Overview
Welcome to Sociology 301: Social Statistics. This course provides an overview of the uses of statistical analyses for the social sciences. You will learn about statistical reasoning and some of the techniques used to summarize data. In addition, you will learn how to formulate and test hypotheses.
Outline
SOCI 301 comprises eleven units. Each unit corresponds to a chapter in the textbook and should take about a week to complete.
- Unit 1: Introduction to Statistics
- Unit 2: Mean, Variance, Standard Deviation, and Z Scores
- Unit 3: Correlation and Prediction
- Unit 4: Foundations of Inferential Statistics
- Unit 5: Introduction to Hypothesis Testing
- Unit 6: Hypothesis Tests with Means of Samples
- Unit 7: Effect Size and Statistical Power
- Unit 8: Introduction to the t Test: Single Sample and Dependent Means
- Unit 9: The t Test for Independent Means
- Unit 10: Introduction to the Analysis of Variance
- Unit 11: Chi-Square Tests and Strategies When Population Distributions Are Not Normal
Learning outcomes
SOCI 301 has eight major learning outcomes. After completing this course, students will be able to:
- Calculate and display common descriptive statistics (i.e., measures of central tendency, measures of variance, etc.).
- Explain the difference between sample and population, statistics and parameters.
- Describe dependent variables and independent variables.
- Calculate and interpret correlations.
- Make statistical predictions.
- Explain the dangers of using correlation to determine causation.
- Conduct hypothesis testing.
- Calculate various inferential statistics, including Pearson’s r, various t-tests, ANOVA, and the Chi-square test.
Evaluation
To receive credit for SOCI 301, students must complete and submit all the assignments and write the midterm and final examinations. Students must achieve a minimum grade of D (50 percent) on both the midterm and final examinations and an overall grade of at least D (50 percent) for the course.
Students will be evaluated on their understanding of the concepts presented in the course and on their ability to apply those concepts. The final grade will be based on the marks achieved for the following activities.
| Activity | Weight |
| 6 Assignments (5% each) | 30% |
| Midterm Online Exam | 30% |
| Final Online Exam | 40% |
| Total | 100% |
The midterm and final examinations for this course must be requested in advance and written under the supervision of an AU-approved exam invigilator. Invigilators include either ProctorU or an approved in-person invigilation centre that can accommodate online exams. Students are responsible for payment of any invigilation fees. Information on exam request deadlines, invigilators, and other exam-related questions, can be found at the Exams and grades section of the Calendar.
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University’s online Calendar.
Materials
Digital course materials
Links to the following course materials will be made available in the course:
Aron, A., Coups, E. J., & Aron, E. N. (2019). Statistics for the behavioral and social sciences: A brief course (6th ed.). Pearson Prentice Hall.