Statistics in
Research (for TQ grant & MAT Cohorts IV&V) Stat 5385 (CRN 15637)
WELCOME! ¡BIENVENIDOS! Monday, August 27, 2007
Description from Graduate Catalog: “An introduction to statistical modeling of a univariate response conditional on a test of explanatory
variables. Classical
formulation of multiple linear regression and analysis of variance. Some discussion of
experimental design from power considerations. Selected topics from
generalized linear models, nonparametric regression, and quasilikelihood
estimation. Emphasis is on model
building, fitting, validation, and subsequent inferences. Analysis of real data using
major statistical software packages.
Prerequisite: MATH 3323, STAT
4380 or instructor approval.”
Because this is the MAT section of the course, we’ll include practical emphasis on conceptual understanding, interpretation and some computation of statistics used in education research.
Goals: This course is designed not only to make you more informed as a reader/consumer of statistics in published educational research, but also more empowered as a math educator able to use statistical ideas and tools in conducting your own research.
Meetings: MW (except Sept. 3) 5-6:20 in LART 206
Bell Hall 130A, but we may sometimes
use a different room (e.g.,
Instructor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Larry Lesser (rhymes with “professor”, spelled like “<”)
I began teaching (especially statistics!) university classes
in 1988, and I’ve also worked in
How to reach me: my official Bell Hall 213 office hours will start off as MW 3-3:30 & 4:30-4:50, TTh 1:30-2 & by appointment, with changes to be announced/posted; also, feel free to ask me (or leave me) questions by phone (747-6845; “SIR-OUIJA”) or email (Lesser (at) utep.edu; when you email, please include “5pm class” and a meaningful topic in the subject line). It’s both my job and privilege to serve you and offer guidance.
Grades: determined by the usual cutoffs of 90, 80, 70, 60, based on these parts:
Projects (65%): All assignments must be word-processed with double-spacing and a standard 12-point font, checked for spelling/grammar, have any appropriate output or graphics electronically pasted into the document, and have complete references in APA style. Exercises/sections should be clearly marked, assembled in order, and stapled (not put into a folder or sleeve) with an identification coverpage on top. Most projects will be done in teams of 3 or 4 unless otherwise announced.
Final (35%): Mon., Dec. 10 as scheduled by UTEP; the registration booklet assigns us to 4-6:45pm, but we’ll see if it’s feasible and better to shift things a bit later that day; you’ll be allowed your calculator and provided appropriate tables and formulas as announced
Attendance: Subject to change if required by UTEP policy, your final course average will have 2 – 3U – E points added to it, where U = number of unexcused absences and E = number of excused absences. This reflects how crucial participation and attendance are for this course, but without penalizing someone who has only 1 or 2 (excused) absences.
Quizzes: there will be occasional unannounced quizzes which will be taken into account only if your final average falls a point below a letter grade cutoff (i.e., they can only help!)
Textbook: Vogt, W. P. (2007). Quantitative Research Methods for Professionals.
Chapters will be covered in an order (1-11, 17, 16, then 15 & 12-14) and with relative emphases to support the goals of preparing you to interpret and conduct research. This outline is subject to further refinement or modification by the instructor to take into account interests, backgrounds, resource availability, logistics, scheduling/sequencing issues, and balance between depth and breadth. I may provide supplementary material for which you will also be responsible. You are expected to read each chapter (and assess your understanding by taking that chapter’s Self-Test and checking your answers in the Appendix) before the class meeting it will be discussed, and to bring your book to each class.
Other Resources: For those who may be helped by consulting
statistics books for additional mathematical theory, conceptual intuition, or
real-world connections, go to the UTEP library circulation desk and ask them to
look under “Lesser”, “stat/math 5385” or “stat 1380.” Also, be aware that there are lots of free
statistics textbooks online that can be consulted as references as well (in
GOOGLE, type: online statistics
textbooks) and there are various resources at www.math.utep.edu/Faculty/lesser/STATResources.html. Please let me know of other resources you
find very helpful that I may not know about.
http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/tools.html#pro
http://illuminations.nctm.org/swr/list.asp?Ref=2&Std=4
http://illuminations.nctm.org/tools/index.aspx
http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/topic_t_5.html
http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/
http://www.amstat.org/education/stn/
http://www.rsscse.org.uk/ts/TBO.html
http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0141-982X
http://www.causeweb.org/research/guidelines/
Our time to do this in our class will be limited, but since you are teachers you will probably want to make probability/statistics connections on your own to the
TEKS (http://www.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter111/index.html), NCTM Standards (http://standards.nctm.org/), PreK-8 Curriculum Focal Points (http://www.nctm.org/standards/content.aspx?id=270), the GAISE PreK-12 Curriculum Framework (http://www.amstat.org/Education/gaise/), and the NCTM Focus of the Year (http://www.nctm.org/profdev/content.aspx?id=12070).
