|





 







|  |
|
Interdisciplinary Introduction to Statistics Program
Recognizing the need to rationalize undergraduate and graduate teaching in statistics, ISPS has developed an interdisciplinary introduction to statistics program to correct much of the duplication in teaching in the social science departments as well as to include the areas of biology, environmental science, and the life sciences. The course is an introduction to statistics that has no mathematical prerequisite--in particular, no calculus--and caters somewhat to students who are not mathematically inclined but who have decided they want to learn some statistics within the span of one term. The course is therefore designed to present the most useful and essential material, with an emphasis on statistical concepts, that can be covered in a one-term course. A two-pronged approach accommodates students from widely varying fields. First, there is a common core of statistical theory, concepts, and techniques that all students learn, which is presented by members of the Statistics department in seventy-five minute weekly lectures. During a second weekly meeting of equal length, the class divides into sections that are organized around subject areas such as sociology, political science, biology, or forestry. Each section focuses on examples of particular interest to the students in the section and on techniques that are especially useful in addressing questions from the discipline under study. Computers are vital to the practice of statistics, and therefore feature prominently in this course. For most students, this course will be a terminal one in statistics. A successful course in its first year, enrollments have grown in its second year.
|
|
|