Wellesley College's Quantitative Reasoning QR199 Homepage
Wellesley, Massachusetts USA

Quantify. If whatever it is you're explaining has some measure, some numerical quantity attached to it, you'll be much better able to discriminate among competing hypotheses. What is vague and qualitative is open to many explanations.

- Carl Sagan, quoted in Steve Campbell's Statistics You Can't Trust (1999)

This page represents two firsts at Wellesley College: the first collaborative social science statistics class taught here and the first class with many on-line components. As a student you will be able to access the syllabus, assignments, and other material via this web site. We will also be using FirstClass to distribute problem sets, problem set answer keys, and other course material during the term. It is a good idea to check this page and the QR199 FirstClass folder on a regular basis.

CLASS AND LAB INFORMATION:

Fall 2002 Schedule

Labs, TAs, TA Office Hours - Restricted to Wellesley campus use

Our Office Hours:
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri

Jeff Gulati PNE 234
1:00-2:30pm
none
10:00-11:45am
none
1:00-2:30pm

Joe Swingle PNE 332
1:30-3:30pm
none
none
1:30-3:30pm
none

Drop-In Hours at the LTC Thursdays 7-9pm (Catherine Cachero)


QR199 Class Survey

Problem Sets:

Each week that there is a lab, problem sets will be posted in the FirstClass folder for this course. Problem sets in general are due one week after your lab meeting. I will be sure to let you know of exceptions to this general rule. The following are tentative titles for the eight problem sets you will be doing in this course:

  • Problem Set 1: Theories, Concepts, and Variables
  • Problem Set 2: Measures of Central Tendency and Variation
  • Problem Set 3: Probability and Graphing
  • Problem Set 4: Probability, Bayes' Theorem, and Sampling
  • Problem Set 5: The Normal Distribution.
  • Problem Set 6: The CLT and Confidence Intervals.
  • Problem Set 7: Hypothesis Testing: Means and Proportions.
  • Problem Set 8: Chi Square, Correlation, and Regression.

Some statistics-related sites that you might find interesting:

General Social Survey

University of Michigan Documents Center

US Bureau of the Census

Economic Statistics

Rice Virtual Lab in Statistics (awesome site for learning!!)

Social Science Briefing Room

Help After Hours

  • You can always email one of the instructors or one of the TAs.
  • Try FirstClass. In the first lecture and the first lab meeting, we will talk more about how we will use FirstClass to help you with questions about problem sets and to keep you posted on late-breaking course information during the term.
  • Need general help with your computer? Try: Wellesley's Computing Page
  • Need general help in Excel? Try the website http://elementk.com

 

Last modified: 9 September 2002