MATH 190 - Elementary Statistics

3 Credit (3 lecture, 1 lab) 4 Contact Hours [Math Level 4 ]

1. Use appropriate statistical language in oral, written, and graphical forms.
2. Read and interpret graphs and descriptive statistics.          
3. Read short, authentic texts, such as graphical displays and journal and newspaper articles describing statistical studies. 
4. Evaluate the design, analysis, and conclusion of a given study both orally and in written form. 

Goal 2:  Make sense of problems, develop strategies to find solutions, and persevere in solving them.

1. Understand what statistical question is being addressed, use appropriate strategies to answer the question of interest, and state conclusions using appropriate statistical language.

Goal 3:  Reason, model, and make decisions with mathematical, statistical, and quantitative information.

1. Use probability, graphical and numerical summaries of data, confidence intervals, and hypothesis testing methods to make decisions.
2. Support conclusions by providing appropriate statistical justifications.
3. Present short written or verbal justifications of decisions that include appropriate discussion of the mathematics involved.

Goal 4:  Critique and evaluate quantitative arguments that utilize mathematical, statistical, and quantitative information.

1. Identify errors-such as inappropriate sampling methods, sources of bias, and potentially confounding variables-in both observational and experimental studies.
2. Identify mathematical or statistical errors, inconsistencies, or missing information in arguments.

Goal 5:  Use appropriate technology in a given context.

1. Use some form of spreadsheet application to organize information and make repeated calculations using simple formulas and statistical functions.
2. Use the internet to find statistical information. Topics should be limited to those that can be researched with a simple search.
3. Use internet-based tools appropriate for a given context (e.g., an online tool to calculate p-values).
4. Use technology to calculate descriptive statistics and to test hypotheses.
5. Interpret and apply output from a statistical software package.

Goal 6:  Analyze data using graphical and numerical methods to study patterns and departures from patterns, using appropriate technology as needed.

1. Construct and interpret graphical displays of distributions of univariate data.
2. Summarize distributions of univariate data and compare multiple distributions.
3. Explore bivariate data.
4. Explore categorical data.

Goal 7:  Develop an appropriate data-collection plan to answer a given research question.

1. Identify characteristics of good study designs. Understand what conclusions are appropriate for a given design and whether conclusions can be generalized to a larger population.
2. Plan and conduct an observational study when appropriate.
3. Plan and conduct an experimental study when appropriate.

Goal 8:  Use probability concepts and simulation.

1. Calculate and interpret probabilities.
2. Use probability distributions to describe the behavior of discrete and continuous random variables.
3. Understand distributions.

Goal 9:  Use statistical models to draw conclusions from data.

1. Estimate population parameters using confidence intervals when appropriate.
2. Conduct tests of significance when appropriate.