Monthly Schedule

(AP Statistics, Period B)

W 3/1/06

HW due: Look at the data file from yesterday, and answer the following question: Did blocking by the rough estimate of vision proficiency accomplish what we hope to achieve by blocking? (Yes or no.) Give a short reason for your answer.

 

Th 3/2/06

HW due: Work on your group project. I will be sending each group leader some customized feedback Wednesday evening to help you hone and revise your methodology.

 

F 3/3/06

Quiz: Memory check on the formula sheet. You will be given a blank copy of the formula sheet and asked a few questions about some of the formulas, much as we did in class yesterday.

Example question: On p. 538, which formula says that the sample mean is an unbiased estimator of the population mean, and what type and size of sample would be needed for this to be a true statement?

Answer: . The formula is true regardless of the sample size n; the only requirement is that the sample must be an SRS. While it is true that the formula appears under the section marked, “If X has a normal distribution . . .,” the assumption of normality is not required here.

Another example question: Is there any real-world data distribution for which the last formula on p. 538 is true?
Answer: Strictly speaking, no, since normality is required. However, in practice, the CLT tells us that the formula is essentially true whenever n is large.

After the quiz, we will spend the remainder of the class in group work. I will be available for consultation and assistance.

 

M 3/6/06

HW due: Work on your group project.

Quiz: Another memory check on the formula sheet. (Only one person earned a perfect score last Friday.)

 

T 3/7/06

HW due: Read pp. 270-276.

There will be no quiz today because of illness. However, report to class as usual for attendance and HW check. You will have most of the period to use for meeting with your group. Again on yesterday’s quiz, there was only one perfect score.

 

W 3/8/06

HW due: Work on your group project.

Two Quizzes: Another memory check on the formula sheet, plus a quiz on the nature and purpose of blocking (as discussed in class Monday and on previous occasions).

 

Th 3/9/06

HW due: Group leaders must provide me with some evidence that data collection is under way. So far I have seen evidence from groups 4 and 6 (Tim’s group and Alex’s group).

Possible Quiz: Formula sheet and/or confidence intervals (through p. 276 only).

 

F 3/10/06

HW due: Read pp. 276-280; write pp. 280-284 #1, 2, 3, 4, 13, 18, 20. Show work for #1, 18, and 20, even though you would of course do #18 as a button-pusher on the AP exam. Also note the following: Your reading notes must be significantly better than average in order to earn credit this time. If you paid attention during class yesterday, you will know exactly what I mean by that.

In class: Meet for roll call and homework check. After 10 minutes (i.e., after all the NCS students have arrived), you will have the remainder of the period to work on your group projects.

 

M 3/13/06

Career Day (no class).

 

T 3/14/06

HW due: Read pp. 293-296.

In class: Pop quiz.

 

W 3/15/06

HW due: Read pp. 296-301.

In class: Another pop quiz is likely.

 

Th 3/16/06

No additional HW due. You need this time to work on your group project. If you would like to read the STAT TESTS handout and the PHA(S)TPC handout, I think you will find them helpful. These readings are optional for now, but later on they will be quizzed as well.

In class: Another pop quiz similar to yesterday’s is likely.

 

F 3/17/05

HW due: Group project, unless you have received written approval for an extension. Reminder: An extension cannot (logically) be for more days than the number of days remaining before the deadline. For example, you can’t request a 3-day extension the night before, since if you were keeping tabs on your milestones, you would have known that you were running 3 days late at least 2 days earlier. I will grant extensions until Monday, 3/20, for people who offer a reason by today. Other extensions will be only under extreme circumstances, to be discussed and negotiated individually.

Your writeups need not be voluminous. In fact, I prefer short, pithy writeups with tables and simple graphs to long, windy piles of bowl-shaped verbiage and full-page information-poor color graphics. Your project report should include the following components, at a minimum:

 

  • Research question
  • Methodology in detail
  • Procedural outcomes / data table (I need to see the raw data!)
  • Findings
  • Conclusion
  • Appendices
    - Signed release forms
    - Instruments (e.g., surveys or IQ tests) used in data collection, if any
    - Group leader report describing in some detail what each person did and recommending a point split


In your findings and conclusion, I would be most impressed if you could use test statistics and compute a P-value, but since we have not done enough examples in class yet, I would understand if you merely discussed statistical significance in qualitative terms. I will not penalize you, for example, if you have to say something like this: “Although we observed a difference of 0.65 in the mean IQ scores between the experimental group and the control group, the difference is small relative to the standard deviations of the two groups and is probably not statistically significant.” Later on in the course, we will refine that wording to something more authoritative, such as the following: “We found no evidence ( = 0.65, t = 0.716, df = 9.975, P = 0.491) that the true mean IQ score of treated subjects differs from control subjects.”

If you wish, you may place your raw data table in an appendix and simply refer to it in the body of the report. The raw data table should contain one row for each experimental unit (or subject, if you used people) and one column for each variable that you measured. Here is an example of the format:

 

 

 

Subject #

Protocol

Quiz 1

Quiz 2

Difference

 

 

 

 

1

1, then 2

85

90

5

 

 

 

 

2

1, then 2

84

83

–1

 

 

 

 

3

2, then 1

90

88

–2

 

 

 

 

4

1, then 2

65

81

16

 

 

 

 

5

1, then 2

77

79

2

 

 

 

 

6

2, then 1

84

51

–33

 

 

 

 

7

2, then 1

80

85.5

5.5

 

 

 

 

8

1, then 2

88

84

–4

 

 

 

 

9

2, then 1

94

94

0

 

 

 

 

10

1, then 2

91

88

–3

 

 

 

 

11

2, then 1

90

92

2

 

 

Rest of month

Spring break.

 

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Last updated: 07 Apr 2006