GEO
308: Use and interpretation of basic
statistical techniques in geographic problems.
GEO
488.04: Use and interpretation of
statistical techniques in geology.
GEO
308: GEO 204 required; MAT 120 or
equivalent Recommended
GEO
488.04: Consent from instructor
Instructor: Dagmar Budikova
Class
Time: MWF 10:00 -10:50 am FHS 202
Office
Hours: M 1:00-1:50 pm; WF 9:00-9:50 am
or by appointment
Office: 207C Felmley Hall of Science
Phone: 438-7643
e-mail: dbudiko@ilstu.edu
Course web page:
http://www.geo.ilstu.edu/geography/Courses/308_Quantitative_Methods/intro.shtml
The practice of statistics constitutes a set of
procedures and principles used to obtain and analyze information for
decision-making. The objective of this
course is to provide students with a sound introduction to such rules and procedures,
and stress their application with specific emphasis on geographic/geologic
problems.
The class will meet three times each week for a
total of 3 hours. New material will be
presented on Mondays and Wednesdays. Fridays
will be devoted to hands-on problem solving where the theory introduced in
previous lectures will be applied through geographical examples. A combination of computer software and
traditional by-hand methods will be used to solve these problems.
Required textbook and other materials for all
students:
McGrew,
J. C. (Jr.) and Monroe, C. B. 2000. An
Introduction to Statistical Problem Solving in Geography. Second Edition. McGraw Hill.
254 pp.
McGrew,
J. C. (Jr.) and Monroe, C. B. 2000. Workbook to Accompany An Introduction
to Statistical Problem Solving in Geography. Second Edition. McGraw Hill.
145 pp.
3.5 floppy or zip disk.
Calculator.
Recommended items for geology graduate students:
Textbooks:
Davis, J. C.
2002. Statistics and Data Analysis
in Geology. Third Edition. John Wiley.
Norusis, M. J.
2002. SPSS 11.0 Guide to Data Analysis. Prentice Hall.
Other Readings:
Banks, R. B. 1991.
Contouring algorithms.
Geobyte. V. 6. no. 5. p.15-23.
Cheeney, R. F., 1983. Statistical methods in geology for field and
lab decisions: Allen & Unwin
Ltd. London. 169 pp.
Clark, I. 1979. Practical geostatistics: Applied science publishers. London. 129 pp.
Davis, J. C., and R. J.
Sampson. 1992. Trend surface
analysis. Geobyte. V. 7, no. 4, p. 38-43.
Draper, N. R., and H. Smith,
1998. Applied regression analysis. Third
Edition. John Wiley & Sons Inc. New
York. 706 pp.
Ferguson, J., 1988. Mathematics in geology. Allen & Unwin Ltd. London. 299 pp.
Haan, C. T. 1977.
Statistical methods in hydrology.
Iowa State University Press.
Ames. Iowa. 378 pp.
Jones, T. A., and G. L.
Krum, 1992. Pitfalls in computer
contouring. Part II: Geobyte. V. 7, no. 4, p. 31-37.
Ripley, B. D., 1981. Spatial statistics. John Wiley & Sons. Inc. New York. 252 pp.
Shafer, R. 2002. The statistical sleuth: A course in methods of data analysis. Second edition. Duxbury.
742 pp.
Shaw, G., and D. Wheeler.
1994. Statistical techniques in
geographical analysis. Second edition.
David Dulton Pulishers Limited. London. 359 pp.
Stevens, S.S., 1946. On the theory of scales of measurement: Science. V. 103, p. 677-680.
Upton, G. J. G., and B.
Fingleton. 1985. Spatial data analysis
by example. Volume 1. Point pattern and
Quantitative data. John Wiley & Sons
Ltd. Chichester U.K. 420 pp.
Assignments
and Evaluation
The
total grade of 100% will be portioned in the following manner:
Test #1 September 19, 2003 20%
Test #2 October 31, 2003 20%
Final Exam December 10, 2003 20%
5 Practical Exercises 30%
10 Quizzes
10%
The
grading scale for exams and assignments is:
³ 90%
A; ³ 80% B;
³ 70% C;
³ 60% D;
<60% F
Graduate
Students
In addition to the above requirements, all graduate
students will be required to undertake an instructor-approved independent
research project. This process will entail posing a hypothesis, obtaining the
dataset necessary to test it, and testing the hypothesis using statistical
technique(s). Students will prepare two
main documents, which include a project proposal due September 19th,
2003, and a final research report, due November 21, 2003.
Final grade for graduate students will be computed
as follows: Final Grade (%) =
0.7*X + 0.3*Y where X represents the combined score obtained from test #1,
test #2, final exam, practical exercises and quizzes as stated above in
percent; Y is the grade received on the chosen project in percent. NOTE:
In order to pass the course as a whole, you need to receive a passing
grade on your project.
Both tests will consist of a combination
of short-answer, essay, problem-solving and multiple-choice questions. They will be 50 minutes in length each. Each test will include material covered
during class and labs. For details see
class schedule below.
The final exam has been scheduled for
Wednesday, December 10, at 7:50 am in FHS205.
It will contain material covered since Test #2. Details will be discussed in class.
The 5 lab exercises will consist of
performing calculations by hand and on computer and answering short-answer
questions. Exercises will be due at the
beginning of the hour. For details see
class schedule below. Once the session
begins, the assignment is considered late, and a penalty of 20%
is implemented. Thereafter, on each
additional date, a penalty of additional 20% is imposed. No late assignments will be accepted after 5
days, unless a legitimate reason is provided to the instructor.
Quizzes will be given each Friday at the beginning of class
when no test is being written, 10 in total.
Each quiz consists of one or more randomly selected homework questions
that I will assign during the lectures on Monday and Wednesday. Quizzes cannot be made up.
Bonus points: Students are encouraged to attend at least
two colloquia talks, or the GGGEO seminars.
While listening to the presentation, students should consider several
critical aspects of each talk. They
should summarize each presentation and critique it. For more information on how to critique a
research talk, consult handout given out in class. Consider this very seriously, it may mean the
difference between an A and B.
Note: Any part of this syllabus is subject to
modifications, which will be announced in class.