My Sunday Letter

03/04/2010 09:40:34 AM

The image is borrowed from

GlitterGraphics
 

 

Good Morning Class :=)

 

1. E-mail me writing assignment 6.

2. From Monday, March 1 to March 26, you have to collect data for your final project. At the end, the project is 20% of you final grade. Ask online tutors any questions about your final project.

3. Use our discussion board as usual - this week for discussion about chapter 6.

4. My phone:  520 494 5979
   

 

Good Morning Class.

^^^^Test

The first module is over. All grades are posted in our Blackboard  or Course Compass. Some of you may do the first test tomorrow.

My recommendation for those of you who are unhappy with Test 1 is to recalculate the grade-damage - 10% of your final grade is based on Test 1. If, for example, you have 69% on the test,, you are missing 3.1% of your final grade.

To all students who did the Test well – congratulations. This test is only 10% of your final grade, but the test is an indication whether or not you have enough knowledge to learning online.

^^^^Final Project - next three weeks you will collect data using the Excel-template.

Protocol for data collection:

1. Data collection time - March 2 to March 22.

2. Use Excel to collect the authentic data of your learning in this class.

3. From March 2 to March 22, any time you study something for PSY208, record the day and time, the duration and type of learning.

4.  Do not just expect to take data from your blackboard (cooking data), you need to record data for reading, taking notes, making flash cards, solving problems with course compass.

5. All specific questions about data collection should be addressed to our online tutors.

Fifty percent (50%) of the grade for your final project, which is 10% of your final grade, will be based on this data-collection activity. Again, ask your online tutors for any details about data collection. In your groups, support each-other with ideas and suggestions.

^^^^^^Chapter 6

We continue with Chapter 6. I may add one more week for Chapter 6. However, e-mail me Writing Assignment 6 - chapter 6: http://www.taskstream.com/main/?/fuller42/PSY208Online.html

I will teach our Thursday face-to-face class - room O200A at SPC. You are welcomed in our face-to-face class, Thursday from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.

I realized that students often feel overwhelmed with formulas, tables, graphs, and definitions. My face-to-face class will help you to see the structure of Statistics.

Recommendation for understanding:

Table

Symbols

Formula

Graphs

The “raw” database is always a table in which we record our measurements – mostly from surveys, front desk databases, data from online behavior, or observations such as your project.

 

Each cell in the table represents a x-value in the formula.

 

The heading of each column are the names of the variables.

x – the value of the variable - the entry of one measurement.

 

For example your grade in Test 1 is one measurement of your achievement in PSY 208.

The formula in statistics represent relation between symbols – x, mean, standard deviation, z-value, etc.

Histograms are the most important graphs in statistics.

All histograms are graphical visualization of a frequency distributions.

 

x is a value recorded on one cell in any database table.

Often in a statistical formula you have the symbol n or N – the number of individuals in the sample (n) or the population (N).

The shape of probability distribution and the relative frequency histograms are the same. Why?

****The probability

P(a <x <b) = f/n

The probability that your random variable, x, will be between values a and b, is equal to the relative frequency distribution.

 

Average and standard deviation are based on calculations based on the variable’s values.

Each variable has as may values as the number of measurement.

All statistical formulas are combination of the value x and number of cases n (N).

 

Often in the formula we have the mean μ for population

or

 

which is the symbol for the mean of a sample.

The symbol for standard deviation  is σ for the population or s for a sample.

 

The formula for Z is very important for inferential statistics.

 

Each graph gives the same information as formulas and tables or text with different form.

 

Think about X and Y axes – what are the values on horizontal axis and vertical exes on each histogram or probability distribution.

 

What is under the curve in a histograms or probability distributions?

 

to learn statistics:

1.       Make index cards or a list called vocabulary with all unknown words.

2.       Try to understand the meaning of each statistical term, symbol, table’s properties, and visualizations. Call me - 520 494 5979.

3.       Learn all symbols and the meaning of formulas.  How the symbol is connected to data is the art of doing statistics.

4.       Don’t forget our discussion board. The discussion board will be graded at the end of the week (next week).

5.       The language of statistic has very few words. Learn the terminology.

********************Reply to this letter with Writing Assignment

Please, feel free to call me at 520 494 5979.

    Your instructor

Have a very nice Sunday.

Temenoujka Fuller