e-SMS: Statistics Made Simple
Overview
e-SMS is designed to help you tackle the complete cycle of statistical work, starting by formulating the question to which you require an answer and the data that needs to be gather and seeing it through analysis to the conclusion.
Why did we design e-SMS?
Our motivation was to help you see the purpose of statistics in your research work, and also our experience in providing statistical help to researchers has taught us that there are a number of key concepts which, when well understood, make life much easier and statistical methods begin to make sense for the researcher. Basically, we would like to make statistics simple and relevant for you.
Characteristics of the course
This facilitated, on-line course is about understanding variability. It includes the essentials needed to describe data well (descriptive statistics), and to make good generalisations (statistical inference); it covers the concept of p-values and their use, and establishes the groundwork for statistical modelling based on simple linear regression.
It is a very practical course that uses the internet for teaching, presentations, individual assignments and other learning activities. A high level of peer-to-peer and student-to-tutor interaction encourages learning and helps ensure completion. For further information, see the course announcement on www.statistics-training.org.
Aims
The course is intended to provide first-year post-graduate research students with the basic skills required for data handling and statistical analysis. These generic skills are needed by most students during their studies, and form the foundation for understanding higher-level statistics courses. The course addresses the concern often raised by incoming students, that their previous statistics teaching failed to give them a solid basis on which to start their research degree.
Who should attend?
The e-SMS course is designed for post-graduate research students at the beginning of their research career, but is suitable for anyone who requires a foundation course in statistics for research, and who wants to study online. If your previous statistics course was (a) a long time ago; (b) more on theory and formulas than ideas and interpretation; or (c) taught without integrating the use of computers for statistical work, then this course is for you.
How you will benefit
The course will help prepare you for your research work, and will give you confidence in your use of statistics. You will gain some key transferable skills in statistics, specifically in understanding, describing and quantifying variability. You will learn to interpret the statistical components of a report on a dataset, and to produce a report about a dataset using appropriate descriptive summaries and statistical inferences.
Pre-requisite knowledge
Applicants should be competent in the use of the internet (e-mail, web browsing etc) and have some familiarity with the MS Excel spreadsheet (including some use of functions and formulas).
Course content Expand...
Orientation to on-line learning: Practising online skills in preparation
for the main coursework
Introduction: Statistics in the context of research
Topic 1: Thinking statistically: Describing data well - summary
statistics
Topic 2: Thinking statistically: Making good generalisations
Topic 3: Which hypothesis test should I use? - the concept of the
p-value
Topic 4: Statistical modelling - simple linear regression
Topic 5: Putting your skills into practice - producing a model
statistical report
Duration and price
Dates: 23 January - 18 March 2012; 10 September - 4 November 2012
Duration: 8 weeks on-line (requires approximately one hour per
day, arranged within each week to suit yourself)
Price: £695 (£485 with academic discount)
Discounts: An Academic discount
is available for this course. Further groups discounts are also offered
- contact us for details.
Last updated: 5 January, 2012
