Docsity
Docsity

Prepare for your exams
Prepare for your exams

Study with the several resources on Docsity


Earn points to download
Earn points to download

Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan


Guidelines and tips
Guidelines and tips

Sociology 702: Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis - Fall, 2007 - Prof. Michael A, Papers of Introduction to Sociology

Information about sociology 702, a university course titled 'introduction to statistics and data analysis', offered in the fall of 2007. The course is taught by professor michael a. Malec and covers various topics in statistics and data analysis using the statistical package for the social sciences (spss). Students are required to complete homework assignments, prepare two research papers, and adhere to academic integrity policies.

Typology: Papers

Pre 2010

Uploaded on 08/26/2009

koofers-user-or5
koofers-user-or5 🇺🇸

0

(1)

10 documents

1 / 3

Toggle sidebar

This page cannot be seen from the preview

Don't miss anything!

bg1
SOCIOLOGY 702
INTRODUCTI ON TO STATISTICS AND DATA ANALYSIS
FALL, 2007
DRAFT COPY
Professor Michael A. Malec Assistant: Gretchen Sisson
Office: McGuinn 402 McGuinn 410-D
Office Hours: TBA Office Hours: TBA
Mailbox is in McGuinn 426 Mailbox in room 410 is #59
Phone: 617-552-4131 617-552-8413
E-mail: malec@bc.edu sissong@bc.edu
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
1. There will be 8-10 homework assignments. These will typically involve some computer
analysis using the Statistical Package for the Social Sci ences (SPSS). This work will constitute
thirty percent (30 %) of your course grade. It is ESSENTIAL that this work is done ON TIME,
which I define as 3:00 pm on the date due, unless otherwise noted. Late papers will lose 1 point
(of a possible 10) of the grade per calendar day.
2. Each student will prepare two 9-12 page papers base d on independent analysis of data on a
topic chosen by the student. A more detailed description of this requirement will be given later.
Paper 1 is due October 19 at 3:00 PM. (30% of cours e grade)
Paper 2 is due December 15 at 3:00 PM. (40% of cou rse grade)
Late papers will be penalized 3 (or 4) points (of a possible 30 or 40) per calendar day.
NOTE: For both Papers 1 and 2, except for catastrophic medical or grievous personal reasons, I
will NOT grant extensions.
COURSE TEXTS:
Required:
Denise F. Polit DATA ANALYSIS AND ST ATISTICS
Recommended Supplementary Reading:
Norusis, Marija J. SPSS 14.0 (or 13.0 or 12.0) GUIDE TO DATA ANALYSIS
Several other books may be of use for reference purposes. They are on reserve in O'Neill Library,
as are the required texts. They are:
J. Levin & J. Fox, ELEMENTARY STATIS TICS IN SOCIAL RESEARCH
HA29.L388
J. Hedderson, S PSS MADE SI MPLE HA32.H43
Michael A. Malec, ESSENTI AL STATISTICS FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH
(2nd ed.) H61.M4224
GENERAL SOCIAL SURVEYS: CUMUL ATIVE CODEBOOK HN29.N33
Also on reserve, and perhaps of use for the term papers, is:
T. Smith and B.J. Arnold, ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PAPERS
USING THE GENERAL SOCIAL SURVEY HA155.S55
TOPICS AND READINGS
Dates are subject to change
Additional topics may be added as time allows
pf3

Partial preview of the text

Download Sociology 702: Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis - Fall, 2007 - Prof. Michael A and more Papers Introduction to Sociology in PDF only on Docsity!