Resource for proper citations: http://libraryweb.utep.edu/db/citing.cfm
Search engine for articles in education: http://www.eric.ed.gov/
Search engines for papers in certain areas of mathematics education:
http://betterfilecabinet.com/cgi-bin/arume.pl
Search engine for papers in probability/statistics education:
http://www.causeweb.org/research/literature/
Search engine for scholarly work: http://scholar.google.com/
Journals that publish mathematics education research:
http://math.la.asu.edu/~hauk/arume/journals.html and
http://www.math.utep.edu/Faculty/lesser/Math_Ed_Journals.xls
Many articles are available in via the UTEP library
http://lib.utep.edu/screens/mainmenu.html or through sites such as http://www.jstor.org
Guidelines for requesting approval for conducting research in school districts:
http://www.math.utep.edu/Student/iagut/ or http://www.math.utep.edu/Faculty/lesser/ResearchApproval.html
UTEP’s Institutional Review Board (IRB): research.utep.edu/Default.aspx?tabid=13100
Technology: Bring a calculator to each class. The one I use/model in class is the TI-84+, so you might also bring an 83 or 84 if you have a choice. You’ll be allowed to use a calculator on quizzes and tests, but still have to be prepared to “show your work” so that I can following your thinking by what you punched in the calculator. [A very simple example: finding the mean of {1, 3, 5}, you can’t just say “3”, but need to write (1 + 3 + 5)/3 = 3.] As logistics and interest allow, we’ll include explorations of how statistics are really computed with technology such as Internet applets, graphing calculators, and software packages such as Minitab or Excel.
You may be interested in some of the options to demo, rent or buy Minitab at
www.e-academy.com/minitab or in the tutorials at http://www.minitab.com/resources/tutorials/default.asp
. Packages also have
built-in “help” and the Internet has lots of support for doing statistics on a
graphing calculator, such as: http://www.geocities.com/calculatorhelp/ti84.htm or
http://www.keypress.com/SIA/instructorResources/CalculatorGuide.html or
http://education.ti.com/educationportal/sites/US/sectionHome/download.html
Academic Integrity: As teachers, I trust you especially appreciate that cheating, plagiarism and collusion in dishonest activities are serious acts which erode the university’s purpose and integrity and cheapen the learning experience for us all. This is also particularly crucial given the ethical challenges statistics presents to those who are tempted to “make the numbers say what they want them to say.” It is expected that work you submit will represent your own effort (or your own group’s effort, if it is a group project) and will not involve copying from or accessing unauthorized people or resources (e.g., projects from previous 5385 students). Violations are unacceptable and will be referred to the Dean of Students Office for possible disciplinary action. Don’t resubmit work completed for other classes without specific acknowledgment and permission from me.
For Group Work: Within a group, members are allowed to divide up subsets of the project for which individuals will take the initial responsibility for coordinating efforts, but it is assumed that by the time a group turns in a writeup that all members have read and understand all parts of what is being turned in. Group members may even discuss general ideas and strategies with members of other groups, but NOT share parts of actual written work. At a minimum, to be safe, put away all written notes and writing materials and recording devices before having any intergroup conversations. And if you still see a “gray area”, play it safe and ask the instructor!
Professionalism: Along with basic standards of citizenship (e.g., “Student Conduct” and “Disruptive Acts Policy” in the UTEP Catalog), students in this course are required to have a collaborative attitude and professionalism. This includes using discretion with cell phones and beepers during class time—if you are truly expecting an urgent call, please let me know, sit near the door to minimize disruption, and put your ringer on “vibrate” not loud music. Or give your family member or child care provider the number for the Bell Hall ACES lab station: 747-8814. That way, you can keep your phone off during class, knowing that lab staff can quickly get you in a true emergency.
And finally, be open to using or sharing opportunities for professional growth beyond this class. For example: the annual GEPCTM fall conference (Oct. 20 at EPCC Transmountain Campus) and the UTEP COE annual fall research symposium (Nov. 19, 4:30-7:30); also, encourage K-12 students to enter the ASA Poster/Project Competitions (by April 1): www.amstat.org/education/index.cfm?fuseaction=k12.
Attendance: Attendance
is taken and required, and is very
important considering that much of this course involves beyond-the-book group
activities or discussions that are virtually impossible to recreate on one’s
own. The instructor may count tardiness
or early departure as a half-absence or even a full absence, depending on what
is missed. If you miss an exam without a
documented strong excuse relayed to me at the earliest opportunity, the score
will be a 0. In general (out of fairness and logistics), late work will not be accepted, and may be subject to a penalty in
the rare cases that it is accepted. If
you miss a class, it’s your
responsibility to:
(1) have a classmate (pick a couple of study buddies NOW if you
need to) give you copies of notes, handouts and announcements (and turn in any
work), AND
(2) let me know by email (Lesser (at) utep.edu) or voicemail
(747-6845) or daytime math dept. fax (747-6502) at the earliest opportunity if the absence might be “excused” or if it may
affect a multiple class meetings or taking a test.
Give me a written note or
email by the 15th day of the semester [Sept. 17] if you will have
absence for religious holy days (which are excused, of course). As the UTEP Catalog says, “When in the judgment of the instructor, a student
has been absent to such a degree as to impair his or her status relative to
credit for the course, the instructor may drop the student from the class with
a grade of “W” before the course drop deadline [Nov. 2] and with a grade of “F”
after the course drop deadline.” To be
specific, more than 2 unexcused absences
may result in an instructor-initiated drop or course grade reduction. On a positive note, a strong record of
attendance will be taken into account if your final average is a few tenths of
a point shy of a letter grade cutoff.
Disabilities:
If you have or believe you have a disability that will require accommoda-tions
or modifications, you may wish to self-identify by contacting the
Disabled Student Services Office (DSSO; 747-5148;
East Union Building room 108; dss@utep.edu; www.utep.edu/dsso/)
to show documentation or register for testing and services. DSSO
will ask you to discuss needed accommodations with me within the first 2 weeks
of the semester or as soon as disability is known, and
at least 5 working days before an exam. DSSO
provides note taking, sign language, interpreter, reader and/or scribe
services, priority registration, adaptive technology, diagnostic testing for
learning disabilities, assistance with learning strategies/tutoring,
alternative testing location and format, and advocacy. All information provided to DSSO is kept
strictly confidential.