PSY 201: Introduction to Statistics in Psychology

Fall 2015
MWF 11:30 am - 12:20 pm
Peirce Hall, Room 277

Updates

18 December 2015. The final class grades have been posted, along with an assigned letter grade. If you want to see your final exam, you can pick it up from Dr. Francis (next week, perhaps, or next semester).
13 December 2015. I updated the class grades to reflect the final STATLAB, reading, and homework scores.
11 December 2015 Answer keys are available for Exam 1, Exam 2, and Exam 3.
08 December 2015. I have prepared a study guide for the final exam. The exam is cumulative, but I have removed some items from the section exam study guides.
29 November 2015. Scores for the third exam and for reading, homework, and STATLAB assignments are available. The exams can be picked up in class. Scores on Exam 3 are still not great, but the estimated class grade scores are mitigated by the reading, homework, and STATLAB scores (which make up 40% of your grade). Thus, the estimated class grade scores are not so bad (at least on average).
16 November 2015: I updated the study guide for Exam 3 to reflect a new feature. You will have the option to partially replace your score on Exam 2 with the score on Exam 3. On the front page of Exam 3 will be a box. If you check the box, your current Exam 2 score will be replaced by the average of your old Exam 2 score and the score you earn on Exam 3. Thus, if you think you have done better on Exam 3 than on Exam 2, you should check this box. If you think you have done worse on Exam 3 than on Exam 2, you should leave the box unchecked.
09 November 2015. The study guide for the third exam is available.
30 October 2015. I thought it might be helpful for students to look over my answer key for the second exam.
30 October 2015. Scores for the second exam and for reading, homework, and STATLAB assignments are available. The exams can be picked up in class. As discussed in class, the Exam 2 scores dropped your worst two question and then converted the scores into a percentage. The percentage is what is reported. Scores on Exam 2 are bad, but the estimated class grade scores are mitigated by the reading, homework, and STATLAB scores (which make up 40% of your grade). Thus, the estimated class grade scores are not so bad (at least on average).
20 October 2015. I fixed a minor typo and updated a couple of equations for the study guide for the second exam.
12 October 2015. I have prepared a study guide for the second exam.
09 October 2015. The schedule for the final exam has been posted. It will be Thursday, 17 December, 10:30 am - 12:30 pm in Peirce Hall, Room 277 (same as for lectures).
30 September 2015. I modified the binomial calculator in the textbook so that you can complete Questions 17 and 18 in the Chapter 5 exercises. For Question 47, I verified that I had set up the problem correctly in class. Maybe we entered the wrong terms somewhere, or the calculations were done incorrectly.
29 September 2015. Scores for the first exam and for reading, homework, and STATLAB assignments are available. The exams can be picked up in class.
21 September 2015. To help students prepare for Friday's exam, the TA will hold additional office hours on Wednesday from 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm.
16 September 2015. The study guide was updated with the correlation formula that is used by the textbook. I also fixed the problem statement for Question 11 for the Chapter 4 exercises. I also updated the Excel file for the Animal Research Case Study so that it should not produce the rounding problem that we had in class.
15 September 2015. I have prepared a study guide for the first exam.
24 August 2015. During class I mentioned that some equations were not displaying properly for the textbook. I was able to fix it on the textbook. If the problem persists for you, please let me know.
24 August 2015. A room has been found for the TA. It is PRCE 264, which is quite close to the classroom.

Professor

Greg Francis

PSYCH 3186

494-6934

gfrancis@purdue.edu

Office hours: Monday, Wednesday and Friday 10:00-11:00 am

I check my email frequently, feel free to use it for questions and setting up appointments. If you cannot make my office hours, we can schedule for another time.

Class home page
The Internet home page for this course is http://www.psych.purdue.edu/~gfrancis/Classes/PSY201/index.html This class does not use Blackboard.

Text
We will be using a test version of an on-line textbook called IntroStats Online. This is an on-line textbook that requires a login. You will receive information on setting up and registering an account from the instructor. The site includes instructor-provided reading assignments. You will be graded for finishing the readings by the assigned day and time. All reading assignments are due by 10:00 am on the indicated date. It is your responsibility to finish the assignments by the assigned day/time. The reading assignments count as 10% of your class grade.

Homework
The on-line textbook, IntroStats Online, also includes instructor-provided homework assignments from the end-of-chapter problem sets. See the IntroStats Online site for the specific of the home work assignments and their due dates. All homework assignments are due at 11:00 pm on the indicated date. The homework scores will make up 15% of your final grade.

STATLAB assignments
We will use an Internet site called STATLAB Online as an additional source of homework. Lab assignments are listed in the schedule below. These labs are experiments that measure some aspect of your behavior. At the end of each experiment you will need to calculate statistics that are appropriate for the experimental results. You get credit by finishing the experiment and answering all of the statistics questions correctly. Your overall lab grade will make up 15% of your final grade. You must complete the lab (and answer all question correctly) by 11:00 pm on the date indicated to earn credit. You will receive log-in information for STATLAB in class. You will often find that computing the statistics is easiest if you copy and paste the data into a spreadsheet such as Microsoft Excel. If you have not previously used Excel, you may want to look over a tutorial to get started. Sorting is especially useful.

Examinations
There will be three section exams and a final exam. The section exams will be in-class and the final exam will be given during the final exam period. Each exam is worth 15% of your grade. The final exam covers all topics of the course, and it is taken during the scheduled final exam period. Make-up exams will not be permitted unless you check with Dr. Francis at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled exam date to verify that your excuse allows you to take the exam at another time. Missed exams will receive a grade of 0.

Classroom activities
The information you need to complete the assignments is in the textbook. Rather than repeat that material in a class lecture, class periods will be used for answering questions about the concepts in the textbook, working through problems (to finish reading, homework, or STATLAB assignments), and for activities that highlight aspects of statistics and statistical thinking. It is not required for students to attend the class (except for exams, of course), but you will probably find it interesting and useful to be present.

Teaching Assistant

Sara Etienne

PRCE 264

setienn@purdue.edu

Office hours: Monday and Tuesday, 3:30 - 5:00 pm

SCHEDULE
Date	StatLab assignment or exam
September 1	Frequency distribution - Speeded Reaction Time
September 10	Central Tendency - Horizontal Vertical Illusion
September 15	Standard Deviation - Weber’s Law
September 21	Correlation - Lexical Decision
September 25	Exam 1 (study guide)
September 29	Probability - Typical Reasoning
October 6	Standard (z) Scores - Memory Span
October 22	Confidence Intervals - Air Traffic Control
October 26	Exam 2
November 5	One-sample T-test - Ebbinghaus Size Illusion
November 9	Two-sample T-test - Emotional Stroop Effect
November 12	Power and Sample Size - Stroop Effect
November 17	Chi Square Test - Zenner Cards
November 19	Chi Square Test - Levels of Processing
November 23	Exam 3
December 1	One-way ANOVA - Judging Art
December 3	Two-way ANOVA - Flanker Effect
December 8	Two-way Within Subjects ANOVA - Brain Asymmetry
During Final Exam Week	Final Exam