Basic Statistics &
Statistics for Everyday Life
Lab
Information – Spring 2007
Introduction
Statistics involves the collection and analysis of
data in order to address real questions.
These weekly lab activities have been designed to give you an experience
of how Statistics is used in actual practice.
Therefore you will be working as a “researcher” on an ongoing project
throughout the semester. You and your
project teammates will be posing research questions, gathering relevant data,
and then analyzing the data using the techniques you will be learning in the
lab and in the lecture part of the course.
Minitab
Since most researchers and statisticians use
statistical software to carry out their analyses, you will learn how to use Minitab for this purpose. There are a number of statistical software
packages on the market, but Minitab is relatively easy to learn, and it is the
software most commonly used with introductory statistics courses.
Computer Work
In addition to Minitab, we will use the lab computers
for several other tasks that are associated with research investigations. We will be accessing existing data sets, as
well as saving our own data on USB drives/floppy disks. We will prepare reports using Microsoft Word. Students who are already proficient at such
computer tasks should be able to complete these activities more quickly than
those who are relatively new to the computer.
However, no prior computer experience is required.
Lab Protocol
For most of the lab sessions, you will receive a
set of written instructions. As you
proceed through the instructions, you will come to places where you are
referred to the questions on WebCT. You
must have a UANET ID to access WebCT. You
have to input the answers from MINITAB in WebCT. Please be reminded that in
order to get full credit, you have to put the exact value from MINITAB
in WebCT. Your score on each lab will be calculated by WebCT. Upon completion
of the lab exercise, you will turn in the written instructions for the next
class that comes in after you. The labs are designed so that each student may
proceed at his or her own pace and that almost everyone should be able to
finish in the allotted time. If you have
questions or run into difficulty, please ask the lab instructor for assistance.
Also, feel free to discuss (lab-related) issues with your neighbors in the
lab.
Grading
Lab work will be graded for completion and
accuracy.
Labs: Seven
@ 10 points each. (WebCT will be responsible for grading these labs.)
Project:
Phase I – 10 points, Phase
II – 20 points. (All team members receive the same score.)
Total:
100
points (These points will be added to your Lecture grade)
Making up Missed Labs
If you miss a scheduled lab session, it is your
responsibility to make up the work during an “open lab” week. We will have two open lab weeks throughout
the semester. The first will be the week
of February 19. During that week, you
can come in and make up any of the first 3 labs that you missed. However, after the open week, labs 1 through
3 will be closed and will not be available to be made up. The second open lab week will be the week of April
23. In that week, you can make up labs 4
through lab 7. However, again, if you do
not make up missed labs this week, they will be closed and no longer available
thereafter.
Student Responsibilities
̃
Make
sure that you have a UA Net ID and know your password.
̃
Attend
the lab session that you have registered for, each week and be there on time.
̃
Participate & communicate with your teammates on the
projects.
̃
Ask
questions when in doubt; seek help if you are stuck.
̃
Contact
your instructor regarding difficulties, such as extended illnesses, non-participating
project teammates, etc.
̃
Contact
the lab coordinators, Justin Kimmel (jck1@uakron.edu) or Gaurab Mahapatra
(gm2@uakron.edu), regarding issues that cannot be resolved by your lab
instructor.
Lab Web Page
For lab information, including all handouts, visit
our web page –
http://gozips.uakron.edu/~gm2/bsl.htm