Course Syllabus

University of Miami
Psy 292-31
Introductory Biobehavioral Statistics
Spring 2018

Instructor: Hillary S. Hoffman, Ph.D.

Time: Monday, Wednesday 9:05 AM -10:20 AM
Location: Flipse 301
Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday Flipse 515 11:45 AM – 1:25 PM
Tuesday, Thursday Flipse 515 9:15 AM -10:15 AM
E-mail: h.hoffman@miami.edu
You can expect your messages to be answered within 24 hours,
but there will be no e-mail responses between Friday evening
and Sunday morning.
I also have a mailbox on the 5th floor of the Flipse Building.

I. OVERVIEW

This course introduces you to the fundamentals of statistical analysis. It is not

meant to be a scary, difficult course. I will tell you what you need to learn and
what you will be tested on. There will be no surprises. You may even find you like
the subject. (I hope so!)

II. ATTENDANCE

I do not take attendance. This will be discussed further below.

In addition, the Faculty Senate has decided “to allow any student to take off any
religious holiday of his or her choice as a matter of right, but only if the student
disclosed her or his specific intentions to the faculty member in writing within
the first three days of class meeting.” If this applies to you, please take note.

III. REQUIRED MATERIALS

Text: Garvetter, Frederick Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences (9 th edition)

A calculator capable of calculating square roots.

IV. CLASS FORMAT

The class will follow a standard format. First, you will be assigned a chapter to
read. Then, at the beginning of the next class, you will take a four question
multiple-choice quiz to ascertain that you actually read it. Some homework
problems may be reviewed. The remainder of the class will be a lecture on the
material. At the end of the lecture, homework will be assigned from the chapter.

Please turn off all cell phones.

V. HOMEWORK

Homework will be assigned from each chapter. Homework is intended to reinforce

the learning that occurs in the classroom. In addition, homework allows you, the
student, to become aware of your weak areas and ask questions in class. The
answers to all problems will be supplied for you to check your own work.

I highly recommend that you complete all homework assignments and ask
any questions you may have. ALL TEST QUESTIONS WILL BE DRAWN FROM THE
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS AND LECTURE MATERIAL.

Bring your completed homework assignment to the following class. In

addition to office hours, there will be time after most classes for extra help
on homework.

VI. QUIZZES

After you are assigned to read a chapter, a short quiz will be given at the beginning
of the next class. The quizzes will not be hard. They are solely meant to motivate
you to do the reading before class.

Quizzes will consist of 4 multiple-choice questions. All correct is 100, 1 wrong is

80, 2 wrong is 60, 3 wrong is 30, and all wrong is 0. The average of these
quizzes will account for 10% of your grade. Missed quizzes may not be made
up as they are meant to keep you on schedule. However, the lowest quiz grade will
be dropped (so, if you miss one, that will be the one dropped.)
I DO NOT TAKE ATTENDENCE. HOWEVER, YOU WILL NOT BE PERMITTED TO
COME TO CLASS TO TAKE THE QUIZ AND THEN LEAVE. This is both distracting
and disrespectful. If you do so, I will stop the class, ask your name and remove your
quiz from the stack to be graded.

VII. EXAMS

There will be four exams. The first exam is worth 15% of your final grade; the
second exam is worth 25%; the third is worth 30% and the fourth exam is worth
20%. They will include multiple choice, short answer, and calculations.

Please be aware that some exam questions will be drawn from the lectures, so if
you must miss class, it behooves you to get the notes from a classmate.

A review session will be held during the class preceding each exam. TAKE FULL
ADVANTAGE OF THESE REVIEW SESSIONS. Unless we run over the time allotted
for the review session, I will not be meeting for private tutoring between these
sessions and the exam. (Exceptions will be made by mutual agreement.)

Missed exams will be counted as zeros except for extraordinary circumstances.

Acceptable reasons for missing an exam would include health problems, a death in
the family, etc. Acceptable reasons are at my discretion. Please note that
arrangements should be made with me before the exam. Students who are granted
permission to take a test late will be given a different and presumably harder exam.
The student is responsible for initiating any makeup exam.

During the exam, NO student is permitted to leave the classroom unless he

is prepared to hand in his paper as complete.

