STAT 2331:  Introduction to Statistical Methods

Course Description

This course provides an introduction to statistics for behavioral, biological, and social scientists. In this course, we will learn about common techniques of basic statistical inference. Topics include descriptive statistics, probability, and inferential statistics, including hypothesis testing and contingency tables.

Instructor Biography

Tony Ng is an Associate Professor in the Department of Statistical Science at Southern Methodist University. He has been at Southern Methodist University since August 2002 after he received his Ph.D. degree in Mathematics from McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada. He is a Senior Member of IEEE, an elected member of International Statistical Institute, and is currently an Associate Editor of Communications in Statistics. He has been teaching statistics and conducting research in statistical sciences for more than 10 years.

Learning Outcomes and Benefits

After this course, students should be able to:

• Use graphics and summary statistics to describe one or more variables
• Calculate least-squared regression line and use it to do prediction
• Obtain marginal and conditional distributions from two-way table and use a systematic structure to explain Simpson’s Paradox
• Design good sampling survey studies and experiments and avoid some common mistakes
• Manage the concepts of probability, discrete and continuous probability models and random variables, sampling distribution and central limit theorem
• Calculate confidence intervals and perform hypothesis testing, how to interpret them, and how to use them with data