Calendar Description:

The selection of appropriate statistics; procedures for analyzing data.  Various descriptive and inferential statistics.  Introduction to analysis of variance and nonparametric procedures.
Half course; one term

Aims, Goals, Objectives, Outcomes:

The purposes of the course are:

To provide a basic working understanding of the common statistical analyses employed in educational research.

To provide experience in the critical handling a statistical package, in this case, SPSS.  A number of free on-line statistics sites will also be explored and used.

 

Topic Outline:  Topical/Module Outline:

1 - Testing Hypotheses
Experimentalism and the control of variables: continuous and discrete variables.
Measurement of variables; direct and indirect measurement.
Error in measurement: sampling distributions.  Human characteristics as Aerror@: normal population distributions.

2 - Descriptive Statistics and Introduction to SPSS
Measurement scales; frequency and frequency distributions; graphic and tabular representation of data; random, discrete and continuous variables; z-scores; introduction to SPSS.
Reading:
Connolly                     Introduction
                                    Chapter 1: Getting started with SPSS

3 – Exploring, displaying and summarizing data
Reading:
Connolly                     Chapter 2: Exploring, displaying and summarizing data

4 – Analyzing relations between variables
Hypothesis testing: Experimental and null hypotheses; confounding hypotheses.
Statistics and parameters
Correlations: Pearson=s r, ρ (rho)
Introduction to regression

Reading:
Connolly         Chapter 3: Analyzing relations between variables
Pitman                                    extracts

5 – Confidence intervals and statistical significance                                                            
Degrees of freedom; confidence intervals.

Reading:
Connolly         Chapter 5: Confidence intervals and statistical significance

6 – 7 Conducting statistical tests and calculating effect sizes                                                                                        The z score; the binomial distribution
The approximation of binomial to the normal
Non-parametric tests: χ (Chi) square; Mann-Witney U test; Kruskal-Wallis test.

Reading:
Connolly         Chapter 6: Conducting statistical tests and calculating effect sizes (pp. 175 – 199)
Pitman            Notes on Chi-square and z, and the binomial approximation to the normal

8 - 11 – Conducting statistical tests and calculating effect sizes
Parametric tests:  Single sample t-test; independent between groups t-test; within dependent t-test; between subjects matched pairs t-test; effect size; power; independent between groups ANOVA; within subjects ANOVA; between subjects dependent groups ANOVA; factorial ANOVA; effect size; a priori and post hoc tests.
Reading:
Connolly         Chapter 6: Conducting statistical tests and calculating effect sizes (pp. 200 – 242)

12- Presenting and reading findings
Readings:
Connolly         Chapter 4: Good practice in presenting findings

Course Texts/Materials:

            Connolly, P. (2007). Quantitative data analysis in education.  New York: Routledge.
SPSS 11.0 for Windows - Statistical package for the Social Sciences (in laboratory).
Students should refer to the tutorial components of the SPSS package

 

Assignments and Other Course Requirements (including assignment guidelines):

                                                                                                     Due dates:

  1. Descriptive statistics and characteristics of distributions       January 28

    The uses of given data bases to test hypotheses using:
  2. Correlation and regression                                                    February 19
  3. Chi square and non-parametric testing                                  March 4
  4. Student=s t-test          and parametric testing                       March 25
  5. ANOVA                                                                                     April 9

   Each assessment contributes 20% of the final grade.

Additional References/Recommended Readings:

Web CT login instructions and technical support information: 
To access Web CT, go to http://webct.uwo.ca.  Students may use Internet Explorer to access Web CT; however, Firefox is the preferred browser for using the Wiki in Web CT. 

To log into Web CT, students use their Western account credentials.  The login is what precedes the “@uwo.ca” portion of students’ UWO email addresses.

• If you do not know your Western account, please contact  edu.tech.support@uwo.ca for instructions.
• If you know your  Western account, but you do not remember your password, please contact the ITS Helpdesk at 519 661-3800 (or x83800).  You will need to provide your Western username, your 9 digit Student Number and they may ask for other identifiers such as birth date.
• If you require technical assistance in Web CT, information addressing common problems is available on the Web CT home page.  Students can also contact the ITS Helpdesk at 519-661-3800.

Policy Statements:
Please see the “Policies” page of the Graduate Programs & Research web site for further details on course and program policies:  http://www.edu.uwo.ca/graduate/policies.html

Attendance:  Students are expected to attend all classes. In the case of absence, instructors may assign additional course work. Normally, students who are absent from one-quarter or more of their classes will be assigned a grade of "F" (Fail), (Graduate Studies Subcommittee - December 3, 1999).  As an example, most onsite half courses (with the exception of some Counselling Psychology classes) meet 12 times during a term, so students in these courses cannot miss more than two classes.   

For on-line courses, participation will be determined by the instructor/professor in the course outline and will reflect the same principles as attendance policy for on-site courses.

Suggested Wording for Instructors:

For online courses organized on a week-by-week basis, participation in each week’s discussion will be considered the equivalent of one onsite class.

For online courses which are not organized on a week-by-week basis, contributing to the discussion of each unit of work (e.g., module) will be considered the equivalent of attending and participating in, the classroom discussion of a face-to-face class.

