Basic Quantitative

Methods in the Social

Sciences
(AKA Intro Stats)
02-250-01
Lecture 1

Course Outline Highlights!

Instructor:
Office:

Jeremy B. Frank, M.A.

Chrysler Hall South, Room 173-2

Office
Hours:

Wednesdays, 2:00 PM 4:00 PM

Telephone:

253-3000 ext. 2216

E-mail:

stats250@jfrank.sent.com

Class
Times:

Mondays and Wednesdays, 4:00 - 6:50 PM

Class
Location:

Education Building, 1101

Course Outline Highlights!

Course Description: Introduction to
measurement of variables, organization and
description of numerical data, testing
hypotheses, inference, and interpretation of
findings in the Social Sciences. Topics include:
Descriptive statistics, normal distribution,
probability, sampling, hypothesis testing, ttests, correlation, and chi-square tests.

Objectives: By the end of the course, students

should have a basic understanding of how to
interpret numerical data using direct
calculation.

Anti-Requisites
Students cannot receive credit for more
than one introductory statistics course.
The anti-requisites for this course are
65-205 (formerly called 65-253), 65250, 65-251, 73-105, 73-205, and 85222. If you have received credit for any
of these courses, you are not eligible to
receive credit for 02-250. If you are
unsure, contact the Registrars office to
clarify.

Required Textbook
Howell, D. C. (1999). Fundamental
Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences.
4th Ed. Pacific Grove, CA: Duxbury Press.

Recommended Textbook
Kranzler, J. H. (2003). Statistics for the
terrified. 3rd Ed. Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Pearson Education Inc.

Course Webpage
This course has a comprehensive webpage.
You MUST visit this page frequently (at least
once a week), as it is updated regularly
with important information.
The web page is where you will download
lecture slides, read announcements, the
course outline, evaluation details, and see
your grades.
The website address is:
http://www.uwindsor.ca/stats250

Lecture Notes
Approximately one week before each
lecture, Powerpoint slides will be
available on the web. You should
download these slides, and print
them out to bring to each class. If
you do not have them, you will NOT
have time to copy the slides during
the lecture. You should also bring
your lecture slides from the
preceding class to each class.

Course Outline Highlights!

Important Dates:
May 12 First class - 4:00 PM sharp!
May 12 May 19
May 16

Participant pool signup!

Last day to register

May 19

Victoria Day, No Class

June 4

Midterm Examination

June 6

Last day to voluntarily drop

June 16
Sharp!

Assignment due in class at 4:00 PM

June 18 Last class

June 25 Final Examination - 7 - 10pm

Course Outline Highlights!

Written Assignment:
There will be ONE written assignment worth 25% (due
AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS on June 16) consisting
of problems that will resemble problems on the
midterm and final exams. Assignments received after
4:00 PM on the due date will NOT BE ACCEPTED. You
must show all relevant calculations to receive full
marks on these assignments.
If you cannot attend class on June 16, hand the
assignment in to J. Franks mailbox in the Psychology
Department. Please remember to have your
assignment dated and time stamped (i.e., by 4:00 pm
on June 16) and signed by one of the departmental
secretaries.

Course Outline Highlights

All tests are open-book format (i.e., you
may bring your textbook, with any written
notes in the book, but no other outside
material, e.g., photocopied sheets of
paper)
You should also bring pens, pencils, and a
calculator to the Mid-term and Final
exams

Course Outline Highlights

Calculators capable of storing
information entered by the user are not
allowed and sharing of calculators or
other materials (i.e., textbook)
textbook is not
permitted under any circumstances
so dont forget your textbook for the
exams!

You must bring your U of W student ID

Card to the exams

Course Outline Highlights!

Grading Scheme:
One written assignment = 25%
1 Mid-term test = 30% of final grade
Final Examination = 45% of final grade
TOTAL: 100%

Course Outline Highlights!

You may earn up to two bonus
points in this class
You can earn these in two ways:
Participation in research
Completion of a bonus assignment
(described in the course outline)

Sign Up for Participant

Pool!!

see Psychology research first hand!

earn up to 2 bonus points
HOW????
sign up on the web (takes less than 5 minutes):

www.uwindsor.ca/psychology/signup
or access through psych homepage
You MUST sign up by 9:00 am May 19 to be
included

Course Outline Highlights

Attendance: Regular attendance is
strongly advised
Stated differently, this is NOT a course
where you will be able to keep up just by
reading the book and doing the exercises
It is your responsibility to obtain notes for
any missed lectures from a classmate

Course Outline Highlights

Missed Tests: Students MUST take the midterm and
final exams during the scheduled times
If a scheduled test is missed, the student will
receive a grade of zero for that test except in cases
of medical/family emergency or extreme
circumstances (these do not include travel, special
occasions, or job-related scheduling conflicts), in
which case supporting documents (e.g., physicians
note) must be submitted to one of the instructors
within one week following the missed test

