At 12:45 AM 12/23/2000 -0600, Jim Clark wrote:
>scheme of things. It is impossible to teach anything well in a
>short course if you try to teach too much, and it is simply
>impossible to include all of the things that could (not should)
>be taught about stats.
This is the other issue I've been having. I've been looking at what others
have been teaching in the course, and have noticed some gaps that I feel
should be addressed (e.g., discussion of effect sizes, power, etc.) I can't
really fault the people who have been teaching the course for a variety of
reasons, but I know the that the approach has to change some how... (This
was also my attitude when I began teaching the methods course.) My question
now is what SHOULD be included. Here's what I have thus far (in no
particular order):
Why we use statistics, brief history, etc.
Scales of Measurement
Populations vs samples
Central Tendency
Mean, Median, Mode
Variablity
Range, IQR, Semi-IQR, variance, standard deviation, etc.
Probability
Z- Scores
correlation
pearson
spearman
pt-biserial
phi
part & partial
simple regression
single sample t-test
independent measures t-test
dependent measures t-test
1 factor, ind. meas. ANOVA
1 factor, repeated measures ANOVA
2 factor, ind. meas. anova
mixed anovas
chi-square
nonparametric alternatives
mann whitney u
wilcoxon
kruskal-wallace
power
confidence intervals
effect sizes
graphing
SPSS
entering data, saving data
calculating descriptives
calculating t, anova, chi-square, etc.
interpreting output from different procedures
I'll have them twice a week for an hour and 15 minutes over 14 weeks. I
already know that I'm going to have to scale things back, but I also feel
that one reason so little is taught in the course currently is an
underestimation of the ability of our students. (New university admission
requirements and requirements to get into the major have raised the quality
of students slightly over the past few years, of course I'm probably
overestimating their ability.)
I'm currently thinking of how I can incorporate the SPSS along with the
hand calculations. The room I'll be teaching in has 12 machines around the
perimeter, so I'm thinking I might split the class in half (approx
enrollment of 30 students). That way I can have half working with SPSS
while the other half calculates by hand... then have them switch off. And
I'm going to try and incorporate some of the trivial knowledge about stats
in along the way... like while Carl Pearson changed his name to Karl...
basically, trying to keep the human interest side of things going... I have
been putting notes from other courses on-line since my second semester of
teaching (intro in 97, methods in 98) so I do plan on doing that as well.
I'm going to tell them on the first day that I don't expect them to
memorize formulas, but I do expect them to be able to explain the concepts
of different procedures.
My main goals are to make students realize that stats doesn't have to be
intimidating, that it is useful, and that they are capable of doing it. Oh,
and since I'll be seeing most of them again in the fall for the methods
course, I want to be sure and prepare them with what I feel they should
know when coming into that course...
Any thoughts, comments, etc. are welcome...
- Marc
G. Marc Turner, MEd
Lecturer & Head of Computer Operations
Department of Psychology
Southwest Texas State University
San Marcos, TX 78666
phone: (512)245-2526
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
