PREREQUISITES
None; and no previous computing experience is necessary. Participants will receive a copy of the course notes on the first day.
COURSE OUTLINE
This is an introductory unit in statistical methods with an emphasis on statistical techniques applicable to the social sciences. The approach will be largely non-mathematical, concentrating on concepts rather than mathematical theory. The first part of the course will include numerical and graphical displays for univariate and bivariate data, covering topics such as types of variables, frequency tables, histograms and stem and leaf plots, the median, interquartile range and boxplots, the mean and standard deviation, levels of measurement, scatterplots and tabulated data.
The second part of the course deals with the ideas of inferential statistics. Topics covered include a basic discussion of experimental design and sampling procedures, followed by hypothesis testing for means and proportions, nonparametric methods, one-way analysis of variance, statistical and practical significance, simple linear regression, correlation, tables of counts and the chi-square test.
The statistical package SPSS will be used where appropriate as a teaching tool and computational aid (previous experience is not assumed).
COURSE TEXT
The instructor's detailed course notes will serve as the course text.
RELATED COURSES
Participants in this course are encouraged to enrol in Data Analysis in SPSS as well. These courses are linked to provide a comprehensive introduction to statistical methods and the use of a statistical analysis package. Participants familiar with the use of a package but lacking statistical training should also start with this course.