Course Outline Highlights

Note: The final exam cannot be rewritten at another time
If it is missed for a valid reason, the
student must apply for aegrotat
standing through the Registrars
Office

Course Outline Highlights

The University Calendar explains
the regulations regarding plagiarism
and other academic dishonesty
It is your responsibility to familiarize
yourself with these regulations

Hints for Stats

Dates for topics covered are
approximate (see the Course
Outline)
Keep up with the work this is a
subject which builds upon itself
dont get left behind

More Hints for Stats

Attend class! It is very easy to be left
behind if you miss classes
You are responsible for all class material
covered and assigned readings.
If you have to miss class, you are
responsible for getting the notes from
another student

HELP CLINIC
Tammy Whitlock, a senior graduate student will be
available on a drop-by first-come-first-serve basis
for extra help in the Statistics Help Clinic. The
clinic is located in Chrysler Hall North, room G134.
You can call the help clinic at 253-3000 ext. 2393
as well during the help clinic hours. The Help Clinic
hours are TBA, and will be posted here as soon as
I know them. Tammy is available for the following:
working on extra practice problems
getting help with what you don't understand
reviewing your assignment and exams
clarification of grades

IMPORTANT NOTE
I am available during my office hours (as
noted above) on a first-come-first-serve
basis. Due to the high enrollment in the
class, any questions or issues about course
content or exams should be directed to
the Help Clinic, and not to myself.
For instance, if you want help understanding
t-tests or if you wish to review your mid-term
exams, you should go to the Help Clinic. If
you miss an exam or if you have a problem
that cannot be dealt with at the Help Clinic,
you should come to my office hours.

More Hints for Stats

Work in groups on practice problems
IMPORTANT NOTE: This class is both
theoretical and applied know how
to calculate formulae and why (i.e.,
test selection well explain this in
the coming weeks)

Final Hint
For many students, you have put this
class off for as long as possible
Try not to get stressed out! This class
is as easy or hard as you make it!
If you put the time in, you will be fine

Finally, Some Math Review

(see Appendix A)
Unless otherwise indicated, the order
of mathematical operations is:
Work within parentheses first
Square or find the square root
Multiply or divide
Add or subtract

Order of Operations
Summary
PEMDAS Please Excuse My
Delayed Assignment Sir
Parentheses
Exponents
Multiply and Divide
Add and Subtract

More Math Review

Perform mathematical operations:
Contained within a set of parentheses ()
first, to find the quantity (2+4) 2 = (6)2 =
36
Also perform operations within the square
root sign first, then take the square root of
the quantity
Perform operations above or below the
dividing line of a fraction prior to dividing

More Math Review

In rounding off decimals, if the first digit is
equal to or greater than 5 (e.g., .7), round
up
In rounding off decimals, if the first digit is
less than 5 (e.g., .3), round down
RULE: While working on a problem, round
your calculations to 4 decimal places.
When reporting your final answer, round
your calculation to 2 decimal places
(unless otherwise directed).

So Lets Get Started!

Definitions
Statistics
Populations and Samples
Parameters and Statistics

Variables
Operational Definitions

Definitions
Statistics (as a discipline): The body of rules
and procedures for describing and
evaluating numerical information
A set of procedures or rules for
a) reducing large masses of data to
manageable portions and
b) allowing us to draw conclusions from those
data

More Statistics
The subject matter of Statistics is
usually divided into 2 broad groups
of techniques and procedures:
Descriptive Statistics
Inferential Statistics

Descriptive Statistics
Descriptive Statistics: The techniques
for organizing, summarizing,
representing and extracting
information from numerical data
These are used to describe data, e.g.:
Average
Standard Deviation

Inferential Statistics
Inferential Statistics: The rules and procedures
for inferring the characteristics of populations
from sample data (inferring parameters from
statistics well explain these later)
These are used to make inferences about a
population, e.g.,
t-test
Correlation

Definitions: Populations
Population: Any defined group of objects,
organisms, or events that youre interested
in
A population must be defined in enough
detail to determine whether to include a
given individual or event
A population contains all members of the
defined group

Example 1: Population of U
of W Statistics Students
This population would be described
as all students enrolled in 02-250
during the 2003 calendar year (so a
student enrolled in 115 Introductory
Psychology would not be part of this
population)

Example 2: Population of
Canadian Teenagers
This population would be described
as all teenagers in Canada between
the ages of 13 and 18
Note: A population is the entire
group you are interested in

More Definitions!
Sample: Any subset of the population,
usually meant to represent the population
If the population was defined as all students
enrolled in 02-250 during all three 2003
calendar year semesters (that is, Fall,
Winter, Intersession 2003), then this class
would be a sample of the population
Population = three 02-250 classes
Sample = this 02-250 class (a subset of the
population)

Samples cont.
If a population was defined as all
teenagers in Canada between the
ages of 13 and 18 then the teenagers
between 13 and 18 in Windsor would
be a sample of this population
Population: All teens in Canada
Sample: All teens in Windsor (a subset of
the population)

