go directly to the project program
| Some additional reading for those interested in various approaches to statistics. |
| ML Taper and SR Lele. 2004. The Nature of Scientific Evidence: Statistical, Philosophical and Empirical Considerations. University of Chicago Press. |
| TC Chamberlin. 1890. The method of multiple working hypotheses. Science 15:92-96 |
| JR Platt. 1964. Strong inference. Science 146:347-353 |
| FS Guthery, LA Brennan, MJ Peterson and J J Lusk. 2005. Information throry and wildlife science: critique and viewpoint. Journal of Wildlife Management 69:457-465. |
| PA Stephens, SW Buskirk, GD Hayward and CM del Rio. 2005. Information theory and hypothesis testing: a call for pluralism. Journal of Applied Ecology 42:4-12. |
| Laboratory Handouts |
| Week 2 – Getting started with SAS |
| Week 2 - Three ways to get your data into SAS |
| Week 2 – Cleaning and screening your data file |
| Week 3 – Making secondary data-files and review of descriptive statistics. |
| Week 4 - Creating derived variables from existing data |
| Week 5 – Merging datasets by linking variables |
| Week 6, Week 7 and Week 8 – Analyses of Variance |
Course description: |
| The course is intended to provide an introduction to both the theory and application of statistics in Biology. It stresses both descriptive and inferential statistics and is heavily focussed on using various analyses of variance to test hypotheses and probe data. The course also includes consideration of various resampling methods. The laboratory portion of the course stresses hands-on data manipulation and application of statistical procedures using SAS. That work can be carried out during the remainder of the period using computer equipment in the classroom. Alternatively, computer work can be done on any personal system using SAS software that can be obtained in class. |
Prerequisites and registration: |
| Working knowledge of algebra, probability and PC’s. Registration is limited to 15 students and you must have permission from the instructor, RF Rockwell (rfr@amnh.org). |
Course meeting dates and time: |
| Wednesdays beginning January 30, 2008 at 9:00am. This is a three (3) hour lecture followed by a six (6) hour computer laboratory. The computer laboratory begins at 12:30pm with an approximately 1 hour lecture and discussion of the week’s work or ongoing project. |
Course location: |
Room
C415B |
Text: |
Zar, JH. 1999. Biostatistical Analysis (4th edition). Prentice Hall. |
Contacts: |
robert
rockwell (rfr@amnh.org) - lecturer |
Biostatistics Lecture Syllabus
| Date | Topic | Zar |
| 01/30 | Introduction, philosophy, terminology | 1,2 |
| 02/06 | Descriptive statistics; Discrete probability | 3,4,5 |
| 02/13 | Continuous probability; Estimation | 6, 7 |
| 02/20 | Hypothesis testing; Inference | 8,9 |
| 02/27 | Analysis of Variance: 1-way designs | 10,11 |
| 03/05 | Analysis of Variance: partitions and contrasts | 10,11 |
| 03/12 | In-class Midterm | |
| 03/19 | Nested designs; Space/Time designs | 15 |
| 03/26 | no class | |
| 04/02 | Factorial designs | 12 |
| 04/09 | Regression; Resampling: jacknifes and bootstraps; Correlation | 17-18,23 |
| 04/16 | Information Theoretic Alternatives | |
| 04/23 | spring break - no class | |
| 04/30 | Review; Take Home distributed | |
| 05/07 | In-class Final; Take-home due 0915 |
| This 75% portion of your course grade will be based equally on an In-class midterm, an in-class final and a take-home final. Readings are from Biostatistical Analysis (4th edition) by Jerrold H. Zar. |
Biostatistics Laboratory - go directly to the project program
| Date | Topic |
| 01/30 | Introduction to computer room and course |
| 02/06 | Introduction to PC SAS; data file structure; SAS DATA and PROC paragraphs; documentation; data input and screening |
| 02/13 | 02/07 continued; if, then structures |
| 02/20 | PROC SORT; set, if first.*, PROC PRINT, PROC MEAN |
| 02/27 | PROC FREQ and Catch-up Day |
| 03/05 | PROC ANOVA andSAS lab project big work day |
| 03/12 | PROC NESTED; PROC VARCOMP |
| 03/19 | PROC GLM; LSMEANS; bonferroni adjustments |
| 03/26 | no class |
| 04/02 | PROC GLM continued |
| 04/09 | projects |
| 04/16 | projects |
| 04/23 | spring break |
| 04/30 | Project programs due by 1500 hours |
This 25% of your course grade depends on producing a project program that demonstrates your ability to perform all the skills listed above. The program must run without error to get anything other than an incomplete for the course. The incomplete can only be made up by submitting said correctly running program. |
| Required
Statement on Academic Integrity The CUNY Policy on plagiarism says the following about plagiarism (the CUNY Policy can be found in Appendix B.3 of the CCNY Undergraduate Bulletin 2007 -2009): "Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person’s ideas, research or writings as your own. The following are some examples of plagiarism, but by no means is it an exhaustive list: 1. Copying another person’s actual words without the use of quotation marks and footnotes attributing the words to their source. 2. Presenting another person’s ideas or theories in your own words without acknowledging the source. 3. Using information that is not common knowledge without acknowledging the source. 4. Failing to acknowledge collaborators on homework and laboratory assignments. 5. Internet plagiarism includes submitting downloaded term papers or parts of term papers, paraphrasing or copying information from the internet without citing the source, and “cutting and pasting” from various sources without proper attribution. The City College Faculty Senate has approved a procedure for addressing violations of academic integrity, which can also be found in Appendix B.3 of the CCNY Undergraduate Bulletin.” Be aware that if we suspect plagiarism we will follow this procedure, no exceptions made; i.e. we will report you to the Academic Integrity Official. Disciplinary sanctions range from failing the class to expulsion from the college. |
revised - 03/03/2008