Language Proficiency:  "Each student granted admission to Western must be proficient in spoken and written English.  Students must demonstrate the ability to write clearly and correctly. Work presented in English in any subject at any level, which shows a lack of proficiency in English and is, therefore, unacceptable for academic credit, will either be failed or, at the discretion of the instructor, returned to the student for revision to a literate level.  To foster competence in the use of the English language within their own discipline, all instructors will take proficiency in English into account in the assignment of grades."  A student who, after admission, shows an inadequate command of spoken or written English must improve his or her proficiency to the satisfaction of the graduate program or department. (http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/handbook/exam/english.pdf)

Evaluation:  Graduate students must maintain at least a "B" average in their program. Although only numeric grades are assigned by instructors in the Faculty of Education, the following alpha grade ranges are provided for your information.

A = 80% and above
B = 70% - 79%
C = 60% - 69%
F = Fail - less than 60%

The following guidelines for assigning grades are in effect at the Faculty of Education.

A:	Reserved for those students whose work is excellent. Their work will contain an element of originality, creativity, or thoroughness. It will be well organized and expressed, and will reflect a particularly clear command of techniques and principles, incisive judgements, sound critical evaluations, and so on.
B:	Assigned for proof of good competent work. A "B" grade indicates that a student has mastered the course material and can manipulate it, can write clear prose, can demonstrate an ability to critically evaluate and synthesize material, and can apply the course material to relevant situations or problems.
C:	Assigned because a student does not meet one or more of the above criteria. Even though the student may be conscientious, he or she has not demonstrated a mastery of the graduate work in the course. A lack of mastery may include any number of characteristics such as an inability to write clearly, to research a topic adequately, to synthesize material, or to make basic judgements about relevance, and so on.
F:	Glaring inaccuracy and confusion, little or no grasp of techniques and principles, trivial and irrelevant treatment of topics. In general, a failure to demonstrate the minimal knowledge and skills for effective work in the discipline.
INC:	(Incomplete) An INC may be granted for a course where the student has not been able to complete the assigned work in the normal timeline due to exceptional circumstances. Permission to carry an INC must be sought from the Chair, Graduate Education before the end of the term. The INC must be completed by the end of the following term or a grade of F (FAIL) will be assigned. According to SGPS policy, NO exceptions will be granted to this rule. A numerical grade submitted for an INC grade, or an F grade resulting for an INC, is final. The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies will not consider a subsequent revision of either such grade except on documented medical or compassionate grounds. Instructors shall inform students, both in class and in the course outline, as to any policies and/or penalties concerning late submission of assignments.
IPR:	(In Progress) assigned during preparation for Thesis or Directed Research Project or a half or full course which extends over two or more terms.

Statement on Academic Offences:  Scholastic offences are taken seriously; a student guilty of a scholastic offence may be subject to the imposition of one or more penalties, ranging from reprimand to expulsion from the university, as well as criminal proceedings where appropriate.  Students are strongly encouraged to review the appropriate policy document, and specifically, the definition of what constitutes a Scholastic Offence:  Scholastic Discipline for Graduate Students. 

Plagiarism: Students must write their essays and assignments in their own words. Whenever students take an idea, or a passage of text from another author, they must acknowledge their debt both by using quotation marks where appropriate and by proper referencing such as footnotes or citations.  Plagiarism is a major academic offence (see Scholastic Offence Policy in the Western Academic Calendar [reproduced below]).

Plagiarism Checking: All required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to the commercial plagiarism detection software under license to the University for the detection of plagiarism. All papers submitted for such checking will be included as source documents in the reference database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently submitted to the system. Use of the service is subject to the licensing agreement, currently between The University of Western Ontario and Turnitin.com (http://www.turnitin.com).

The Academic Calendar states:

         Scholastic Offences include, but are not limited to, the following:

1.  Plagiarism which may be defined as:  'The act of appropriat­ing the literary composition of another, or parts or pas­sages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one's own mind.'  Excerpted from H. C.  Black, Black's Law Dictionary, West Publishing Co., 1979, 5th Ed., p. 1035.  This concept applies with equal force to all assignments including labora­tory reports, diagrams, and computer projects.

8.  Submitting for credit in any course or program of study, without the knowl­edge and approval of the instructor to whom it is submitted, any academic work for which credit has previously been obtained or is being sought in another course or program of study in the University or elsewhere.

Scholastic offences are taken seriously and students are directed to read the appropriate policy, specifically, the definition of what constitutes a Scholastic Offence, at the following Web site:  http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/handbook/appeals/scholoff.pdf
A student guilty of a scholastic offence may be subject to the imposition of one or more penalties, ranging from reprimand to expulsion from the university.

Accessibility:  The University of Western Ontario is committed to recognizing the dignity and independence of all students and seeks to ensure that persons with disabilities have genuine, open and unhindered access to academic services.  Please contact me if you require course materials in an alternative format or if any other arrangements can make this course more accessible to you.  You may also wish to contact the Faculty of Education Graduate Programs & Research Office at (519) 661-2099 and/or Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) at (519) 661-2111 X 82147 for information about requesting academic accommodation, or go to the following website:  http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/handbook/appeals/accommodation_disabilities_handbook.pdf

Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology, Medical Sciences Building, The University of Western Ontario,
London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 5C1     Tel: (519) 661-3014 Fax:(519) 661-3936