Relationship Between
Population and Sample

Samples vs. Populations

While populations are usually large (in
number of events or persons), size is not
the defining characteristic of populations
If you are only interested in the events or
organisms which have been directly
observed (which you have data for), then
those events (or organisms) are considered
the population, regardless of size

Samples vs. Populations

cont.
On the other hand, if you wish to
generalize the findings from an
observed group to events (or
organisms) which have not been
directly observed, then the actually
observed events (or organisms) are
a sample (of a population)

Samples vs. Populations

cont.
E.g., You measure the height of 115
students who you randomly approach in
the CAW Centre. If you wish to simply
state the average height of these 115
people, then they are a population
If, however, you want to estimate the
average height of all U of W students,
students
then these 115 students are a sample of
the population of all U of W students

Sample vs. Population: You

Decide!
Researcher X wants to know how tall the
average University hockey player is. She
measures and records the heights of 30
University of Windsor hockey players.
These 30 athletes are.?
Researcher Y wants to know the average
income of Windsor Liberal party members.
She obtains financial data from all Liberal
party members in Windsor. These data are
from a ..?

Populations vs Samples
cont.
For us to draw accurate conclusions
about a population, our sample
must be representative. In a
representative sample the
characteristics of the sample
accurately reflect the characteristics
of the population

Populations vs Samples
cont.
To obtain a representative sample,
we select a random sample
A random sample allows for all
possible scores in the population to
have the same chances of being
included

Random Sampling
In order to obtain a random sample,
we must use a random sampling
technique, where every data point
has an equal chance of being
selected e.g.:
Coin toss
Random numbers table

Definitions cont.
Parameter: A term which describes or
summarizes a population
E.g., the average age (mean) of all
students enrolled in 02-250 during the
2003 calendar year (the population)
A parameter does one thing: it
describes a population

Definitions cont.
Statistic: A term which describes or
summarizes a sample
E.g., the average age (mean) of students in
this class (as a sample of the population of
all students enrolled in 02-250 during the
2003 calendar year)
A statistic does two things:
1) it describes a sample and
2) it estimates a parameter

Statistics vs. Parameters

It is often impractical to directly
observe and measure every person
or event in a population, so we must
estimate population characteristics
(parameters) using data obtained
from samples (statistics)

Statistics vs. Parameters

cont.
Collecting the age of all students enrolled in
02-250 during the 2003 calendar year would
be very time consuming, so we can take a
sample of those students (this class), collect
their age data, and calculate the average
(mean) age
This average age would then be an estimate
(statistic) of the average age of all students
who have taken 02-250 in the 2003 calendar
year.

Statistics vs Parameters
cont.
Parameter

Statistic

Definitions: Data
Data: Any recordable observations
Data which has not been analyzed is
called raw data

Definitions: Variables
Variable: Any observable property of objects,
organisms, or events which might be of
interest
Used to refer to whatever event we are
interested in observing or knowing more
about (e.g., age, height, weight, GPA,
gender)

Variables and Data

Variables
Qualitative Variable: A variable in which
individuals (or elements) differ because of
possession of some characteristic - they
differ in kind rather than amount (note:
Howell calls this Categorical Data)
This is a classification variable, e.g.,
gender, eye colour, ethnicity, type of
personality
E.g., gender has 2 kinds male and female

More Variables
Quantitative Variable: A variable whose
measurement results in a numerical value
which reflects the amount (or quantity) of
the characteristic (note: Howell calls this
Measurement Data)
e.g., peoples height or weight, reaction
time (something you can measure the
amount of)

Quantitative Variable:
Discrete
Discrete Variable: A variable which can
only assume certain values
Discrete variable data are usually obtained
by counting (e.g., number of students in
this class)
You can have 10 students in the class, but
you cant have 10.7 students in the class
(the number of students cannot be
described with a decimal).

Quantitative Variable:
Continuous
Continuous Variable: A variable which can
assume any value between minimum and
maximum limits
Continuous variable data are usually
obtained by measuring (e.g., someones
height or weight, or the probability of
contracting a disease)

What Type of Variable am

I?

Researcher A wants to know if Political

Science profs take the bridge or tunnel more
often when crossing the border.
This is a qualitative variable because they are
classified as taking either the bridge or the
tunnel (notice how they are classifying the profs
method of crossing the border).

Mother Goose wants to know how far the

average goose flies south in November.
This is a quantitative variable, as she is
measuring the distance traveled. It is also a
continuous variable.

Operational Definitions
Operational Definition: An operational
definition of a variable specifies the measure
taken
If a researcher wants to measure success,
a definition for success is needed:

Operational Definitions
cont.

Success could mean:

amount of money made
job status
level of education completed or
grade point average
number of races won

More Operational Definitions

There are 2 fundamental concepts to an

operational definition:

1. They indicate clearly how the data was

obtained (specifies the measure taken; e.g.,
amount of money made)
2. They are arbitrary devices to represent the
variable of interest (e.g., does amount of
money made adequately encompass the
meaning of the concept success?)