Module Identifier MA26510  
Module Title STATISTICAL METHODS  
Academic Year 2006/2007  
Co-ordinator Dr John A Lane  
Semester Semester 1  
Other staff Dr John A Lane  
Pre-Requisite MA11310  
Mutually Exclusive MX36510  
Course delivery Lecture   11 Hours. (11 x 1 hour lectures)  
  Practical   22 Hours. (11 x 2 hour practical classes)  
Assessment
Assessment TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Exam3 Hours (practical examination)  60%
Semester Assessment coursework  40%
Supplementary Assessment3 Hours (practical examination)  100%

Learning outcomes

On completion of this module, a student should be able to:
1. summarise effectively a set of data;
2. identify the statistical techniques appropriate to analysing a given situation;
3. carry out standard statistical procedures for one and two samples;
4. state and check the assumptions required by their analyses;
5. 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

  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. STATISTICAL PROCESS CONTROL: Basic ideas; control charts; process capability.
  6. 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

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 5