Understanding Statistics					 J.R. Rasmussen

					Class 1 Outline

I) Introduction

	A) Instructor's background and experience 
		 
	B) Student introductions and examples 

	C) Course Overview
		1) Goals/Philosophy 
			a) Critical readings of articles containing statistics
			b) Ability to do descriptive statistics
			c) Understanding the concept of statistical inference
			d) Historical perspective and people involved
			e) Varied examples of statistical methods
			f) Implementation on the PC

		2) Topics to be covered
		3) Assignments and Grading
		4) Textbooks/financial calculator/"cartoon book"
		5) Office, phone, and Office hours
		6) Syllabus/ prerequisites
		7) Class decorum


II) Introduction

	A) The title of the book:  The exploration and analysis of data

	B) Descriptive statistics
		a) Summarizing
		b) graphical presentation

	C) Statistical inference
	
	D) Examples generated by students


III) Break	
	Wait List


IV) Descriptive statistics  continued

	A) Types of data
		1) categorical data
		2) numerical data
			a) discrete
			b) continuous

	B) Examples:  Group exercise

	C) Graphical presentation of data 
		1) Class example of heights
		2) Construct the histogram


V) Homework
	
	A) Hand out assignment 1 due Wednesday October 7, 2009.

	B) Comment on showing thoughts and work rather than answers