The exam dates shown below are subject to change:

Wednesday February 7 Exam I Chapters 1-4
Monday March 5 Exam II Chapters 5-8
Wednesday April 4 Exam III Chapters 9-12
Monday May 7 (8-10:30 AM) Exam IV Chapters 14-17,
Summary Section
VIII. ASSESSMENT

Student evaluation is based on:

 Quizzes (10%)
 4 Exams (15%, 25%, 30%, 20%, respectively)

All quiz and exam grades are posted on Blackboard. You are responsible for
ensuring the grades were input correctly. PLEASE NOTE: ANY DISCUSSIONS
REGARDING ERRORS MUST TAKE PLACE WITHIN ONE WEEK OF THE POSTING
OF THE GRADES IN QUESTION. AFTER THAT TIME, NO CHANGES WILL BE
MADE.

PLEASE NOTE: SURFING THE NET OR TEXTING DURING CLASS WILL RESULT
IN EXPULSION FROM THE SESSION AND, ADDITIONALLY, MAY RESULT IN UP TO
A 10- POINT DEDUCTION FROM THE FINAL GRADE.

NO PHOTOS OF POWERPOINT SLIDES (UNLESS OK’D BY ME)

NO EXTRA CREDIT WORK WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE.

According to university policy, I will report Mid-Term Academic Deficiencies (i.e.,

grade of D or F) to the College.

Final grades will be assigned as follows:

A+ 97-100 C+ 77-79
A 94-96 C 74-76
A- 90-93 C- 70-73
B+ 87-89 D+ 67-69
B 84-86 D 64-66
B- 80-83 F 0-63

NOTE: DO NOT LOOK AT HOW BLACKBOARD CALCULATES A FINAL GRADE.

IX. HOW TO SUCCEED IN THIS CLASS

It is my hope that you will not find this course as difficult as you are perhaps
anticipating. Here are some suggestions to make this a reality:

 You cannot read the textbook like a novel. You should study it carefully and
work through the examples given in order to understand the concepts and
methods described.

 Do your reading before class so that you will know what is going on in class
and will be prepared for the quizzes. Remember- they are worth 10% of
your grade.

 Do the nightly homework to make sure you understand the material. Ask
questions if you are unsure. See me after class or during my office hours.
You will not do well on the exams if you cannot do the homework.

 Make sure you learn the symbols as you progress through the course. The
book really will look like Greek if you do not take the time to learn what the
symbols stand for.

 You cannot get behind in this course. This is not a course where "cramming"
the night before is likely to pay off.

 This course is cumulative. You cannot skip over confusing chapters in hopes
that it won't matter in the long run. In the long run it probably will matter
because you need to understand the material in the early chapters if you are
going to understand the material in the later chapters.

 Final note: Although I love to hear from you and want everyone to succeed,
please do NOT email me with excuses regarding your homework and missed
quizzes. This includes, but is not limited to, “my car was towed and my
homework was in it,” “my son threw my notes into the bathtub,” and
 “unexpected traffic on I-95.” For the record, traffic in Miami is never
unexpected. Plan for it.

X. RECOMMENDATIONS

I am happy to write recommendations for any student who earns an “A” or “A-” in
my class. Recommendations will be written after the final grade is calculated. Please
be advised that it is difficult to write a strong recommendation if I don’t get to
know you during the semester. Class participation, while not a part of your grade,
is one way to achieve this.

XI. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

All students are expected to meet the University’s academic conduct standards. All
acts of academic misconduct (i.e. academic dishonesty), including cheating,
plagiarism (copying other people’s work without giving credit), misrepresentation,
and facilitating academic dishonesty will be referred to the Vice President of
Academic Affairs for review and appropriate action. In this class, students who
violate academic conduct standards will receive failing grades.
 COURSE TOPIC OUTLINE

TOPIC CHAPTER
Syllabus Review
Intro to Statistics 1
Frequency Distributions 2
Central Tendency 3
Variability 4
Exam 1 1-4
z-Scores 5
Probability 6
The Distribution of Sample Means 7
Intro to Hypothesis Testing 8
Exam 2 5-8
Single Sample t-Statistic 9
Independent Samples t-Statistic 10
Related Samples t-Statistic 11
ANOVA 12
Exam 3 9-12
2-Factor ANOVA/Correlation 15
Regression/Multiple Regression 16
Chi-Square: Goodness of Fit and 17
Test for Independence
Putting It All Together
Exam 4 15-17
Putting It All Together