Syllabus

Course: Statistics computer lab for Statistics and Methods I 3435; Spring 2024

Instructor: Robert F. Corwyn, Ph.D. email: rbflynn@ualr.edu

Stabler Hall, Room 502D

The Getting Started tab on the main homepage of this Wix site is part of this syllabus.

Required textbook: There is not a textbook specifically for the 1-hour statistics lab, but your primary instructor does require a textbook (see the syllabus for your section of psych 3435). Some of the assignments will pertain to information in the psych 3435 textbook. The textbook is David Howell’s textbook in Mindtap (see syllabus and Blackboard for your psyc 3435 class).

Prerequisite: MATH 1302 or 1315 or equivalent.

Statistics lab content and purpose: This one-hour statistics lab is designed to supplement your statistics course. The goal is to give students experience working with data, using statistical software (either R or Excel). We will primarily perform tasks that are covered in chapters 1-10 in the textbook, but there will be a few instances in which the instructions will make points that are covered in later chapters of the textbook.

It is very important to use your UALR email to create your user account in Wix (see instructions on the Wix home page). If you do not sign up with your UA Little Rock email account, you may not receive important messages and you will not be able to access the assignments on the Wix site. After you sign up to be a member of the Wix site, your instructor will receive an email that you have requested to be a member. After your request is granted, you will be able to see the lab assignments. Be sure to log in when you visit the site. The login icon is at the top right-hand corner of the Wix homepage.

Please note that you have to pass this statistics lab before you can pass PSYC 3435. You must also pass the lecture portion of the class or you will not pass PSYC 3435. If you pass the lab and the lecture portion of the course, your lecture grade will account for 75% of your final grade and your lab grade will count for 25% of your final grade. If you fail the lab or if you fail the lecture part of the class, your primary instructor will assign either a D or F for your final grade. To be clear, even if you make an A in the lecture part of PSYC 3435, you will fail the PSYC 3435 if you make a D or F in the lab.

Specific Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this course, students are expected to be able to:

Use R or Excel to obtain descriptive statistics of variables.
Use R or Excel to produce univariate graphic displays of variables.
Use R or Excel to produce bivariate graphic displays of relationships between two variables.
Use R or Excel to create new variables.
Use R or Excel to collapse variables.
Use R or Excel to transform variables.
Use R or Excel to work with subsets of variables.
Use R or Excel to find areas under the curve of the normal distribution (these exercises cover probability and null hypothesis testing).
Use R or Excel to produce confidence intervals.
Use R or Excel to conduct simple analyses (e.g. correlations and bivariate regression).
Use R or Excel to solve simple probability questions.

This course is a requirement for a BA in Psychology

IV. Course schedule (assignments): Spring 2024

Deadlines Assignments

1. January 30 Assignment 1

2. February 13 Assignment 2

3. February 27 Assignment 3

4. March 12 Assignment 4

5. March 26 Assignment 5

6. April 9 Assignment 6

7. April 23 Assignment 7

8. May 6 Assignment 8 (Note, this is a Monday, which is different than previous assignments).

All assignments are due at 11:59 pm on the due date

It is advisable to work ahead as much as possible and start assignments as soon as you are able. All assignments are available early in the semester, which gives students a lot of time to work on assignments. Please be aware that holidays and breaks (e.g. spring break) will fall between assignment due dates. The deadlines in the course schedule will not be changed, even if a holiday or break reduces the number of days that you plan to work on assignments.

You have plenty of time to complete each assignment and everyone is expected to work on each assignment early. Pretend that each assignment is due a week before the actual due date, because there will not be an opportunity to turn in late assignments. The week before the due date will be considered extra time for those who have experienced difficulties getting the assignment done.

If you do not already know how to take screen shots, please learn how to. It helps a lot to see screenshots of issues or questions that you try to communicate to us. For example, send us a picture of errors you receive from Wix, R, or Excel.

Instructor’s office hours: There are two instructors in the statistics lab (Dr. Kesong Hu (khu@ualr.edu) and Robert Corwyn (rbflynn@ualr.edu). We will be available online via Wix messages, and UA Little Rock email. Please make an appointment at least one day in advance by sending an e-mail to your instructor. If your primary instructor for the lecture section of the course is Dr. Hu or Dr. Mohler, you should contact Dr. Hu at khu@ualr.edu. If Dr. Corwyn is your primary instructor in PSYC 3435, you should contact him for assistance. We will make every effort to be available.

Please do not start assignments on the day that they are due.

For more lengthy instructions, you should try to get your questions answered from our tutors. The tutors can be reached at the following email addresses, and you can make appointments on the Wix website. Please ask tutors when they are available. There should also be a link on the Wix homepage where you can sign up for tutoring sessions.

Lindsey Carl at lxcarl@ualr.edu, Matthew Lawton at mlawton@ualr.edu

Methods of instruction will be video lectures on Wix. Please read all documents and study all videos. It is a good idea to follow the videos and reproduce everything that is demonstrated on the videos. It is the student’s responsibility to keep up with the class schedule and check UA-Little Rock emails regularly.

Communications. Communicate with the instructor, via UALR email at rbflynn@ualredu. Always include all necessary information in your communications so that the instructor does not have to look things up or ask you for further information. If your communication requires several emails, it is better to talk by phone or Google meet.

