Course Schedule
Lehrveranstaltungen
An Adventure in Statistics. Discovering the General Linear Model using Science Fiction/Graphic Novel and application in R. (Seminar)
Dozent/in: Jan-Bennet Voltmer
Termin:
wöchentlich | Montag | 16:15 - 17:45 | 17.10.2016 - 30.01.2017 | C 1.005 Seminarraum
Inhalt: "Statistics is the nerdy student in the classroom of disciplines: it cheerfully minds its own business helping all of the other kids to do their homework and yet no one seems to like it. It doesn’t get invited to birthday parties, and it’s always the last to be picked for the sports team. But where would the hipsters of psychology, medicine, business studies and biology be without statistics? They’d be setting fire to their own pants at a party: happier, perhaps, but directionless and in danger of getting burned. Statistics feels uncomfortable in social situations so it can seem aloof, unapproachable and difficult to fathom out. However, like most introverts, if you take the time to get to know us, you’ll find a loyal friend. So don’t run away or fear statistics. Strike up a conversation with it, be patient and kind and see what happens. That applies to other introverts too.” (Field, 2016) Within the course, we will use groundbreaking literature to discover statistics: A science fiction / graphic novel statistics textbook, called “An Adventure in Statistics. The Reality Enigma”. “At a simple level ‘an adventure in statistics’ is a story about Zach searching for Alice, and seeking the truth, but it’s also about the unlikely friendship he develops with a sarcastic cat, it’s about him facing his fear of science and numbers, it’s about him learning to believe in himself. It’s a story about love, about not forgetting who you are. It’s about searching for the heartbeats that hide in the gaps between you and the people you love. It’s about having faith in others. Of course, it’s also about fitting models, robust methods, classical and Bayesian estimation, significance testing and whole bunch of other tedious statistical things, but hopefully you’ll be so engrossed in the story that you won’t notice them. Or they might be a welcome relief from the terrible fiction. Time will tell.“ (Field, 2016) “Having a story running through [a statistics textbook] means that it works best if you read it from cover to cover.” (Field, 2016, p. XVI) Students are encouraged to do so, because this will help to gain a comprehensive overview of statistical methods. Supplementary, students will prepare short résumés of the book chapters and the covered methods in small groups and provide these to their fellow students before every session. In class, we will use the statistics software R (with graphic user interface “R Studio”) to calculate our way through the book.