Math 141 - Introductory Statistics- Spring 2008

Reading Assignments

All assignments are from Intro Stats by De Veaux and Velleman, 2004 edition.

For January 28

Chapter 1 Stats Starts Here
Chapter 2 Data
Chapter 12 Sample Surveys
Chapter 13 Experiments
Chapter 3 Displaying Categorical Data
Chapter 4 Displaying Quantitative Data

To read : Skim Chapters 1 and 2 to remind yourself of the first day of class
Read all of Chapters 12, 13, 3, and 4, although you can skip the optional section in Chapter 4 that begins on page 44

Reading Questions :

1. Explain the difference between a population parameter and a sample statistic.
2. Explain the advantages of an experiment over a retrospective study.
3. Describe the shape of the distribution given in Exercise 7 of Chapter 4 on page 50.

For February 4

Chapter 5 Describing Distributions Numerically
Chapter 6 The Standard Deviation as a Ruler and the Normal Model

To read : All

Reading Questions :

1. Give the median and interquartile range of the following data set.
   7, 9, 12, 19, 4, 1, 10, 12, 13
   
2. Give an example where the median is a better measure of the center of a distribution than the mean. Explain.
3. Why would you want to standardize a data set?

For February 11

Chapter 18 Sampling Distribution Models
Chapter 19 Confidence Intervals for Proportions

To read : All

Reading Questions :

1. What does each data point in a sampling distribution represent?
2. In a couple of sentences, explain the idea of the Central Limit Theorem in your own words.
3. In two or three sentences, explain the idea of a confidence interval for a parameter in your own words.

For February 18

Chapter 19 Confidence Intervals for Proportions
Chapter 20 Testing Hypotheses about Proportions

To read : Reread Chapter 19, and read all of Chapter 20

Reading Questions :

1. What is a null hypothesis?
2. What does the p-value tell you about the null hypothesis?

For February 25

No Reading Assignment because of Exam 1 on Wednesday.

For March 3

Chapter 20 Testing Hypotheses about Proportions
Chapter 21 More about Tests
Chapter 23 Inferences about Means

To read : Reread Chapter 20
Read Chapter 21 (you can skip the sections on pp 399-400) and Chapter 23

Reading Questions :

1. Explain the difference between a Type I and Type II error.
2. Why do we need to use the Student's t-test rather than the techniques from Chapter 20?

For March 17

Chapter 22 Comparing Two Proportions
Chapter 24 Comparing Means

To read : All

Reading Questions :

1. What is the purpose of Chapter 22?
2. What is the difference between a two-sample t-test and a pooled t-test?

For March 24

Chapter 25 Paired Samples and Blocks
Chapter 26 Comparing Counts

To read : All

Reading Questions :

1. Explain the difference between a paired t-test and a two sample t-test. Give examples to explain when you would use one over the other.
2. What does the chi-square statistic measure? Explain the idea in your own words in a couple of sentences.

For March 31

Chapter 28 Analysis of Variance

To read : All, but you can skip the section on Bonferroni multiple comparisons

No Reading Questions for this week.

For April 7

No Reading Assignment because of Exam 2 on Wednesday.

For April 14

Chapter 7 Scatterplots, Association, and Correlation
Chapter 8 Linear Regression
Chapter 9 Regression Wisdom

To read : All

Reading Questions :

1. What is the purpose of regression?
2. What does the correlation coefficient r measure?
3. What is a residual?

For April 21

Chapter 29 Multiple Regression

To read : All

Reading Questions :

1. How does multiple regression differ from the linear regression models we discussed in Chapter 8?
2. What is the advantage of multiple regression over the models from Chapter 8?