MATH 304 Nonparametric Statistics

Fall 2008

Section 001 1:50 to 2:50 M W F

Instructor: Dr. Chris Edwards Phone: 424-1358 or 948-3969 Office: Swart 123

Classroom: Swart 302 Text: Practical Nonparametric Statistics 3^rd edition, by W. J. Conover

Catalog Description: Statistical methods when the functional form of the population is unknown. Emphasis on applications and comparison of methods. One and two sample tests, contingency tables, tolerance limits, confidence intervals for means, tests of significance for some measures of correlation, and K-sample tests. Prerequisite: Mathematics 201 or 301 with a grade of C or better.

Course Objectives: The goal of statistics is to gain understanding from data. This course focuses on critical thinking and active learning. Students will be engaged in statistical problem solving and will develop intuition concerning data analysis, including the use of appropriate technology.

Grading: Final grades are based on 300 points:

	Topic	Points	Tentative Date
Exam 1	Inference and Binomial Tests	70 pts.	October 3
Exam 2	Contingency Tables and Rank Tests	70 pts.	November 3
Exam 3	Regression, ANOVA, and K-S Tests	70 pts.	December 12
Homework	10 Points Each	90 pts.	Weekly

Homework: I will collect several homework problems approximately once a week. The due dates are listed on the course outline below. While I will only be grading a few problems, I presume that you will be working on many more than just the ones I assign. I suggest that you work together on the homework for this class. What I expect is a well thought-out, complete discussion of the problem. Please don’t just put down a numerical answer; I want to see how you did the problem. (You won’t get full credit for just numerical answers.) The method you use is much more important to me than the final answer.

Office Hours: Office hours are times when I will be in my office to help you. There are many other times when I am in my office. If I am in and not busy, I will be happy to help. My office hours for Fall 2008 semester are 10:20 to 11:00, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and 3:00 to 4:00 Tuesday, or by appointment.

Philosophy: I strongly believe that you, the student, are the only person who can make yourself learn. Therefore, whenever it is appropriate, I expect you to “discover” the statistics we will be exploring. I do not feel that “lecturing” to you will teach you how to do statistics. I hope to be your “guide” while we learn some statistics, but you will need to do the learning. The textbook we will be using for this class will require you to actually read it to master the material.

My idea of teaching / learning is not “Teaching is telling and learning is listening”. I believe that you must be active in the learning process to learn well. My job as a teacher, therefore, is not to tell you the answers to the problems we will encounter; rather it is to point you in a direction that will allow you to see the solutions yourselves. To accomplish that goal, I will work to find different interactive activities for us to work on. Your job is to use me, to use your text, to use your friends, and any other resources. Keep in mind that the goal is to learn statistics, not to pass the exams. (Incidentally, if you have truly learned the material, the exam results will take care of themselves.)

	Homework 1, due September 12		Chapter 1: 6, 8, 11, 14 pages 64-66
	Homework 2, due September 22		Chapter 2: 1, 2, 3, 4 pages 119-120
	Homework 3, due October 1		Chapter 3: 2, 4, 7, 9 pages 250-264
	Homework 4, due October 17		Chapter 4: 2, 4 pages 195-196 2, 4 pages 216-217
	Homework 5, due October 24		Chapter 4: 1, 3, 5, 11 pages 260-264
	Homework 6, due October 31		Chapter 5: 2, 4 pages 286-287 2, 4 pages 298-299
	Homework 7, due November 19		Chapter 5: 2 page 310 2 page 329 2 page 343 2 page 349
	Homework 8, due December 1		Chapter 5: 2, 4 page 365 2, 4 pages 385-386
	Homework 9, due December 3		Chapter 6: 2, 4 pages 441-442 2, 6 pages 454-455
Monday		Wednesday		Friday
September 1 No Class		September 3 Counting & Probability Sections 1.1 and 1.2		September 5 Random Variables Section 1.3
September 8 Continuous Random Variables Sections 1.4 and 1.5		September 10 Populations and Samples Section 2.1		September 12 Homework 1 Due Estimation and Testing Sections 2.2 and 2.3
September 15 More Testing Sections 2.4 and 2.5		September 17 The Binomial Test Section 3.1		September 19 The Quantile Test Section 3.2
September 22 Homework 2 Due More Quantile Tests Section 3.2		September 24 Tolerance Limits Section 3.3		September 26 The Sign Test Section 3.4
September 29 Variations Section 3.5		October 1 Homework 3 Due Review		October 3 Exam 1
October 6 2x2 Contingency Tables Section 4.1		October 8 2x2 Contingency Tables Section 4.1		October 10 rxc Contingency Tables Section 4.2
October 13 rxc Contingency Tables Section 4.2		October 15 The Median Test Section 4.3		October 17 Homework 4 Due Measures of Dependence Section 4.4
October 20 The Chi-Squared Test Section 4.5		October 22 Cochran’s Test Section 4.6		October 24 Homework 5 Due Wilcoxon’s Test Section 5.1
October 27 Wilcoxon’s Test Section 5.1		October 29 The Kruskal-Wallis Test Section 5.2		October 31 Homework 6 Due Review
November 3 Exam 2		November 5 Tests for Variances Section 5.3		November 7 Measures of Correlation Section 5.4
November 10 Measures of Correlation Section 5.4		November 12 Nonparametric Regression Section 5.5		November 14 Monotonic Regression Section 5.6
November 17 The Signed Ranks Test Section 5.7		November 19 Homework 7 Due The Signed Ranks Test Section 5.7		November 21 The Friedman Test Section 5.8
November 24 Other Tests Section 5.8		November 26 No Class		November 28 No Class
December 1 Homework 8 Due The Kolmogorov Test Section 6.1		December 3 The Kolmogorov Test Section 6.1		December 5 Test for Families Section 6.2
December 8 The Smirnov Test Section 6.3		December 10 Homework 9 Due Review		December 12 Exam 3

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Last updated August 26, 2008