Professor Battle's Social Statistics

Department of Sociology Hunter College

Spring, 1997



Office: 1637HW
Office Hours: Monday 1:15 to 2:15 and by appointment
Office Telephone Number :(212) 772-5641 {I strongly suggest e-mail}
E-Mail: Juan.Battle@hunter.cuny.edu
Department Homepage: http://maxweber.hunter.cuny.edu/socio/

* PLEASE NOTE: Due to the number of students I have, I will NOT be able to return students' phone calls. I will, however, respond to e-mail messages.


  1. Required Materials:

    1. Healey, J. 1996. Statistics: A Tool for Social Research (4th Edition). California: Wadsworth Publishing Company Publishers.
    2. A computer diskette

    * PLEASE NOTE: Additional required reading will be assigned as necessary, and will be available on reserve in the Hunter College Library.

  2. Recommended readings are located at the end of each chapter in the text. Additional recommended readings will be announced during class.
  3. There will be a series of homework assignments. Each assignment will be worth 20 points. NO homework assignments can be made up.
  4. To ensure (1) attendance, and (2) that students are reading the assigned material, unannounced quizzes will also be given. You will be responsible for providing the paper for the quizzes. NO quizzes can be made up.
  5. There is a required paper project for this course. The final paper and its related assignments (see below) will count for 50 points toward your final grade. The final paper must be two to three pages, word-processed, double-spaced, 12 point font (NO SMALLER), contain about one inch side margins, have an unjustified right margin, and must be free of spelling and grammar errors. PRESENTATION, SPELLING, AND GRAMMAR WILL AFFECT YOUR GRADE ON EVERY WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT YOU PRODUCE FOR THIS CLASS. More details relating to the paper assignment will be given during class. NO paper assignment can be made up.
  6. There will be a midterm and a final (for dates, see below). Each exam will count for 200 points toward your final grade. Both exams will be cumulative and based on the text AND lecture notes. I will provide the exams with answer/scan sheets. You must provide a number two pencil to fill in the scan sheets. You may not write on the exam, and must submit the exam with your answer sheet. In order to receive credit for any exam, you MUST turn back in the corresponding exam. To limit students from sharing answers, there will always be more than one version of the exam given. Your answer sheet will be returned with your grade. To see the exam, you must come to my office during my office hours (see above) or make an appointment. NO exams can be made up.
  7. Your final grade will be a combination of your scores on the homework assignments, term paper, exams, quizzes, and any other assignments. This method of grading allows you to know your current grade at any given point during the semester. The dates below are deadlines and not guidelines. To that end, all assignments are due at the very beginning of class; and NO late assignments will be accepted. Each week you can expect to have readings and homework assignments due. I recognize the requirements for this course are rigorous. If you have any activities which might prevent you from regularly attending class on time and meeting the deadlines, I strongly encourage you to find another class which is more suitable to your schedule.

Course Outline and Reading Assignments:

Because of the limited amount of time, I have had to be selective in deciding which chapters and materials to cover. However, we will pretty much be following the order of the chapters in the text. Reading assignments listed below refer to the required text. However, as noted above, additional required readings may be assigned during the semester; and will be available on reserve in the Hunter College Library. There may be some minor changes to the schedule or assigned readings as we go along.

WEEK TOPIC AND ASSIGNED READINGS
2/3 Course Overview

Read Chapter 1

2/10 Descriptive Statistics

Read Chapter 2

2/17 Lecture

2/17 No Class

2/24 Measures of Central Tendency

Read Chapter 3

3/3 Measures of Dispersion

Read Chapter 4

3/10 The Normal Curve

Read Chapter 5

3/17 Crosstabs
3/24 3/27 Midterm
3/31 Introduction to Inferential Statistics
Sampling & the Sampling Distribution
Estimation Procedures

Read Chapters 6 & 7

4/7 Hypothesis Testing I: The One-Sample Case Hypothesis Testing II: The Two-Sample Case

Read Chapters 8 & 9

4/14 Hypothesis Testing III: Nonparametric Tests for
Variables Measured at the Ordinal Level
Hypothesis Testing IV: Chi Square

Read Chapters 10 & 11

4/21 Spring Break
4/28 Hypothesis Testing V: The Analysis of Variance
Bivariate Association: Introduction & Basic Concepts
Association Between Nominal Level Variables
Association Between Ordinal Level Variables
Association Between Interval-Ratio Level Variables

Read Chapters 12 & 16
Skim Chapters 13, 14, & 15

5/5 Partial Correlation and Multiple Regression and Correlation

Read Chapter 18

5/12 5/15 Final Project Due
TBA Final Exam