| Week 1: Introduction |
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| 1 |
Course overview; epistemological foundations; math review |
|
| 2 |
What's in a number?; basic numeracy; measurement |
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| Week 2: Planning numbers; descriptive statistics |
Problem set 1 due |
| 3 |
The use of numbers in planning |
|
| 4 |
Variables; samples and populations; measures of central tendency |
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| Week 3: Talking about distributions |
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| 5 |
Measures of variability |
|
| Lab 1 |
Computer lab #1: getting to know Stata (or R); data management |
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| Week 4: Asking and answering questions with data |
Written assignment 1 due |
| 6 |
Exploratory data analysis and visualization |
|
| 7 |
Logic, experiment, and the scientific method |
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| Week 5: Probability and the normal curve |
Problem set 2 due |
| 8 |
Basic probability |
|
| 9 |
The normal curve; sampling |
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| Week 6: Inferential statistics |
|
| 10 |
Estimates and confidence intervals |
|
| 11 |
The idea of a statistical test; non-parametric tests |
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| Lab 2 |
Computer Lab #2: exploratory data analysis |
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| Week 7: Computers and data |
|
| 12 |
Midterm exam |
|
| 13 |
Statistical software; data management |
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| Week 8: Introduction to bivariate/multivariate data |
|
| 14 |
Cross-tabulations; χ2 tests |
|
| 15 |
Scatterplots; correlation; cause and effect; confounding variables |
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| Lab 3 |
Computer Lab #3: Statistical tests; scatterplots |
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| Week 9: Simple regression |
Written assignment 3 proposal due |
| 16 |
Simple regression |
|
| 17 |
The assumptions of regression analysis |
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| Week 10: Multivariate regression |
|
| 18 |
Multivariate regression |
|
| 19 |
Review/slack; presentation and graphs |
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| Week 11: Particulars of planning data and questions |
Written assignment 2 due |
| 20 |
The census |
|
| Lab 4 |
Computer lab #4: Regression; computer clinic |
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| Week 12: Dealing with dollars; making decisions |
|
| 21 |
Talking about money |
|
| 22 |
Decision trees, expected utility, cost-benefit analysis |
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| Week 13: Review; slack; additional critical thinking |
Written assignment 3 due |
| 23 |
Predictions and uncertainty; representing risk |
|
| 24 |
Return to research design; review |
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