Course Information:  BIOL/STAT 335 Online  Summer 2004

Instructor:  Dr. Martin Buntinas                                     Office:  Damen Hall 318

Email:   Phone 773/508-3580

Class web page www.stat.luc.edu/biostatistics

Required text:  Statistics for the Life Sciences by Myra L. Samuels & Jeffrey A. Witmer (3rd edition), Prentice Hall.  ISBN 0-13-041316-X

And you will need the statistical software Minitab-Student edition. 

There are several ways you can obtain the Minitab software.

1.  You can purchase the Samuels/Witmer textbook and Minitab as an integrated package.  At Beck’s Bookstore it costs about $20 more than the textbook without Minitab.  The ISBN of this package is 0-13-103884-2.

2. If you have access to Minitab at your work or university, then you do not have to purchase it. For example, all Loyola University computer labs have the Minitab software.

3. You can download Minitab from www.minitab.com. The demo version is a full version of the software that is free for 30 days. You can also rent the software there for five months for $25.99 (www.minitab.com/education/semesterrental).

4. You can purchase the supplement, A Minitab Guide to Statistics by Ruth Meyer and David Krueger, Pearson Education.  ISBN 0-13-784232-5

5. An Introduction to Data Analysis Using MINITAB for Windows by Kathleen McLaughlin & Dorothy Wakefield (Ringbound, 2nd ed., 160pp) Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-019972-9 (This ISBN also includes the student version of Minitab)
 

6.  The Student Edition of Minitab for Windows 95 and Windows NT by John D. McKenzie, Jr & Robert Goldman, Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-39715-3

You can FAX, email or phone your textbook orders to Beck's Bookstore here on the Loyola University campus. The FAX number is (773) 743-2356. The email address is jsmazar@aol.com. The phone number is (773) 743-2281. Here is what you needs to include in a FAX, email or phone call:

  • NAME: Your name
  • SHIPPING ADDRESS: Your shipping address
  • COURSE: STAT 335
  • TEXTBOOK: Statistics for the Life Sciences by Myra L. Samuels & Jeffrey A. Witmer (3rd edition), and Minitab-Student Edition Integrated Package (ISBN 0-13-103884-2), Prentice Hall.
  • CREDIT CARD NUMBER: Your credit card number
  • EXPIRATION DATE: Your credit card expiration date
  • SIGNATURE: Your signature
  • PHONE NUMBER: Your phone number

An order placed before 3:00p.m. should be sent out via UPS the next morning or day after at worst. UPS delivers within 150 miles in one day. If you wou

 

Grading:  The course grade will be computed using the weighted average of the following:

            10%:  Homework and Lab assignments before MidTermXam,

            35%:  MidTermXam Wednesday June 30, tentatively scheduled 6-8pm.

            10%:  Homework and Lab assignments after MidTermXam,

            35%:  FinalXam  Thursday July 29, tentatively scheduled 6-8pm. 

            10%:  Project/Paper Monday July 26.  See details under elsewhere on the class web page. 

*Students in the Chicago area must take both exams at Loyola University in Damen Hall Room 318.  Please make any necessary work arrangements for exam times well in advance. Unless you appeal for an exception by the end of the first week, it is assumed that you consent to this arrangement.

Cutoff grades are A 90%, B+ 88%, B 80%, C+ 78%, C 70%, D+ 68%, D 60%. 

 

This course is not self-paced. We will cover most of the textbook at a rate of about one chapter per unit and one unit per week.


Submit your work by attachment to an e-mail.  Send the e-mail to me at mgb@math.luc.edu. 

Some of the data sets mentioned in the textbook are contained on a computer disk included with the text. If you don't have this disk, let me know. I will make the files available to you. We will analyze this data using the statistical package Minitab.  Minitab is chosen because it's easy to use.  Initially some time will be spent learning features of Minitab.  After learning Minitab, other statistical packages will become easier to use.


If you submit work by e-mail, please use the following convention. Write in the "Subject" area of your e-mail 335HWuuYourName or 335LabuuYourName, where HW is for homework and Lab is for lab work, uu is the unit number of the assignment, and YourName can be your initials or name. So Lab02Arriana would be the Lab assignment for Unit 2 submitted by Arriana. The attached file should have the same name 335Lab02Arriana.doc. This will help keep my e-mail and files organized. They are easily lost among other e-mail otherwise. Also put your name and unit number at the top of the actual document. If you have questions about a particular assignment, please do not use this "Subject" convention, otherwise I will not see it until I am about to grade the assignment.


It is important for all work to be submitted and on time.  However, everybody is permitted two "wild cards" of two late submissions without penalty, one before the midterm exam and one afterwards. Work is considered late if grading of that assignment has already started. Other than the two "wild cards", late homework will be penalized about one point for each day late.


A paper is due near the end of the term. More details will be provided later.

 

Academic Honesty:  It is presumed that you will do your own work on the homework and exams. Submitting work as your own which is copied or paraphrased from someone else in not permitted. Cheating includes, but is not limited to, illegal collaboration, copying, and using materials not permitted on tests. Anyone found cheating will not be permitted to withdraw and will receive a grade of F for the course. Your academic dean will be informed and a statement will be placed in your permanent file.  Cheating is a very serious matter in online classes.  In the past year ten biostats students have been caught in some form of cheating.  I don't think that any of them managed to get into medical school. If you discuss homework with someone else, you must cite the person's name on your homework paper.