or any other reference sources or sources of information. The use of blank scratch paper for doing math calculations is permitted during online test administrations.

Note: You are permitted to use a calculator (scientific, graphing, or financial) but may not use a calculator on a phone, PDA, or any similar device.

In addition to the exam study guide, a practice final exam is available. The practice exam is ungraded, and you may take it as many times as you'd like for additional review; you will see some different questions each time. The practice exam contains questions that are similar to those on the graded exam and provides feedback, so it is an effective way of preparing for the exam. In the Examinations section of the course Web site, click on the Practice Final Exam link to begin.

Statement about Cheating

You are on your honor not to cheat during an exam. Cheating means:

If there is evidence that you have cheated or plagiarized in an exam, the exam will be declared invalid, and you will fail the course.

Final Project

You are also required to complete a final project. This project will address a real-world problem by designing a study, collecting data, analyzing the data, and writing up the results.

 

See the Final Project area of the course Web site for further details.

GRADING AND EVALUATION

Your grade in the course will be determined as follows:

All activities will receive a numerical grade of 0–100. You will receive a score of 0 for any work not submitted. Your final grade in the course will be a letter grade. Letter grade equivalents for numerical grades are as follows:

A

=

93–100

C+

=

78–79

A–

=

90–92

C

=

73–77

B+

=

88–89

C–

=

70–72

B

=

83–87

D

=

60–69

B–

=

80–82

F

=

Below 60

To receive credit for the course, you must earn a letter grade of C or better (for an area of study course) or D or better (for a course not in your area of study), based on the weighted average of all assigned course work (e.g., exams, assignments, discussion postings, etc.).

STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS

First Steps to Success

To succeed in this course, take the following first steps:

Study Tips

Consider the following study tips for success:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Thomas Edison State University is committed to maintaining academic quality, excellence, and honesty. The University expects all members of its community to share the commitment to academic integrity, an essential component of a quality academic experience.

Students at Thomas Edison State University are expected to exhibit the highest level of academic citizenship. In particular, students are expected to read and follow all policies, procedures, and program information guidelines contained in publications; pursue their learning goals with honesty and integrity; demonstrate that they are progressing satisfactorily and in a timely fashion by meeting course deadlines and following outlined procedures; observe a code of mutual respect in dealing with mentors, staff, and other students; behave in a manner consistent with the standards and codes of the profession in which they are practicing; keep official records updated regarding changes in name, address, telephone number, or e-mail address; and meet financial obligations in a timely manner. Students not practicing good academic citizenship may be subject to disciplinary action including suspension, dismissal, or financial holds on records.

All members of the University community are responsible for reviewing the Academic Code of Conduct Policy in the University Catalog and online at www.tesu.edu.

Academic Dishonesty

Thomas Edison State University expects all of its students to approach their education with academic integrity—the pursuit of scholarly activity free from fraud and deception. All mentors and administrative staff members at the University insist on strict standards of academic honesty in all courses. Academic dishonesty undermines this objective. Academic dishonesty can take the following forms:

Plagiarism

Thomas Edison State University is committed to helping students understand the seriousness of plagiarism, which is defined as using the work and ideas of others without proper citation. The University takes a strong stance against plagiarism, and students found to be plagiarizing are subject to discipline under the academic code of conduct policy.

If you copy phrases, sentences, paragraphs, or whole documents word-for-word—or if you paraphrase by changing a word here and there—without identifying the author, or without identifying it as a direct quote, then you are plagiarizing. Please keep in mind that this type of identification applies to Internet sources as well as to print-based sources. Copying and pasting from the Internet, without using quotation marks and without acknowledging sources, constitutes plagiarism. (For information about how to cite Internet sources, see Online Student Handbook > Academic Standards > “Citing Sources.”)

Accidentally copying the words and ideas of another writer does not excuse the charge of plagiarism. It is easy to jot down notes and ideas from many sources and then write your own paper without knowing which words are your own and which are someone else’s. It is more difficult to keep track of each and every source. However, the conscientious writer who wishes to avoid plagiarizing never fails to keep careful track of sources.

Always be aware that if you write without acknowledging the sources of your ideas, you run the risk of being charged with plagiarism.

Clearly, plagiarism, no matter the degree of intent to deceive, defeats the purpose of education. If you plagiarize deliberately, you are not educating yourself, and you are wasting your time on courses meant to improve your skills. If you plagiarize through carelessness, you are deceiving yourself.

For examples of unintentional plagiarism, advice on when to quote and when to paraphrase, and information about writing assistance, click the links provided below.

Examples of Unintentional Plagiarism

When to Quote and When to Paraphrase

Writing Assistance at Smarthinking

Disciplinary Process for Plagiarism

Acts of both intentional and unintentional plagiarism violate the Academic Code of Conduct.

If an incident of plagiarism is an isolated minor oversight or an obvious result of ignorance of proper citation requirements, the mentor may handle the matter as a learning exercise. Appropriate consequences may include the completion of tutorials, assignment rewrites, or any other reasonable learning tool in addition to a lower grade for the assignment or course. The mentor will notify the student and appropriate dean of the consequence by e-mail.

If the plagiarism appears intentional and/or is more than an isolated incident, the mentor will refer the matter to the appropriate dean, who will gather information about the violation(s) from the mentor and student, as necessary. The dean will review the matter and notify the student in writing of the specifics of the charge and the sanction to be imposed.

Possible sanctions include:

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