EDPSY 511001:

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EDPSY 511-001

• Introduction to Educational Statistics

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Syllabus

• Key points
• Introductory course
• Office hours
• Tuesdays 330 to 500
• Thursdays 200 to 330
• Or by appointment
• Pre-requires or co-requires
• Edpsy 505

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Syllabus

• Key points (cont.)
• Assessment plan
• Three Exams (100 points each)
• Tend to select items from end of the chapter
• Multiple choice
• Short answer
• Calculations
• One page of notes
• Can redo missed items for half credit
• Five Homework Assignments (75 points each)

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Syllabus

• Assessment (cont.)
• No extra credit
• No incompletes
• Except for extreme circumstances (e.g., illness,
  death of family member)
• A comment on grades
• You earn them

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Syllabus

• Professionalism
• Pathfinder
• Honesty
• Integrity
• Cheating, plagiarism, etc. will not be tolerated
  and will result in a referral to whoever is in
  charge of this place.
• Behavior
• Class starts at 400
• Turn off cell phones
• If you must leave early let me know
• Be respectful of others

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Syllabus

• Work Habits
• Read
• Due dates are non-negotiable
• Attempt practice items at end of chapters
• If you struggle with the items see tutors ASAP.
• Bring a calculator
• Follow class examples
• Passive learning does not work
• Other course policies
• Religious accommodations
• Disabilities
• Inform and provide documentation

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Who is here?

• In groups of three or four
• Identify yourself and get to know one another
• Ask the following questions
• What are your professional experiences?
• What is your program of study?
• What topics within your program interest you?
• What is your favorite recreational activity?
• Be prepared to introduce one member of your
  group.
• Exchange email addresses and/or phone numbers
• Contact if you miss class.
• Bounce ideas
• New friends
• Misery loves company -)

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How to study learn statistics

• Statistics is a Language
• Read the textbook
• Do the practice problems with each chapter (odd
  problems)
• Distributed Practice
• Studying once a week does not work
• Use the tutors and my office hours
• Dont get behind dont wait to say you dont
  understand

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How to study learn statistics

• This is not a Cookbook Course -- I want you to
  know why we do what we do even more than how we
  do what we do. You can always look up how but
  errors in research are made at the "why" level,
  not the "how" level.

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Working with your feelings attitudes

• HIGH ANXIETY!
• Try to put your math fears aside.
• You have the basic math skills.
• Some people think the whole process is hogwash
  (Suspend your Disbelief!)
• I cannot promise scintillation or excitement
  this will be intellectually taxing.
• Some people like my methods and some don't.

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The Big Picture Statistics in Context

• There are many different research processes
• Each has its own
• Philosophies of Inquiry
• Methods of Inquiry
• Purposes for doing research
• Processes and Rules
• Statistics does not fit them all.
• Here is one process

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EDPSY 511 The Big Lessons

• Statistics is a language
• Statistics is a tool
• Statistics is reasoned argument
• Statistics and facts are not the same things

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Chp. 1

• Key points
• Statistics is a process of collecting data in a
  scientific manner and making decisions based on
  these data.
• Personal experience vs. systematic empiricism
• Personal experience if useful BUT
• Subject to bias
• Can be haphazard
• Systematic empiricism
• Systematic observation
• Control of bias
• Replicable

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Fundamentals of Research

• Answering empirical questions
• Observable by the senses.
• Publicly verifiable knowledge
• Operational definitions
• Direct replication
• Identical conditions
• Systematic replication
• Similar conditions

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Variables

• Variables
• Characteristics that takes on different values
• Achievement
• Age
• Condition
• Independent variable (IV)
• Manipulated or Experimental
• Condition
• Subject
• Personality
• Gender
• Dependent variable (DV)
• The outcome of interest
• Achievement
• Drop-out status

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Populations vs. Samples

• Population
• The complete set of individuals
• Characteristics are called parameters
• Sample
• A subset of the population
• Characteristics are called statistics.
• In most cases we cannot study all the members of
  a population

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Descriptive vs. Inferential

• Descriptive statistics
• Summarize/organize a group of numbers from a
  research study
• Inferential statistics
• Draw conclusions/make inferences that go beyond
  the numbers from a research study
• Determine if a causal relationship exists between
  the IV and DV

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Random Sampling vs. Random Assignment

• Simple random sampling
• Each member of the population has an equal
  likelihood of being selected.
• Helps ensure that our sample will represent the
  population of interest.
• Random assignment
• Assigning subjects to different conditions in a
  way that they have equal chance of being placed
  in either condition.
• Controls for confounding

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Goals of Scientific Research

• Exploratory
• What is out there?
• Descriptive
• What does this group look like?
• Explanatory
• Why and how are these constructs related?
• Evaluation
• Does this program work?
• Prediction
• Who will become depressed?

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Common Research Designs

• Correlational
• Do two qualities go together.
• Comparing intact groups
• a.k.a. causal-comparative and ex post facto
  designs.
• Quasi-experiments
• Researcher manipulates IV
• True experiments
• Must have random assignment.
• Why?
• Researcher manipulates IV

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A little on SPSS

• The assignments require hand calculations and
  SPSS practice
• Typically I have you check your answers using
  SPSS
• Do not buy SPSS
• Do not leave the SPSS work for night before the
  due date.
• You will need a TEC center account
• Do that after class today