Module Identifier MX36510  
Module Title STATISTICAL METHODS  
Academic Year 2002/2003  
Co-ordinator Dr John A Lane  
Semester Semester 1  
Pre-Requisite MA11310  
Mutually Exclusive MA26510  
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:

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 methods used by a practising statistician.

Content

  1. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS: Interpretation of data presented in numerical and graphical forms. Report writing.
  2. BASIC IDEAS:Estimates and standard errors of means, proportions, sums and differences. Fitting straight lines, correlation.
  3. CONFIDENCE STATEMENTS: Construction and interpretation of confidence intervals for means, rates and proportions. Confidence limits for the difference between parameters.
  4. HYPOTHESIS TESTING: Hypothesis tests; interpretation of p-values; Binomial, Poisson and Normal cases. Paired and unpaired two sample t-tests.
  5. NONPARAMETRIC METHODS: Distribution-free tests for paired and unpaired data.
  6. STATISTICAL PROCESS CONTROL: Basic ideas; control charts; process capability.
  7. 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