syllabus

STAT 100 Syllabus Fall 2020 (View PDF)

Instructor Contact Information

Course Webpage

Course Materials

  • Required Workbook: Stat 100 Incomplete Lecture Notes Workbook. Fall 2020 edition by Ellen Fireman, Karle Flanagan, and John Marden.
    1. Available at the Illini Union Bookstore for $35.
    2. This notebook is the only thing that’s required to purchase for Stat 100!
    3. You will use this notebook each week when you watch the videos!
  • Required Calculator: Any calculator is accepted. I recommend this one!

Class Times

  • Online Section ONL: No assigned meeting times. Watch lecture videos on Compass. No in-person locations.

Office Hours

  • STAT 100 Office Hours will be offered each week Monday-Friday from 2pm-5pm, and Mon-Tues from 8-10pm via Zoom.
  • Feel free to stop by anytime for help. If you are unavailable during these times and want to meet, send us an email at stat100@illinois.edu and we will set up a time!

Technical Issues

  • If you experience a glitch in Lon Capa/Compass, first, try logging out and logging back in. If this doesn’t work, send an email to our tech doc, Dr. Yuk Tung Liu ytliu@illinois.edu describing the problem. Please make sure to include a screenshot of the error in your e-mail. You can also stop by office hours and get help in person!

Homework Schedule

  • Homework is due every Tuesday and Thursday at 11:59pm (see calendar) on Lon-Capa. You can ask questions on the Lon Capa discussion boards and stop by office hours any time to get homework help!
  • We do NOT accept late hw, but we do drop your 4 lowest HW scores. This means you can miss 4 HW assignments without any penalty!

Exam Schedule

  • There will be 3 evening exams and a cumulative final. See the Exam Schedule for dates, times, and locations.

Grade for Required Work

  • Grade for required work
    1. 3 Exams: 60% (each worth 20%)
    2. Homework: 15%
    3. Final Exam: 25%

Overall Grade is Translated into a Letter Grade as follows:

Grade Percentage Grade Percentage Grade Percentage
A+ 97-100 A 93-96.99 A- 90-92.99
B+ 87-89.99 B 83-86.99 B- 80-82.99
C+ 77-79.99 C 73-76.99 C- 70-72.99
D+ 67-69.99 D 63-66.99 D- 60-62.99
F < 60

Bonus Work

Bonus Points — You may earn between 0 and 50 Bonus Points.

  • Everyone may earn between 0 and 50 Bonus Points. Every bonus point earned helps your overall grade, but even if you do no bonus work, you can still get 100% for the course. In other words, bonus points can only help you. Bonus points are extra credit. Here’s how you can get them:
    1. Pre-Lecture bonus points (34.5 bonus points)
      Each class there will be a short pre-lecture video posted on Lon Capa followed by a few questions. The pre-lectures are designed to give you a preview of the basic concepts you’ll see in the actual lectures. There are 23 prelectures and each is worth 1.5 bonus points.
    2. Lon Capa Surveys (15 bonus points)
      There will be 5 surveys due on the first Friday of each month (see the course calendar). Each survey is worth 3 bonus points. The surveys are all anonymous. Lon Capa just records whether or not you submitted a survey, not who submitted which answer. You must answer every question on the survey to get the 4 points.
    3. The Pre-Lecture and Survey bonus points add to 49.5! Everyone will get 0.5 bonus points automatically for free 😉
  • How do these bonus points get calculated into your grade? At the end of the semester, take your total bonus points and divide them by 10. This will be how many percentage points get added to your grade! For example, if you have all 50 bonus points, you’d take 50 and divide it by 10 to get 5. So if you have an 80% (B-) in the class, the bonus would bring you up to an 85% (B).

Course Outline

  • Study Design: observational studies vs. randomized experiments, why randomized controls are key, confounders in observational studies, Simpson’s paradox, intent to treat analysis, etc.
  • Descriptive Statistics: mean, median, SD, histograms, box plots, normal curve, etc.
  • Linear Regression: correlation coefficient, simple linear regression, the RMSE, etc.
  • Probability: chance, multiplication rule, addition rule, conditional probability, Bayes rule, etc.
  • Statistics for Random Variables: expected value and standard error of chance processes, probability histograms and the Central Limit Theorem, developing simple chance models box models that more complicated sampling processes can be translated into, the Law of Averages, etc.
  • Sampling and Statistical Inference: using sample means and percents to estimate population means and proportions, attaching margins of errors to our estimates by computing confidence intervals, why randomized sampling is key, etc.
  • Significance Tests: one sample and two sample z-tests, t-tests, and chi-square tests for goodness of fit and independence, the focus is on understanding how these tests depend on chance models.
  • Limits of Significance Tests: understanding what the p-value means and under what circumstances it is valid (for example, hypotheses must be stated before looking at the data, the total number of experiments before significant results were found must be reported, etc.)

LON-CAPA Site

Compass Site

  • https://compass2g.illinois.edu
    We’re using Compass 2g to post announcements and display grades.
    (Lon Capa’s gradebook is too confusing, so check your grades on Compass.)

Academic Integrity

  • If you cheat on an exam in this class you’re very likely to get caught and the consequences will be SEVERE. See the University Student Code of Conduct.
  • We have multiple versions of all exams that may look identical at first glance, but are not. Bottom line is, please don’t cheat. It’s not worth risking your entire college career and you will get caught. If you are caught, you will get a 0 on the exam and be reported to the university.

DRES Accommodations

  • I am happy to offer accommodations for disabilities verified through DRES (http://www.disability.illinois.edu/). Please email me a copy of your letter during week 1. Since all of our exams will be online, I will provide the extra time accommodation for any student who needs it and sends me their DRES letter. If you have any other questions or need any other accommodations, don’t hesitate to reach out 😊