The University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work Data Analysis and Computers II Course Number: SW 388R7 Faculty: Jim Schwab Unique Number: 64195 Office Number: SSW 2.228 Semester: Spring 2007 Office Phone: 471-9816 Time: Wednesday: 8:30am to 11:30am Email: [email protected] Place: SSW 1.214 Instructional Technology Classroom Office Hours: Wednesdays, 7:30 to 8:30am, or by appointment BlackBoard Course Site: 07SP 7-DATA ANALYSIS & COMPUTERS II (64195) I. Course Description This course is designed to build upon the concepts and procedures introduced in Data Analysis and Computers I, to enable students to do a more thorough job of data analysis by introducing multivariate statistical procedures into their repertoire of statistical techniques. The primary focus is on using the SPSS statistical package for calculating multivariate statistics and the utilization of the statistical output in research findings. II. Course Objectives 1. To understand how the analysis of data derives from the statement of a research problem or hypothesis and the availability of empirical data. 2. To understand how to conduct a variety of statistical analyses, including testing of statistical assumptions, data transformations, and validation of statistical findings. 3. To understand how to present and interpret the results of statistical analyses. 4. To be able to design a data analysis strategy that answers a research question or hypothesis, including specifications for data elements, requirements of the statistic, and limitations to the interpretation. III. Teaching Methods Course content will be covered using class lecture, focused discussions, computer demonstrations, and regular homework assignments involving data analysis exercises and computer applications. Students are expected to ask questions, share experiences, and actively participate in class discussions. While most statistical calculation will be done on the computer, some hand calculation is inherent in statistical analysis. Pocket calculators or Microsoft Excel can be used for to compute these calculations. Course materials, announcements, assignments, and grading of homework problems will be done in BlackBoard. Through BlackBoard, the syllabus and any updates are available for downloading; datasets for problems are available for downloading; homework assignments and exams will be made available and completed online; your grades on exams and homework will be available online to you; a public bulletin board and accessto email is supported for reporting problems on assignments, requesting assistance, and checking for announcements. While the University has invested additional resources in support of BlackBoard, there are still periodic outages and slow-downs. If you wait until the last minute to complete assignments, you may encounter difficulties. Blackboard supports an email system and I can post announcements for all class members to see. If you identify errors or ambiguities in my materials, please inform me and I will post the clarification announcement. You may want to consult announcements before raising an issue to see if it has already been asked and answered. In addition to posting requests on the bulletin board, you may request help via personal email, which I check several times during a typical workday and generally once on weekends. Usually you may anticipate a response within 24 hour. My email address is listed at the top of this syllabus. If I think your question is of general interest to the class, I may post it as an announcement unless you explicitly request that I do not post it. If you need to meet with me individually, the best method for setting an appointment is via email. IV. Required and Recommended Texts, and Materials The required text for the course is: Ott, R. Lyman and Longnecker, Michael. An Introduction to Statistical Methods and Data Analysis, Fifth Edition. Pacific Grove, CA: Duxbury, 2001. ISBN: 0534251226. (continued from last semester). Hutcheson, Graeme; and Sofroniou, Nick. The multivariate social scientist : introductory statistics using generalized linear models. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1999. ISBN: 0761952012. In addition, you will need access to version 14.0 of SPSS on a PC computer and access to the Internet using either Internet Explorer, Firefox, or a comparable web browser. If you do not have a personal computer, the necessary hardware and software are available in the LRC computer lab in the School of Social Work. All data sets used in this course will be available as SPSS system data files (".SAV") for downloading via the course web page in BlackBoard. In addition to text materials, there will be links to online tutorials for each week’s materials. You should review all of these links and repeat those which you find most helpful. V. Course RequirementsCourse requirements will consist of weekly homework assignments and two exams. In addition, regular class attendance is expected and students should come to class prepared to actively participate in the class. Course requirements, due dates, and their contribution to the final grade are summarized below. Homework 30% Midterm Exam 35% Final Exam 35% Final grades for this course will be assigned using the following +/- scale. 94. 0 and Above A 90.0 to 93.999 A- 87.0 to 89.999 B+ 84.0 to 86.999 B 80.0 to 83.999 B- 77.0 to 79.999 C+ 74.0 to 76.999 C 70.0 to 73.999 C- 67.0 to 69.999 D+ 64.0 to 66.999 D 60.0 to 63.999 D- Below 60.0 F Homework assignments requiring students to use SPSS to analyze data will be made available on the course web site after every class. Homework problems will be objective style questions on the datasets provided for the course. Each homework assignment draws from a large test bank from which a subset of problems are randomly selected. The homework assignment may be redone as many times as you wish until the exam on that content. You will be given a different selection of questions each time you redo the assignment. You will find two identical versions of each homework assignment. Your grade for the assignment will be the higher grade on either version of the assignment. Since BlackBoard will record your grade for the last attempt, you can use the other version to retake the assignment to improve your grade. Grades for homework assignments will be the highest grade for each problem set at the time of the exam. While you may continue to do homework