Lecture 4 - May 12, 2000

Web-based Statistics
Lecture 4
Friday, May 12, 2000

Electronic Textbooks

Characteristics of a Good Textbook

Easy to read and understand
Well-organized
Accurate (no typos etc.)
Many examples ("case studies" - real life examples)
Exercises
Problems with solutions
Picrures, graphics...
Summary
Glossary
Index
References (further reading)

Some Electronic Textbooks

Hyperstat
http://www.davidmlane.com/hyperstat
UCLA Statistics Electronic Textbook
http://www.stat.ucla.edu/textbook/
Seeing Statistics
http://www.seeingstatistics.com/
Media Activities Book for Moore $ McCabe's Introduction to the Practice of Statistics
http://ww3.whfreeman.com/test/statistics/applets.html
SticiGuy
http://www.stat.Berkeley.EDU/users/stark/SticiGui/Text/index.htm
Surfstat
http://surfstat.newcastle.edu.au/surfstat/gateway.cgi
Electronic textbook by StatSoft
http://www.statsoft.com/textbook/stathome.html

Activity 4:

Group work of 2 students: Explore one of these textbooks for 30 minutes.
(Monday) Provide a 10 minute presentation in the following form:

give a brief overview of the complete textbook;
present in details one or two chapters in this textbook that you find most interesting. If you already have chosen a topic for your "lecture", you might choose a chapter or section related to this topic.
summarize: provide a brief evaluation of this textbook regarding the characteristics of a good textbook.

Homework 5 (20 points):

Group work of 2 students:
Provide a short summary (1 -1.5 pages) on the main features of your textbook. Include a detailed analysis of the chapter(s) you find most interesting.

Choose a topic for your "lecture":

Basic graphics (histogram, stem-and-leaf plot...)
Summary statistics (mean, median, variance...)
Probability
Linear regression
Normal distribution
Normal approximation to binomial distribution
Confidence intervals and hypothesis testing
The presentations will be given on Thursday next week. Your in class presentation and lecture evaluation will be followed by a written report (due the following Monday). A detailed description of this exercise will be given on Monday.