DRAFT

PUBP 704

Statistical Methods in Policy Analysis

Summer Session

Monday/Wednesday 6:00 – 8:45 PM

 

Location:

Room 251

Arlington Campus

 

Instructor:

Susan Aud

703-993-xxxx

540-341-7823

saud@gmu.edu

slaud@erols.com

 

Office Hours:

Monday/Wednesday 4:00 – 5:30 (or by appointment)

 

Objective:

            This course is intended to provide students with an overview of the basic statistical methods of research in social science in order to enable them to read, understand, perform and critique statistical analyses.  Emphasis will be placed on problem solving and linking text examples with policy-related data.  Hands on analysis of data with STATA statistical software will be incorporated to the class through labs and course assignments.

 

Grading:

Homework (6) 25 points each

Quizzes (2) 50 points each

Midterm – 100 points

Final – 100 points

 

Text:

Introductory Statistics (5th edition)

Wonnacott and Wonnacott

 

Session 1            Monday, May 20

                        Topic – Overview of statistics

                        Reading – Chapters 1 & 2

 

Session 2            Wednesday, May 22

                        Topic – Probability

                        Reading – Chapters 3 & 4

 

* No school on Monday, May 27 Memorial Day

 

Session 3            Wednesday, May 29

                        Topic – Two random variables

                        Reading – Chapter 5

 


Session 4            Monday, June 3

                        Computer lab

                        Quiz #1 handed out

 

Session 5            Wednesday, June 5

                        Topic – Sampling

                        Reading – Chapter 6

Session 6            Monday, June 10

                        Topic – Confidence intervals

                        Reading – Chapter 8

 

Session 7            Wednesday, June 12

                        Topic – Hypothesis testing

                        Reading – Chapter 9

Midterm handed out

 

Session 8            Monday, June 17

                        Topic – Ordinary least squares

                        Reading – Chapter 11

 

Session 9            Wednesday, June 19

                        Topic – Simple regression

                        Reading – Chapter 12

 

Session 10            Monday, June 26

                        Computer lab

                        Quiz #2 handed out

 

Session 11            Wednesday, June 28

                        Topic – Multiple regression

                        Reading – Chapter 13

 

Session 12            Monday, July 1

                        Topic – Regression extensions

                        Reading – Chapter 14

 

Session 13            Wednesday, July 3

                        Topic – Correlation

                        Reading – Chapter 15

 

Session 14            Monday, July 8

                        Review/summary

                        Computer lab

                        Final handed out