Winter 2010 - Inferential Statistics - PSY302
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PSY 302 - Winter 2010
Inferential Statistics
Why should I care about statistics?
- Statistics is an important part of your everyday life.
- Go to any news website such as CNN or Google News and you will see statistics is an integral part of politics, entertainment, travel, business, health, technology, science, sports, and etc. Who won the election? Which movies ranked in the weekend box office? How did the FBI find the most recent terror suspect? How does Net Neutrality affect your life? What are the stats on recent sporting events? Which medication or diet best improves our health? These are just a few of the ways in which understanding statistics is essential to understand your world and life.
- Without the ability to understand and apply statistical reasoning, you will not be able to evaluate real-world information and reach accurate conclusions.
How do I learn to understand/apply statistics?
- Part of the purpose of this class is to teach you the ability to identify, understand, and apply statistical reasoning so that you can use that new skill for the rest of your life. For many of the concepts from this course/textbook, you will:
- Develop your ability to identify statistical concepts by searching the world around you -- recent news articles, magazines, newspapers, etc -- for examples of each concept. Click on your CIN number below to see the list of topics.
- Develop your ability to apply your understanding of the topic by (1) stating the definition of the concept from the textbook, and (2) explaining how the example illustrates the definition of the concept.
More examples will be provided in class to provide detailed instructions on how to search, identify, understand, and apply the concepts. By posting on this wiki each student can benefit collectively from the examples and applications of each other. The CIN number is being used for privacy reasons.
CIN NUMBERS:
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