Stat 220E Course Info

Statistics 220E - Section 11 -Winter 1998

Course Information

http://www.stat.uchicago.edu/~nicolae/220

Statistics 220E is a one quarter course on statistical methods with a focus on economics and social sciences applications, and a strong emphasis on computer-assisted statistical analysis. Examples will be drawn from a diverse range of disciplines. Students outside economics are encouraged to attend.

Logistics

Class: MWF at 11:30 am in Eck133
Instructor: Dan Nicolae (nicolae@galton.uchicago.edu)

Office Hour: Monday 3:00-4:00 pm , Eck131 and by appointment Course Assistant: Fan Gao (fangao@midway.uchicago.edu)

Office Hour: Wednesday 5:00-6:00 pm , Eckhart 131

Discussion Session: Tuesday 5:00-6:00 , Eckhart 133

Midterm: Tuesday, February 10 , 6:00-8:00 pm , Eck133

Final: Monday , March 16 , 10:30-12:30 pm , Eck133

Textbooks

[WW] Wonnacott, T and Wonnacott, R (1990, 1996). Introductory Statistics for Business and Economics, either 4th or 5th edition, Wiley, New York (required).
[LH] Hamilton, Lawrence (1998), Statistics with Stata 5, Duxbury Press (required).

Prerequisites

Math 132 or 152 (or equivalent) and completion of one of the Common Core sequences in the Biological or Physical Sciences, or permission of the instructor.

Course Requirements and Grades

The final grade has the following components:

Homework (20%) will be posted on the course WWW homepage on Wednesday after class, and is due at the beginning of the class on following Wednesday. Late homework is not accepted. Solutions will be posted in the display cases on Eckhart hallway shortly after the due date , and will be available on reserve in Eckhart library. Make a habit of consulting them and comparing them with your own, since there's only so much feedback you can get from the grader. The teaching assistant will be available during her office hours to discuss questions you may have about the homework.
Midterm (35%) will be a two hour closed-book exam to be given on Tuesday, February 10 , 6-8pm , Eck133. It will cover all material through lecture on February 6. You can bring a single page of formulae. You may need a calculator. No makeup exam will be given.
Final (45%) on Monday, March 16, 10:30-12:30 pm , Eck133, will cover material from the entire course, with an emphasis on the second half.
Discussion sessions: will begin during the second week, for one hour and will complement the lectures with examples and discussion of homework and other issues related to the course material.

Important note on grades

A P/F grade may be given upon written request to the instructor by March 12. The grade will be awarded only for work which would achieve a letter grade of C- or better. The grade I will be given only in clear cases of emergency. The grade W must be requested before the start of the final examination.
Getting a degree? If you are receiving a degree this quarter, please contact the instructor.

Computer work

The computer is an essential instrument in the course. We assume you know how to access the WWW (World Wide Web). We will use the Stata package. If you are majoring in Economics, there's a great chance you are going to use Stata later, so it is in your best interest to make as much as you can of it.

Lectures and Readings.

Do the assigned readings before coming to class, if you want to take full advantage of the course. The lecture and the textbook complement each other, and are not (very) redundant! We will give you handouts for some of the lectures.

Preparing Homework

The following rules are mandatory, as they make everybody's life much easier:

Only coherent and legible homework will be accepted and graded.
On the first page of your homework should appear: YOUR NAME
Statistics 220E
Homework #
Date
Never break a plot over two pages! Also, raw (un-annotated, or irrelevant) computer output is not acceptable; you must make clear how the printouts answer the question posed in the problem set.
Group graphs and discussion together: don't put all graphs at the end of the homework set.
Staple pages together; submit problems in order.
Although discussion of the homework is permitted - and encouraged - each student is required to prepare and submit solutions independently. Duplication of homework solutions and computer output prepared in whole or in part by someone else are not permitted.