Lectures

There are three lectures per week.  Students should bring to each lecture a copy of the pdf file of the lecture slides on which to make notes - these will be made available on iLearn in advance of each topic.  Some "pop-ups" will be presented in the lectures which are not available in advance.  All lectures will have an audio and visual recording made, accessible by students via the Echo-360 facility in iLearn.

Tutorials

Students are required to attend one tutorial per week as allocated at enrolment.  It is strongly recommended that you attend your tutorial each week.  You may only attend the tutorial to which you have been assigned.  Tutorials in STAT171 will begin in the second week of classes.

Week 2: tutorials will be held in the computer labs (see iLearn for the room numbers).  The exercises will be available on iLearn by the end of week 1 of teaching, and should be printed and brought to the tutorial.  This tutorial is the only supervised teaching session in the computer labs for STAT171, and will involve using Minitab to analyse some data and Windows software to write a short report.

Weeks 3 – 13 will be held in the tutorial rooms.  The tutorial exercises will be available on iLearn by the end of the previous week and will consist of:

• questions which should have been attempted prior to the tutorial - solutions will be discussed;
• questions denoted (**) indicating “difficult”;
• a “discussion” question for consideration during the tutorials (not available in advance);
• selected textbook and other questions which will normally not be discussed during the tutorial, but a fully worked solution will be made available on iLearn at the end of each week.

There is also available an optional set of recommended extra exercises from the previous textbook (“Introduction to Probability and Statistics”, Ed13, by Mendenhall, Beaver and Beaver), which have check answers in the back.  These have been selected as useful for test and exam revision or to provide further practice at applying the techniques developed in lectures.

Calculators

Each student will need a small calculator, preferably one that does simple statistical calculations (it should have at least mean and standard deviation capability).  You should bring it to all tutorials.  A calculator will also be needed for the mid-session test and the final examination.  You will not be permitted to use a programmable calculator or one with a full alpha character set in any examination.

Textbook

“Statistics” by James McClave and Terry Sincich, Edition 12 (2013).

The text book is available in hardcopy, on-line (via the on-line quizzes in MyStatLab) and in downloadable form.  Please see the separate information sheet (available on iLearn) listing the purchase options available. 

The Library call number for the eleventh (2009) edition is QA276.12 .M4 2009.  Currently there are five copies of edition eleven available for borrowing on the Library shelves.

It is expected that all students will have access to a copy of the textbook.  It is not necessary to bring the textbook to tutorials or lectures.

Other References (Note that many of the older editions of the listed books are also useful references).

Mendenhall, W., Beaver, R. and Beaver, B. ‘Introduction to Probability and Statistics’ (Ed13)     (This book was the STAT171 text book for several years prior to 2010.)               QA276.M425/2009

Ryan, B.F. & Joiner, B.L.,  ‘Minitab Handbook’, (Ed 4)   QA276.4.R9/2001

Devore, Jay L. ‘Probability and Statistics for Engineering and the Sciences’ (Ed 4)   QA273.D46/1995

Devore, Jay L.  ‘Statistics: the exploration and analysis of data’ (Ed 5)  QA273.D48 2005

Moore D.S. & McCabe G.P.,  ‘Introduction to the Practice of Statistics’ (Ed 5)  QA276.12.M65 2006

Griffiths D. et al, (1998)  ‘Understanding Data - Principles and Practice of Statistics’  QA276.G75

Mendenhall, W. & Ott, L.,  ‘Understanding Statistics’ (Ed 3)  QA276.12.M46/1980

Hamilton, Lawrence C.  ‘Modern Data Analysis: a first course in applied statistics’  QA276.12.H355/1990

Clarke, G.M. & Cooke D.  ‘A Basic Course in Statistics’ (Ed 5)  QA276.12.C57 2004

Koopmans L.H.,  ‘Introduction to Contemporary Statistical Methods’, (Ed 2)  QA276.K65/1987

Chatfield, C.,  ‘Statistics for technology: a course in applied statistics’ (Ed 3)  TA340.C45/1983

Huntsberger D.V. & Billingsley, P.,  ‘Elements of Statistical Inference’, (Ed 6)  QA276.12 .H86/1987

Agresti, A. & Franklin, C.  ‘Statistics: the art and science of learning from data’  QA276.12 .A37 2009

Computing and Software

Students will regularly need access to a computer with internet access.  Computers are available in C5C rooms 211, 213, 217 and 219 for those students who do not own their own.  Please see the website  http://mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/informatics/help/ for further information such as opening hours and conditions of use. 

The following software will be used in STAT171:

• Minitab (Version 16):  Macquarie University has a license agreement with Minitab which allows students to download a version of Minitab for their computer.  Information and instructions for downloading are available from the student portal: https://my.mq.edu.au/ .  Click on “Software Downloads” and select “Minitab”.    - NOTE: you will need to download the license file as well as the Minitab software.   - For using Minitab on Mac, please see http://www.minitab.com/en-GB/support/answers/answer.aspx?id=754.

• MyStatLab:  This is the software running the web quizzes.  Please see the information sheet on iLearn with access code purchaing options.  The questions are associated with the text book.  They have been selected to reinforce material introduced in lectures and to give students practice.  They are set at two levels with identical questions (but randomly generated numeric components are used):  (i) Practice (non compulsory) - many attempts are allowed, with interactive help available.  (ii) Assessment (part of assessment) - the higher mark of two attempts is used (no interactive help available). Students should use practice quizzes to become familiar with the questions and confident they understand the concepts prior to completeing the assessment quizzes.  Please note that at both levels, the quizzes may be saved mid attempt and resumed later (within the available time).

Changes from previous delivery

The sub-topic on odds ratios is noe longer covered (as of 2014).

Please refer to information on each assignment regarding submission and return details.  Late assignments will receive zero marks unless approved for special consideration.

Assignments are to be presented on A4 paper, unless otherwise specified.  Some answers may be handwritten (illegible work will not be marked), other questions will need to have word-processed reports submitted.  The requirements will be specified on each assignment.

Please note that marks will be deducted for work submitted late.  The assignment will not be marked unless it is accompanied by a Faculty of Science assignment cover sheet (available on iLearn) which clearly shows your name, your tutor’s name and your tutorial time and makes a declaration that the work is your own.

 Web Quiz Schedule

Due Dates: The eleven web quizzes are due approximately weekly.  Please see the separate schedule of available and due dates and times available on iLearn.

Access: Students need to register with their individual MyStatLab access code.  There are several purchasing options available.  For details regarding these options, please see the separate information sheet on how to register for the on-line quizzes.  This information sheet is available on iLearn.

Guided Tour:  This is highly recommended as MyStatLab has many features to assist students (including “StatCrunch”, a Minitab like tool).

Practice Quizzes

• may be attempted as many times as you like;
• have built in “Help me solve this” and “Show me an example” features;
• are recommended but not compulsory;
• will be made availoable for revision purposes prior tho the exam.

Assessment Quizzes

• may be saved and resumed at any time during the period of availability;
• may only be attempted twice – the higher of the two marks is used in your assessment (if only one attempt is made, that mark is used);
• the best 10 of the 11 assessment quiz marks will be each worth 1% of your overall assessment.

Settings for individual students can only be changed by the lecturer (justification will be required).  Closing dates may be extended as required.  Students will be clearly notified of this via iLearn.