SOCIOLOGY 702

INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICS AND DATA ANALYSIS

FALL, 2007

DRAFT COPY

Professor Michael A. Malec Assistant: Gretchen Sisson Office: McGuinn 402 McGuinn 410-D Office Hours: TBA Office Hours: TBA Mailbox is in McGuinn 426 Mailbox in room 410 is # Phone: 617- 552 - 4131 617 - 552 - 8413 E-mail: malec@bc.edu sissong@bc.edu COURSE REQUIREMENTS :

  1. There will be 8-10 homework assignments. These will typically involve some computer analysis using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). This work will constitute thirty percent (30%) of your course grade. It is ESSENTIAL that this work is done ON TIME, which I define as 3:00 pm on the date due, unless otherwise noted. Late papers will lose 1 point (of a possible 10) of the grade per calendar day.
  2. Each student will prepare two 9-12 page papers based on independent analysis of data on a topic chosen by the student. A more detailed description of this requirement will be given later. Paper 1 is due October 19 at 3:00 PM. (30% of course grade) Paper 2 is due December 15 at 3:00 PM. (40% of course grade) Late papers will be penalized 3 (or 4) points (of a possible 30 or 40) per calendar day. NOTE: For both Papers 1 and 2, except for catastrophic medical or grievous personal reasons, I will NOT grant extensions. COURSE TEXTS: Required: Denise F. Polit DATA ANALYSIS AND STATISTICS Recommended Supplementary Reading: Norusis, Marija J. SPSS 14.0 (or 13.0 or 12.0) GUIDE TO DATA ANALYSIS Several other books may be of use for reference purposes. They are on reserve in O'Neill Library, as are the required texts. They are: J. Levin & J. Fox, ELEMENTARY STATISTICS IN SOCIAL RESEARCH HA29.L J. Hedderson, SPSS MADE SIMPLE HA32.H Michael A. Malec, ESSENTIAL STATISTICS FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH (2nd ed.) H61.M GENERAL SOCIAL SURVEYS: CUMULATIVE CODEBOOK HN29.N Also on reserve, and perhaps of use for the term papers, is: T. Smith and B.J. Arnold, ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PAPERS USING THE GENERAL SOCIAL SURVEY HA155.S TOPICS AND READINGS Dates are subject to change Additional topics may be added as time allows
  1. INTRODUCTION; USING SPSS (Week of Sept. 4) Objectives: to learn some of the basics of SPSS programming; to submit an SPSS run. Reading: Handouts as assigned or distributed Polit, Chs. 1-2; Norusis, Chs. 1, 2 and 7
  2. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS (Sep. 11, 18) Objectives: to be able to use, and interpret the output of, the FREQUENCIES and DESCRIPTIVE procedures in SPSS. Topics Considered: level of measurement (nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio), histograms, measures of central tendency, measures of dispersion, percentiles, Z scores, mean, median, mode, variance, standard deviation, standard error, skewness, range, the normal distribution. Other topics as deemed appropriate. Reading: Norusis, Chs 3-6 and 10; Polit, Ch. 3; Levin & Fox (L&F), Chs. 1-6 (esp. 5 and 6); Malec, Chs. 1- 4
  3. DIFFERENCES IN MEANS (Sept. 25, Oct. 2, 9, 16) Paper 1 is due Friday, October 19 at 3:00 PM (30% of course grade). Late papers will be penalized 3 points (of a possible 30) per calendar day. Objectives: to be able to use, and interpret the output of, the T-TEST and ONEWAY procedures. Topics Considered: probability; sampling distribution, samples vs populations, simple random samples vs other types of samples; the research hypothesis, the null hypothesis, directional vs nondirectional research hypotheses; alpha and the critical region; Type I vs Type II error; statistical significance vs substantive significance, sampling distribution of the mean, confidence intervals, one-tailed vs two-tailed tests; the t-test; equal (or pooled) variance estimate vs unequal (or separate) variance estimate; simple one-way analysis of variance. Other topics as deemed appropriate. Reading: Norusis, Chs. 9 and 12-14; Polit, Chs. 6-7; L&F, Chs. 10 and 11; Malec, Ch. 7
  4. CROSSTABULATION AND MEASURES OF ASSOCIATION (Oct. 23, 30) Objectives: to be able to use, and interpret the output of, the CROSSTABS procedure, to understand the distinction between a measure of association and a test of significance, to understand the concept of statistical inference and the uses and misuses of tests of significance. Topics Considered: measures of association (nominal measures, Chi-Square, PRE measures, ordinal measures; the elaboration paradigm (explanation, interpretation, specification, spurious relationships, suppresser variables); main and interaction effects in crosstabs tables. Other topics as deemed appropriate.