Technology: In order to take an online course, you must have access to a compatible computer with a reliable internet connection and you will need to learn how to use the tools that are used in this class (e.g. Google Meet, Blackboard, Mindtap, and Excel or R). Instructions on how to log onto UALR Blackboard as well as other student resources can be found at … http://ualr.edu/blackboard/welcome/how-to/

Note: It has come to our attention that several students try to take online classes entirely with their cell phone. Although it is possible that you can view some of the class material with a cell phone, this course is designed for an up-to-date desktop computer. In the past, students who try to take this course with a cell phone have reported difficulties viewing videos, as well as reading documents produced with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel.

Make-up assignments:

Deadlines are not flexible. Students are expected to work on all assignments, well ahead of the due date. You should never wait until the last couple of days to work on assignments in this lab because failure to turn in an assignment will result in a score of zero on that assignment. You should always keep two copies of everything that you do in this lab and keep one copy in a separate location from the device that you use to complete your assignments. For example, back up your work on a flash drive, Drop Box or Google Drive. All students have access to the UA Little Rock Google Drive. That way, you will not have to start over if your computer breaks down or it is stolen. Losing an assignment will not be a valid excuse in this class. My advice is to always keep a copy of your work in Drop Box or Google Drive.

Students are responsible for following all instructions on assignments and complete the assignments before the deadline.

Grading. There are 8 assignments and they are worth 10 points each. You can always know your grade in the class by dividing the number of points that you earn by the total number of points possible. For example, if you earn 70 points out of 80 possible points, your grade will be 87.5% (i.e. B). Ninety to 100% is an A, 80 to 89% is a B, 70 to 79% is a C, 60 to 69% is a D and less than 60% is an F.

Caveats (i.e. warnings/rules of the class). Do not wait until the last minute to work on assignments. You must always complete your own assignments. Do not try to get our tutor or the instructor to do your work for you. When you ask for help, you will need to send your work to us and ask specific questions. Never simply say that you don’t know how to do the assignment. Everyone should be able to follow the videos and try to make things work. You can ask for help on specific issues on assignments, but you must always do your own work. If it is determined that a student did not complete his/her own assignment, the instructor will file an academic dishonesty complaint against the student and he/she will receive a score of zero on the assignment.

Academic Integrity. It is the student’s responsibility to be familiar with all University policies, rules, regulations and procedures outlined in the UALR Student Handbook. A copy of the Handbook can be found at the following URL……. http://www.ualr.edu/deanofstudents/assets/archive/HANDBOOK.pdf

More information on academic integrity and grievances can be found at the Office of the Dean of Students...

Steps Toward Redress For Academic Dishonesty - Office of the Dean of Students - UA Little Rock (ualr.edu)

Students are also responsible for complying with the academic integrity policies of the university. This includes class disruptions, cheating, collusion, duplicity and plagiarism. The following URL provides more detail on these topics.

https://ualr.edu/deanofstudents/academic-integrity/

Attendance and withdrawal. Please note that, if a student decides to drop this class, it is the student’s responsibility to drop the class. Failure to drop the class will result in a zero on all tests that are not taken. Students may be administratively removed from the class by the instructor, due to excessive absences. See the university policy on attendance and withdrawal at the following link… https://ualr.edu/policy/home/facstaff/class-attendance/

XIV. University inclement weather policy. You can find the university inclement weather policy at this website… https://ualr.edu/policy/home/admin/weather/

Students with Disabilities: Your success in this class is important to me, and it is the policy and practice of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to create inclusive learning environments consistent with federal and state law. If you have a documented disability (or need to have a disability documented) and need an accommodation, please contact me privately as soon as possible, so that we can discuss with the Disability Resource Center (DRC) how to meet your specific needs and the requirements of the course. The DRC offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process among you, your instructor(s) and the DRC. Thus, if you have a disability, please contact me and/or the DRC at 501-569-3143 (V/TTY) or 501-683-7629 (VP). For more information, please visit the DRC website at www.ualr.edu/disability.

COVID-19, pregnancy, other health issues, and technology:

Please communicate promptly with your instructor if you encounter difficulties pertaining to health, technology, etc. Any accommodations (that are not mandated by the Disability Resource Center or Title IX) are at the discretion of the instructor and are based on course policies. The Department strives to treat all its students without prejudice, therefore individual requests may be evaluated in the context of the larger community.

Disability statement: “Your success in this class is important to me, and it is the policy and practice of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to create inclusive learning environments consistent with federal and state law. If you have a documented disability (or need to have a disability documented) and need an accommodation, please contact me privately as soon as possible, so that we can discuss with the Disability Resource Center (DRC) how to meet your specific needs and the requirements of the course. The DRC offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process among you, your instructor(s), and the DRC. Thus, if you have a disability, please contact me and/or the DRC. For more information, please visit the DRC website at www.ualr.edu/disability.”

XXI: Inclement weather. In case of inclement weather, this course will resume online. If internet access is not available to you, due to weather conditions, please let me know the location that service has been cut off and the internet provider that you are using. I will work with you to ensure that you have access to all instructional materials and any other accommodations that are necessary to complete the class.