MA26510 - STATISTICAL METHODS

Module Identifier	MA26510
Module Title	STATISTICAL METHODS
Academic Year	2002/2003
Co-ordinator	Dr John A Lane
Semester	Semester 1
Pre-Requisite	MA11310
Mutually Exclusive	MX36510
Course delivery	Lecture	11 x 1 hour lectures
	Practical	11 x 2 hour practical classes
Assessment	Semester Exam	3 Hours (practical examination)	60%
	Semester Assessment	Course Work:	40%
	Supplementary Assessment	3 Hours (practical examination)	100%

Learning outcomes

On completion of this module, a student should be able to:

summarise effectively a set of data;
identify the statistical techniques appropriate to analysing a given situation;
carry out standard statistical procedures for one and two samples;
state and check the assumptions required by their analyses;
draw conclusions from an analysis of data and write reports concerning these conclusions.

Brief description

There is an increasing demand in the workplace for personnel skilled in the analysis and interpretation of data. This module covers the basic skills of a practising statistician and includes also the preparation of reports.

Aims

This module will give students a thorough grounding in the methods used by a practising statistician.

Content

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS: Interpretation of data presented in numerical and graphical forms. Report writing.
BASIC IDEAS: Estimates and standard errors of means, proportions, sums and differences. Fitting straight lines, correlation.
CONFIDENCE STATEMENTS: Construction and interpretation of confidence intervals for means, rates and proportions. Confidence limits for the difference between parameters.
HYPOTHESIS TESTING: Hypothesis tests; interpretation of p-values; Binomial, Poisson and Normal cases. Paired and unpaired two sample t-tests.
NONPARAMETRIC METHODS: Distribution-free tests for paired and unpaired data.
STATISTICAL PROCESS CONTROL: Basic ideas; control charts; process capability.
LINEAR REGRESSION: Interval estimation and tests for slope, intercept and fitted line. Prediction.

Reading Lists

Books
** Recommended Text
Barbara Ryan, Brian L. Joiner. (2001) Minitab Handbook. 4th. Duxbury 0534370934
F Daly, D J Hand, M C Jones, A D Lunn & K J McConway. (1995) Elements of Statistics. Addison Wesley 0201422786
** Supplementary Text
D D Wackerley, W Mendenhall & R L Scheaffer. (2002) Mathematical Statistics with Applications. 6th. Duxbury. 0534377416