This document provides information about an intermediate statistical methods course taught by instructor Shuyan Sun in winter 2009. The course covers techniques like ANOVA, regression, and nonparametric tests. Students are expected to actively participate, complete homework problems and tests, write article reviews, and conduct a group research project applying statistical analyses. Grades are determined based on test scores, assignments, class participation, and a group project.

1. Instructor: Shuyan Sun
Office: 6140 Edwards One
Cell phone: (513) 608-3799
Email: sunsn@email.uc.edu
Office hours: by appointment only
Intermediate Statistical Methods
18-EDST-711
Winter 2009
Course Description
This course covers essential techniques of data analysis and statistical inference, including ANOVA,
simple regression, and nonparametric tests commonly used in educational research and the
behavioral sciences. By the end of the quarter, the student should be able to apply those
techniques into research. Students enrolled in this course should have the knowledge of
introductory statistics that is equivalent to 18-EDST-710 Introductory Statistical Methods. Using
SPSS to analyze data and interpreting SPSS output are required in this course.
Required Textbook
Gravetter, F. J., & Wallnau, L. B. (2007). Statistics for the behavior sciences (7th Ed.) Belmont, CA:
Thomson Wadsworth. (ISBN: 0-495-09520-6)
Attendance and Efforts
Attendance and punctuality are expected, though occasional tardiness and absence is allowed and
understood. Students do not need instructor’s permission or any document to excuse themselves
from attending or coming late for the class. Students are expected to actively participate in various
class activities. The combination of students’ attendance, involvement and other observable efforts
will account for 5% of the final grade.
Communication with the Instructor
Students are strongly encouraged to communicate with the instructor about their anxieties, special
needs, concerns or suggestions. Do not wait until the course evaluation at the end of the quarter
because it is too late: the instructor cannot adjust her teaching to better accommodate the needs
of the students.
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2. Course Schedule and Assignments
Date Topic Exercise Problems
01/08 Course Introduction and Ch. 12: Estimation 10, 16, 22, 24
01/15 Ch. 13: Introduction to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) 12, 14, 22, 24
01/22 Ch. 14: Repeated-Measures ANOVA 12, 14, 18, 22
01/29 Ch. 15: Two-Factor ANOVA (Independent Measures) 10, 16, 20, 24
02/05 Research Day I: ANOVA Article review 1 due 8am
Test 1 due 3pm
02/12 Ch. 17: Introduction to Regression 6, 10, 14, 20
02/19 Ch. 18: Chi-Square Statistic 4, 16, 20, 24
02/26 Research Day II: Regression and Chi-Square Test Article review 2 due 8am
Test 2 due 3pm
03/05 Ch. 19: Binomial Test 6, 16, 22, 24
03/12 Ch. 20 Statistical Techniques for Ordinal Data 4, 10, 16, 26
03/19 Exam Week; No Class Test 3 due 3pm
Project report due 3pm
Assignments
Exercise problems: The purpose of exercise problems is to help students intuitively understand
the formulas and be able to do manual calculation in the computer age. Students do the weekly
exercise problems from the textbook but do not have to turn them in; the solutions will be
reviewed in class.
Test 1 to 3: The purpose of tests is to timely assess students’ progress. Students complete the
online take-home tests at blackboard independently (no peer collaboration allowed) before the
deadlines; the first two tests will be reviewed in research days.
Article review 1 & 2: The purpose of article review is to help student apply classroom knowledge
into research practice by reading articles in academic journals. Students work in small groups (two
or three students per group), read all of the assigned articles and write a review on one of the
articles based on the instructor’s guided questions. The review should be submitted to digital drop
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3. box on blackboard before the deadlines; no email submission is allowed. Members in the same
group will receive the same grade. All of the assigned articles will be reviewed in research days.
Project report: The purpose of the project is to help student apply classroom knowledge into
research practice by actually analyzing the data and interpreting the results. Students work in
small groups (two or three students per group, could be different from the group for article review)
and complete a small research project that meets the following requirements:
1. Based on literature review, common sense or imagination, develop appropriate research
questions that can be answered using at least two of the techniques introduced in this
course.
2. The report should follow the format of typical quantitative research; in other words, it
should include these components or their equivalents: Introduction, Method (Sampling,
Instruments and Procedure), Results, Discussion and Implications. The maximum length of
the report is 10 pages, including pictures, graphs and tables.
3. The data could be real or mock and should analyzed using SPSS.
4. All of the results should be explicitly interpreted in the context of the study. SPSS output
only is not enough.
5. The report and SPSS data file should be submitted to digital drop box on blackboard before
the deadline; no email submission is allowed. Students should contact the instructor in
advance if they need extension.
Grading System
The distribution of the points towards the final grade is as follows:
o Test 1 & 2: 20% each
o Test 3: 10%
o Article review 1 & 2: 5% each
o Project report: 35%
o Attendance and efforts: 5%
Grade Percentage Grade Percentage
A 95-100 A- 90-94
B+ 85-89 B 80-84
B- 75-79 C+ 70-74
C 65-69
F 0-64 P 65-100
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4. Others
Students must also have an active Blackboard account linked to a valid email address. For students
with learning disabilities or other special needs, accommodations under the university policy will be
made based on students’ requests.
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