BST611: Intermediate Statistical Analysis I

Instructor: Dr. Cofield

This is a simple, informative course perfect for an elective outside the department. No prior knowledge of statistics is needed. This course starts as if the student knows nothing about statistics. The professor’s notes are easy to follow and comprehensive. Her lecture follows with the notes very well. In addition, all notes are posted online. Your grade will come from homework assignments, a mid-term, and a final. The mid-tem and final are essentially loner versions of the homework. Both are comprehensive. The homework and tests are not at all too difficult, but they are very time-consuming. Each of them could take up to four or five hours. While this may seem like a lot of time (especially for a test) this also means there is not a whole lot of studying needed outside of class. You learn by doing.

It should be noted that you will most likely need to purchase a software license for this class ($25). Most of the more advanced stuff must be done by a program and the professor instructs on the use of JMP. Other programs are permitted (except Excel) but this is the simplest option.

In terms of content, this course will be very useful for your research. It will show you what to do and what not to do when analyzing your data and writing it up. The examples in class are often taken from research papers and you’d be surprised how often people get their stats wrong. This class will help you avoid those common mistakes. I highly recommend this class due to the facts that it is not too difficult, the instructor is excellent, and it is actually useful.