ED 602

Statistical Research for Behavioral Sciences

Brian G. Smith, Ph.D.
 
Instructor: Dr. Brian G. Smith  
Office: Lommen 214 G
Email: smithb@mnstate.edu
Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday -- 10:00am -12:00pm & 1:00pm - 4:00pm
 
Nature of the Course:

This course is designed to help students acquire the necessary statistical skills needed to conduct and be critical consumers of scientific educational research. It is a course aimed at producing careful and accurate researchers as well as astute readers of professional manuscripts and articles from a wide variety of educational settings. The basic areas to be covered in this course will include measurement and descriptive statistics, frequency distributions, measure of central tendency, measures of dispersion, standard normal distributions, and standard scores. The more advanced topics will include correlation, regression, hypothesis testing, “t” tests, and analysis of variance (ANOVA)

 
Structure of the Course:

This is a hybrid course; most of the material and assessment is on line, but some aspects of the course will require a visit to campus. As an online course, it is possible to take advantage of technology and create a learning environment that allows for variability among students while efficiently covering all the material. The lessons are set up to be complete on a weekly basis-one for each week of the winter/spring semester. This schedule will faster when the course is offered in the summer.

The  primary advantage of the course is that you may proceed at your own pace in your chosen location up to the midterm and the final. Midterm and final assessments must done at Minnesota State University Moorhead under the control of a course administrator. (Either Dr. Smith or his assistant). These exams will be given during the university scheduled midterm and final exam weeks each semester. If a student has completed the required lessons to take the midterm or final early, exams will be given individually by appointment with the instructor. For students working at the course established pace, all lessons up to midterm and then the final must be completed by the date of the exam.

Secondly, this course contains multiple options for the same material presented in ways relevant to the area of study of most of the students. Each lesson contains three different versions of homework: Counseling and Student Affairs; Education Leadership; and Special Education. Each version uses separate samples of homework relevant to that area of study throughout the course. Any student may may do the assignments from any area. It is recommended to try more than one area prior to taking the lesson final quiz.

Each lesson requires a 100% on the final quiz before allowing the student to proceed to the next lesson. If a students fails on the first attempt, they are allowed to try a second time. If the student fails on the second attempt, the instructor is automatically notified and remedial action will be taken.
 
Required Text:

Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences, 6th Ed., Gravetter, Frederick & Wallnau, Larry; Thomson/Wadsworth Publishers, Belmont CA.    ISBN:0-534-60246-0 

 

Graduate Expectations:

It is expected that this course will challenge the participant to expand their present and past experiences in the field of education to include a scientific approach to their field. This course should build on and be integrated into the program courses and field research of each participant’s advanced degree program. A scientific approach to research is fairly rigid with specific procedures designed to investigate professional questions that grow from practitioner observations. It is this inquisitiveness that will be maximized in this course. Prior knowledge of statistics is not necessary. An open mind is necessary.

 

Course Objectives:
The curriculum and methods of instruction are carefully selected to facilitate the acquisition of the following learning objectives:

  • Understand the basic statistical tools that are commonly used in educational research.
  • Know the appropriate methods for analyzing statistical data.
  • Recognize situations in which parametric or nonparametric tests should be applied.
  • Know how to conduct some specific parametric and nonparametric tests.
  • Be able to employ statistics in order to answer specific research questions.
 

 

Grading:
  
Discussion Leader 10%
Quizzes 20%
Midterm 30%
Final Exam 40%

 
 
 

Special Accommodations:
Special accommodations can be made for students who have disabilities that represent a barrier to full participation in this course. If you think you may have a disability, please contact the instructor at your convenience for consultation. Keep in mind, however, that this is an on line course, and accomodations may be limited. This course is also offered in a regular classroom setting.

Back to Top

Course Outline:

Lesson
Topic of Study
Readings
Objectives
1
 Intro, Why Stats, Why Ed Research Chapter 1 * Understand what is Statistics.
* Understand why Statistics are necessary.
2
 Basic Concepts and Symbols in Stats Chapter 2 * Understand the science of Statistics.
* Define populations and samples.
* Describe various sampling methods.
* Detect biases in samples.
3
 Ethical issues in Stats and Research Web Based * Understand the ethical issues involved in statistics and research.
* Critically examine existing research.
4
 Freq. Dist., %tile ranks, graphing Chapter 3 * Create frequency distributions of grouped and ungrouped scores.
* Present frequency distributions graphically.
* Analyze shapes of frequency distributions.
* Calculate percentiles and percentile ranks
5
 Measures of Central Tendency Chapter 4 * Calculate the mode, median and mean of a sample.
* Compare the mode, median and mean of a sample.
* Draw conclusions about a sample from comparisons of the mode, median, and mean.
6
 Measures of Variability Chapter 5 * Calculate various range measures of a sample.
* Calculate the Standard Deviation of a sample.
* Calculate the Variance of a sample.
* Draw conclusions about a sample based on measures of variability.
7
 Normal Curve, Standard Scores Chapter 6 * Understand the concept of a normal distribution.
* Draw and label a standard normal curve.
* Calculate a z-score.
* Calculate the percentage of scores above or below a given score.
Midterm
  
On Campus
8
 Correlation Chapter 13 * Draw scatterplots.
* Discuss the relationship between 2 variables based on the scatterplots.
* Calculate the Pearson Correlation Coefficient (Pearson r) for 2 variables.
* Test the statistical significance of the Pearson r.
* Report the results of a correlational study in laymanís terms.
* Calculate the Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient for curvilinear relationships.
9
 Regression Chapter 14 * Plot a regression line.
* Predict scores from a regression line.
* Calculate the amount of error in a prediction from a regression line.
* Discuss how the concept of regression toward the line affects predicted scores.
10
 Inferential Statistics Chapter 7/8 * Calculate the standard error of the mean.
* Understand the difference between mathematical difference and statistically significant difference between means.
* Use the z-test to test a hypothesis
11
 One sample T- Tests and Confidence Intervals Chapter 8 * Use a one sample t-test for testing a hypothesis.
* Report findings from a t-test in an appropriate format.
* Construct confidence intervals for a population mean.
* Interpret t-test results in a clear and concise manor.
12
 Two group T- Tests Chapter 9 * Describe the basic research process.
* Use a two sample t-test for hypothesis testing.
* Understand the concept of power in statistics.
* Understand the difference between Type I and Type II errors.
13
 One factor ANOVA (between subjects) Chapter 10 * One factor ANOVA between subjects
14
 Two factor ANOVA (between subjects) Chapter 11 * Two factor ANOVA between subjects
15
 One factor ANOVA (with-in subjects)  Chapter 12 * One factor ANOVA within subjects design
 
Final Exam
  
On Campus
 This is meant as a roadmap for the course. Changes may be made without notice.
Back to Top