SYLLABUS
Research Design and Analysis (GB 750)
Fall 2008

instructor: Dwight Moore, Ph.D.
office - Science Hall 144
phone - 341-5611
email - dmoore@emporia.edu
http://www.emporia.edu/biosci/moorbiol.htm

office hours: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 9:00 - 10:00; Tuesday 9:00 - 11:00; and by appointment. In addition, I am usually on campus by 7:30 am and do not leave until after 5:30 pm.    my schedule for fall 2008
section:GB 750, MWF 8:00 - 8:50, Science Hall 158

text:Zar, J. H. 1998. Biostatistical Analysis, 4th ed. Prentice-Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 662pp. (required)
I. course description:

Research design and analysis is for graduate students in biology. The course is designed to introduce research design and the statistical analysis of biological data. The course will describe various research designs starting with a examination of comparative versus experimental designs. The course will then look at a variety of designs for research projects and then examine the appropriate statistical techniques for analysis of the data. Students will also read several papers from the biological literature in order to examine the design of the research and the analysis of the data.

II. course organization:

Material will be presented primarily in the form of lectures, material placed on ESU's web server, and reading assignments. Lecture and notes on the server will cover the points to be learned and will direct your study from the text. Various handouts will be given to illustrate points in lecture, and readings outside of the texts will be assigned. You should keep the handouts in a notebook as they will prove useful at various times in your graduate career.

III. grading:

Your grade will be determined based upon the total points (500 possible) earned on four examinations. There is no provision for doing extra or outside work to improve your grade.
A  = 92.0% to 100%
A-  = 89.0% to 91.9%
B+  = 86.0% to 88.9%
B  = 83.0% to 85.9%
B-  = 79.0% to 82.9%
C+  = 76.0% to 78.9%
C  = 70.0% to 75.9%
D  = 60.0% to 69.9%
F < 60.0%

examinations: Three tests plus a final exam are scheduled for the semester (see class schedule). The final exam is half comprehensive and half over material since the last test. Each test is worth 100 points and the final is worth 200 points for a total of 500 points.

problems: Various problems and exercises will be assigned during the semester. These can be found in the yellow boxes in the notes on the web and the answers will also be posted on the web site. These problems will not be turned in nor graded, however it is important that you do these problems so that you understand the process for crunching your data. If you have any questions about the problems feel free to ask questions, either in class or in my office. After you have worked the problems on your own you should consult with your classmates about the problems, as this will help you to learn the material better.

IV. attendance:

I will not take attendance. You should be committed enough to your education to come to class, otherwise you are just wasting your money.

V. academic dishonesty:

Any student who permits another student to use his/her work (except where expressly permitted) will get a zero on the assignment. Finally, any copying or other forms of cheating during a test will result in a zero on that exam. The Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences will be informed of all acts of academic dishonesty and the action taken against the offender. Be sure to review the Policies on Academic Dishonesty of Emporia State University and the Department of Biological Sciences.

VI. accomodations for disabilities:

Emporia State University will make reasonable accommodations for persons with documented disabilities. Students need to contact the Director of Disability Services (Memorial Union, Lower Level, 341-6637) and the professor as early in the semester as possible to ensure that classroom and academic accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion. All communication between students, the Office of Disability Services, and the professor will be strictly confidential.

VII. important and useful information from the registrar.

TENTATIVE CLASS SCHEDULE

week starting
20 Augwhat is science, scientific method, inductive vs deductive reasoning, experimental vs comparative method, Honor in Science

25 Augintroduction to biometry, types of data, measures of location, measures of dispersion

1 Sepnormal probability distribution
No class on 1 Sep (Labor Day)

8 Sepnormal probability distribution, distribution of the means,

15 Sepconfidence limits for point estimates
EXAM #1 (chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7) on 19 Sep

22 Sephypothesis testing, design in which a sample is compared to a reference population (one-sample hypotheses)

29 Seperrors in testing

6 Octassessing normality, two sample t-test,
No class on 10 Oct (Fall Break)

13 OctMann-Whitney test, match control design or repeated measures design
EXAM #2 chapters 6, 7, 8 and 9 on 17 Oct.

20 Octmultiple sample designs: one-way analysis of variance; one variable, completely randomized design; choosing alternate hypotheses in analysis of variance

27 Octcompletely random design for two or more variables (multi-way analysis of variance)

3 Novrandomized block design and repeated measures designs, nested ANOVA
No Class on 10 Nov and 12 Nov, annual meeting of the National Collegiate Honors Council

10 Novexperimental design to test a cause and effect relationships, linear regression

EXAM #3 on 14 Nov

17 Novlinear regression

24 Novdesign to test the linearity of the response of one variable to another (multiple Y's for each X)
No class on 26 and 28 Nov (Thanksgiving)

1 Decpolynomial regression, correlation

8 Decmultiple linear regression

FINAL EXAM on Tuesday, 16 Dec
half over material from first three exams and half over new material since the previous test


Last updated on 12 Aug 2008.
Provide comments to Dwight Moore at mooredwi@emporia.edu.
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