Syllabus

POLS 203 – SOCIAL STATISTICS I

Fall 2017

Zeynep Kadirbeyoglu

Office Hours: Thursday 13.00-14.00 OR by appointment    Office: IB 502

E-mail: kadirbeyoglu@gmail.com

Course Description

This course provides an introduction to statistical methods for social science students. The statistical methods which we will cover in class are useful to critically engage with articles (both academic and journalistic) and books that use survey/quantitative data. It is essential to be literate in these domains (even if you think you will not use these techniques in the future) because many of the articles and news we read make claims based on statistics.

Readings are available at Günel Fotokopi as a package.

Evaluation Methods and Dates:

Midterm I – October 26, Thursday 17.00-19.00 (35 percent).

Midterm II (cumulative) – December 7, Thursday 17.00-19.00 (35 percent).

Final Project: Due end of December (Details and exact due date to be announced) – 20 percent

Pop-Quiz and participation: 10 percent

Make-up exam policy: There will be no make-up exams unless you provide an official medical report within a week of the exam. Otherwise you will receive zero as your exam grade. The make-up exam will take place during the last week of classes for both Midterm I and Midterm II and will be comprehensive (covering the topics for the whole course).

Plagiarism and Academic Honesty: Plagiarism is a serious problem and refers to dishonestly representing someone else’s ideas as your own. Plagiarism is punished by disciplinary committee and usually results in an F as course grade and sometimes heavier penalties. All students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences (http://www.buowl.boun.edu.tr/students/favoidingplagiarism.htm ).

The Department of Political Science and International Relations has the following rules and regulations regarding academic honesty.

1. Copying work from others or giving and receiving answers/information during exams either in written or oral form constitutes cheating.
2. Submitting take-home exams and papers of others as your own, using sentences or paragraphs from another author without the proper acknowledgement of the original author, insufficient acknowledgement of the consulted works in the bibliography, all constitute plagiarism.
3. Plagiarism and cheating are serious offenses and will result in:

a)     an automatic F in the assignment or the exam,

b)     an oral explanation before the Departmental Ethics Committee,

c)     losing the opportunity to request and receive any references from the entire faculty,

d)     losing the opportunity to apply in exchange programs,

e)     losing the prospects of becoming a student assistant or a graduate assistant in the department.

The students may further be sent to the University Ethics committee or be subject to disciplinary action.

CLASS SCHEDULE

                               Tuesday*                                               Wednesday* 

WEEK 1	Introduction and syllabus distribution	Introduction to statistics   QUIZ 1 +  ASSIGNMENT 1
2	Introduction to statistics  (continued)   QUIZ 2 +  ASSIGNMENT 2	Presenting and Summarizing Data   QUIZ 3 +  ASSIGNMENT 3
3	Measures of Central Tendency   QUIZ 4	Measures of Dispersion   QUIZ 5
4	Measures of dispersion (continued)	The Normal Curve
5	Normal distribution and Review	Inferential Statistics
6	Samples and populations	NO CLASS (office hour between 11.00-13.00)
7	Hypothesis testing	Hypothesis testing – contd.
8	Single sample tests	Point and interval estimation
9	Two-sample tests	Nonparametric tests
10	Nonparametric tests – contd.	ANOVA
11	ANOVA	Introduction to correlation and regression
12	Correlation and regression	No Class (office hour between 11.00-13.00)
13	Overview of Project Guidelines	Midterm II results

* Assigned days and topics are just estimations. You will need to follow the lectures in order to see how far we can go. You are responsible from attending the classes and taking notes in order to better perform during the exams.

* The quiz and Assignments are very intense at the beginning of the term. Please make sure to follow regularly the course at the beginning to prepare the foundation for what is to come towards the end.

* There can be surprise pop quizzes and additional assignments may be handed out throughout the term in addition to the ones announced in the syllabus.