How to Pass a Stats ClassLecture Notes: Introduction to The Course by Adam J. McKee Using F. J. Gravetter and L. B. Wallnau's Essentials of Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences (4th Ed.). Statistics is Not Hard—If you can balance your checkbook you can do statistics. You already know a lot about statistics—the problem is that you don’t know the special terminology For example, We all know how to "compute the arithmetic mean"—we usually just call it an "average" A Mean Example There is also the problem of using symbolic notation—statistics uses symbols instead of words to represent concepts.
This formula tells us how to calculate the average that we’ve all
done a hundred times in school.
IF you have PowerPoint, click here for a animated demonstration of how this works. The Secret to Success So the secret to success in statistics is to learn all the special words and symbols that statisticians use. This is the same secret to success in any class—you have to know the language of any subject to really learn it. I’m not a statistician! That’s OK. I’m not either! As social scientists and consumers of social science literature, we just need to know what the results mean. We don’t have to create new statistical tests and write computer programs—all that hard work has been done for us! I can’t Do Math! You may not have mastered calculus, and you may think that college algebra was unfathomable, but that isn’t a problem. Statistics is not math. It is another thing entirely that just happens to involve numbers—like accounting. This stuff is SO boring! That’s a hard one to argue with…but Like accounting, understanding statistics is a valuable skill Just think of all the trouble you would get into if you didn’t pay taxes or balance your checkbook! You can get into the same sort of trouble listening to statistics without knowing about them yourself And we’ll try to make the class as interesting as possible—this is a tough job and will take everyone’s help. Practice, practice, and more Practice! We all know that if we know something that we never use we forget it. That’s why you constantly have to practice using the concepts we’ll learn in class. Helpful Hints from Gravetter and Wallnau Hint 1: study for short periods several times per week rather than trying to "cram" before quizzes and exams. You’ll have a deeper understanding, retain the information longer, and not be so bored!
This class is very structured. Your syllabus gives you detailed information as to what we’ll be doing in class long before we get there. Reading ahead in the chapter is extremely valuable: you will have a basic understanding of the ideas and can concentrate in details in class, and you will know what is really confusing for you so you can ask questions in class. BUY THE BOOK! Lots of students don’t like to buy text books for various reasons—they are expensive and lots of professors don’t even use them. A STATISTICS CLASS IS NOT LIKE THAT—YOU WILL USE YOUR BOOK FREQUENTLY. Pay Attention This may seem like a no-brainer, but we all know this is not the most exciting topic in the world. Try to get the big ideas before you worry about the details. Maintain your focus—it’s not so very long. You can do it! Test Yourself Regularly Don’t wait until the end of a chapter or just before a test on several chapters to test your knowledge. Do the "learning checks" in the chapters—even if they aren’t going to be graded! Know all the key terms—work on them as we go along. Flashcards are helpful to many. Don’t Fool Yourself It is easy to convince yourself that you understand something when you really don't. Make sure that you understand what’s going on by solving practice problems. Ask for Help. For some reason, students are afraid to ask questions. If you have a question, ask it! You are not the only one that doesn’t know. In fact, since participation is part of your grade, your grade actually benefits by asking questions. (In two ways!) A Note On Notebooks I strongly suggest you use a 3-ring binder for this course for several reasons: You will have handouts to keep up with. You will print things off the WWW that you will want to keep up with. You will have graded homework that you will want to keep up with. You will need to organize all this stuff if you want to pass the course. A Warning about Organization Having your materials organized in such a way that you can find information you need quickly is critical. Each page of material needs to be organized within your notebook—don’t come to a test with a pound or two of loose sheets. Material needs to be organized on each page; remember that you need to be able to follow statistical procedures step by step, so you need to be able to tell from your notes what order the steps go in. If your notes are messy, then take the time to recopy them in a well organized, legible format. Three Ways to Fail this Course
The three most common ways to fail a statistics course are as follows: What is "statistics" anyway? Most of us think of statistics as facts and figures—RBIs, average temperature in July, Deaths caused by drunk driving last year. It is that and more. We’ll define statistics as a set of methods and rules for organizing, summarizing, and interpreting information. This page available at: |
