The Mater Research Support Centre conducted an Introductory Statistics course in 2006. This course was developed in response to a large number of consultation requests and from the favourable responses to statistical presentations in the annual Evidence Based Practice Course. A John P Kelly Research grant made the development of this course possible and free to Mater staff.
The course was successfully conducted, at the end of which a number of participants requested that the course materials and some of the statistical programs be made available for the long term, so that they can be used either to refresh memories or as a basis for developing teaching materials by the participants themselves. The materials are therefore posted on the MRSC Internet site, with only minor modifications.
The home or index page is modified, removing much of the administrative materials, and including an index to all the other materials. The FAQ, notice board, and the download pages are removed as they are no longer necessary
Participants
The course is intended for those who:
Objectives
After course completion, participants should be able to:
Course material
The course content resides on the website of the course, and includes:
The course content is constructed with self study in mind. Therefore, participants are encouraged to learn and progress in their own time. In addition to the course materials, there will also be the following communication pages:
Course delivery
The course will commence with the introductory session on 10th August 2006 and finish
with the last session on 2nd November 2006. There will be
five (5) afternoon sessions evenly distributed over a ten (10) week period.
Each session is three (3) hours which provides:
Evaluations and feedback
Participants will not be evaluated other than the exercises provided.
Participants will be asked to fill in a feedback evaluation form after each
contact session.
Java
and scripts:
Many of the calculations use Java applets. JavaScript’s are also used to
control the dynamic contents on the web pages. Your web browser must be enabled
for both types of resources. Most computers (at least those on the Mater
campus) are Java and Javascript enabled, so no additional change to your
computer is necessary. Most modern computers will also have these
facilities, but the capability is switched off by default. A little
bar may appear on top of your web page asking you whether you wish to enable
Java and Javascript. Clicking this bar will allow you to proceed.
Some versions of Windows XP, however, do not come with the Java runtime machine, so the Java applets will not run. If this is so, then you will need to tweak the computer as follows.
Adjust Security Level: Java applets and scripts will be blocked if the security level of your web browser is configured to be high. Go to the menu bar, click on Tools->Internet Option to access the security page. Set the security level for the Internet to medium (or lower). Alternatively, click the customise tab, scroll down to Scripting of java applets, and toggle enable to on.
JAVA Runtime Machine (JRM): This was packaged with the older version of Windows, but not with the latest version of Windows. Applets will therefore not run in the newer XP Windows without installing the JRM. JRM is usually available if you have a MAC or your operating system is Linux, but you should check and make sure. If it is not available you may need to install it.
If you are connected to the Internet, installing the JRM is straightforward. Go to http://java.com/en/download/manual.jsp and click on the download button next to "windows OFFLINE installation" (or other appropriate ones if you use the MAC or Linux) then download the installation file (15MB) to your computer. Running the program will install the JRM on your computer. Your browser should now run all applets.
Hidden contents:
Contents are sometime hidden in order to make diagrams, exercises and answers
easier to read. Headers that are bold and
maroon in colour contain hidden content. Below is an example.
Computer and graphics programs:
Where graphical presentation is required, programs produce coordinates that can
be copied and pasted into Excel. Then use Excel’s x-y plot tool to draw
the graph. Examples will be provided on how this can be done. The method
will also be demonstrated in one of the interactive sessions.
Theoretical basis of statistics:
Comparing two groups:
Correlation / Regression:
Prediction:
Sample size:
Programs and tables:
Version 2.2. Last change 18th July 2006