Lecture: 62 Willard Tuesdays 10:10 - 11:00 Lab: 64 Willard Thurdsays 9:05 - 9:55 (Section 2) 64 Willard Thurdsays 10:10 - 11:00 (Section 1) Instructor: Dave Steven (dcsteven@psu.edu) 214F Computer Bldg. 865-0980 -or- 353-1531 (leave a message) Office Hours: Tuesdays 5:15 pm - 6:15 pm (Walk-in) ...or by appointment.
Prerequisite: One basic statistics course such as Stat 200.
Academic Standards: Strict standards of academic integrity are expected and enforced according to Faculty Senate Policy 49-20.
As a matter of courtesy to your instructor and fellow students, I will expect the lecture hall to remain orderly until I dismiss the class. As a courtesy to the class, I will keep mind of the time and will dismiss the class on schedule. I will often make important announcements or reminders at the end of the lecture, and will not tolerate the inconsiderate noise that accompanies packing-up to leave the lecture hall before the completion of the lecture. Many students resent such noises that diminish their ability to learn.
This course is designed to develop general statistical programming skills using SAS, and to a lesser degree, SPSS. Emphasis will be on the Microsoft Windows version of SAS, some sessions will be devoted to issues pertaining to CMS or unix version. We will also explore internet tools and topics as they pertain to data acquisition and SAS information. Throughout the semester, we will apply basic statistical programming concepts from SAS lectures and homework to SPSS.
There will be few or no class hand-outs. All supplemental materials based on classroom lectures will be available on the Course Web Page. All students are required to have an activated Access Account. This will be needed for login access to the lab microcomputers, for certain class exercises, and for communication and access to course materials. Students should bring diskettes to every lab session to save their work.
Course Web Page: http://cac.psu.edu/~dcsteven/stat480/
SPSS
Grading Philosophy: A person cannot sufficiently learn to program in any language without a considerable amount of practice with the freedom to make mistakes, to labor over these mistakes independently to find solutions, and finally, to obtain guidence if unable to find a solution after several practical attempts. A number of homework assignments, therefore, will be assigned. Each student should feel free to make mistakes on these homework assignments in the pursuit of creative programming solutions, but the goal will be to complete each assignment so that you understand what you did, and so that you complete it correctly. Homework is viewed by your instructor primarily as a learning tool. Exams and the final homework exercise are considered to be examples of what you've accomplished and will be viewed as end-products primarily for the purpose of evaluation. There will be four homework assignments. The first two will be worth 75 points each, and the last two will be worth 150 points each. Grading of the homework assignments will be performed according to the following criteria:
These exercises will be due before 11:00am in lab on the day they are due. Each assignment will be discussed shortly after the due date, so late work will not be accepted under any circumstances. If you are unable to attend lab on the day that an assignment is due, either enlist someone to bring your homework to the lab for you, or I will accept homework assignments in my mailbox in the Statistics Department office (326 Thomas Building) before 3:00 PM on the day prior to the due date of the assignment. I will also accept assignments in lecture or lab any day prior to the due date of the assignment.
Quiz. One take-home quiz will be assigned two weeks before the mid-term exam. The format of this quiz will be based on the format of the exams. The purpose of this quiz is primarily for early evaluation of students' progress, and to provide the class with a sample of what to expect, in terms of format, for the exams.
Exams. There are two exams scheduled for this class. The first will be administered during lecture several weeks into the semester. The second exam will be administered at the designated time during final exam week. You my expect the format of the exams to be mainly multiple choice, with sections consisting primarily of SAS code, output or LOG files for which you provide a missing line, locate a coding error, interpret the meaning of an error message and/or interpret the output.
Final Grades will be based on 4 homework assignments, one take-home quiz, and two exams. The first two homework assignments are worth 75 points each, and the last two assignment are worth 150 points. All assignments will be due before 11:00am in lab on the day they are due. Homework assignments will be accepted gladly before the due date, however, late work will not be accepted under any circumstances.
The grading scheme is as follows:
Homework assignments #1-2 (2 at 75 points each): 150 points Homework assignments #3-4 (2 at 150 points each): 300 points Take-home Quiz: 100 points Exam 1: 150 points Exam 2: 300 points ----------- 1000 pointsLetter-grades for the course will be assigned according to the following schedule:
A : 910.00 - 1000.00 A-: 900.00 - 909.90 B+: 890.00 - 899.90 B : 810.00 - 889.90 B-: 800.00 - 809.90 C+: 790.00 - 799.90 C : 700.00 - 789.90 D : 600.00 - 699.90 F : Below 600.00