This course introduces basic descriptive and inferential statistics, and various techniques of data analysis. Many students view statistics courses negatively, fearing the math involved (the math involves only basic algebra). Some see statistics used as tools, manipulated to "prove" anything and dismiss ALL statistics as bad (this course will help you weed out the 'good' from the 'bad' statistics). Statistics and statistical thinking are everywhere; you encounter statistics everyday when reading the paper, magazines, or watching the news. Sociologists use statistics to analyze data, to test sociological theories, and to inform public policy makers. As sociology majors, it is important for you to learn how to compute, apply, and interpret the statistical measures covered in class. This course introduces you to both statistics and data analysis--they go hand in hand. We will use technology to our advantage (pencil, paper, calculator, and computer); maintain an open mind about using the computer to help us solve problems. It will be terribly frustrating at first as you learn, but in the long run you will see the advantages. The whole discipline of statistical analysis is centered around being skeptical, questioning assumptions, and rejecting the obvious. This all involves a lot of critical thinking, which is hard, and it involves creativity. You have to think about things that are not right in front of you and imagine ways the data/findings/evidence might be wrong. (Dude, I thought this was just a math class!)
|
Syllabus 
|
 | ||
