Course Syllabus
Statistical Analysis
MPA 630-001
Fall Semester
M/W 9:30-10:45
Lab F 9:30-10:45
TNRB 240
Professor Eva Witesman
TNRB 772
Office hours by appointment
eva_witesman@byu.edu
Required software
RStudio.cloud
(Enter this web address in a web browser and create an account/log in)
DataCamp.com
(Create an account using the e-mail address of record at BYU)
Course Description
The purpose of this course is to provide students of public administration with statistical tools necessary to be better producers and consumers of various kinds of data and to enhance decision-making capabilities in a public management context. Students will learn, apply and critique statistical approaches to real-world situations through theoretical and practical application of statistical concepts.
The Specific quantitative tools and concepts introduced in this course include:
- Elements of causal relationships
- Statistical conclusion validity
- Descriptive statistics (measures of central tendency, dispersion, proportions, frequency)
- Inferential statistics (confidence intervals)
- Hypothesis testing
- Regression analysis (including simple, multiple, logistic, and ordinal logistic analyses)
- Basic data management
- Programming in R statistical software
Community Partners
A significant component of this course is the completion of a statistics project on behalf of a community partner. Community partners and student teams will be assigned during the first month of class. Most of the work of the semester that involves the community partner project will be completed on a team Google doc, which students will not need to complete separately. Students will receive formative feedback on their drafts through this process at various checkpoints, in addition to summative evaluations of their achievement of specific points of progress on the project.
Classroom Procedures
Review & questions:
Students are invited to bring questions from previous weeks’ material and/or the assigned readings for discussion during the first portion of class.
Lecture & discussion:
Students are invited to be actively engaged in the lecture and demonstrations that take place during the lecture and discussion portion of the class. Full attention is expected during lecture. The instructor will make every effort to make lecture notes available to students so that minimal note-taking is necessary.
Technology & practice problems:
Students are invited to work independently and/or collaboratively to practice material from lecture ("drills") as directed by the instructor. This will help students to verify that they have the practical knowledge necessary for application to their own independent projects. Practice work is not due to the instructor. Answers will be provided for verification purposes, though students are also strongly encouraged to work together to find correct answers together before referring to any answer keys. Students who master the material before others are expected to actively engage as teachers during this time period to both solidify their own understanding of the concepts and to aid others in understanding. When students feel confident that they and their peers have mastered the material and are ready to apply it, they may move on to application.
Quizzes
Students will complete (by the end of the semester) small quizzes that reflect mastery of the technical components of the course. Students are encouraged to take quizzes as soon as they feel prepared to do so.
Draft Assignments
Draft assignments are essential to ensure proper progress, understanding of the material, and for early correction of problems with the project. Drafts will be graded, and every effort should be made to make the prescribed progress on time. It is expected that some drafts will be incomplete due to the nature of working with real community projects and real data.
Grades
Final grades are the result of normalized grading scales based on class performance and conform to Marriott School of Management GPA targets for graduate programs.
In the BYU Marriott School of Business, we aim to make our classrooms similar to the workplace. In the workplace, it is illegal to discriminate based on race, color, religion, gender, national origin, disability, sexual orientation or age. Furthermore, we believe Christ would never belittle anyone based on those characteristics. We feel strongly that no one in the classroom should be discriminated against for any reason, but rather all should be treated with dignity and respect. If you experience such an offense in a BYU Marriott School class, or anywhere else at the university, you are strongly encouraged to contact your professor, Romney Institute Inclusion Ombudsperson, department administrator, someone in the Dean’s Office, or other office at the university (such as the Multicultural Student Services office).
Technology
It is well-established that multi-tasking detracts from the learning experience – both yours and those around you. So, we ask you to minimize the distraction and engage in the conversation as much as possible. Even during inevitable lapses in the conversation, we need you to stay tuned in, which takes effort on everyone's part. This means that we expect your personal electronic devices to be in your bag or in some place where they will not disturb or distract you at all during the class session. There will be times when we need technology to help us with a class experience, but those times will be the exception rather than the rule.
Attendance
In short, attendance is required in all classes. We expect you to be present and ready to fully engage the day’s assigned materials in every scheduled class session unless something critical and well outside of your control prevents you from being there. We trust that you will not miss class unless it is truly critical, so a rare absence will not likely affect your grade.
When Absent. As in any professional setting, if you are going to miss class, please let your professor know beforehand. However, there is no need to reach out to a professor to give a detailed explanation of absences because we trust you will make sound judgments regarding when you need to miss. There are no “excused” absences or “unexcused” absences. They are just absences--if you are not there, your contribution grade will naturally be affected.
Catching Up. Furthermore, it is impossible to quickly sum up or recreate the learning experience of an interactive classroom experience, so please do not ask your professor to do this for you if you miss class. Your best bet is to rely on your teammates to capture as much as possible from their experience.
Extraordinary Circumstances. On rare occasions, something unusual may happen in your life that may cause extended or persistent absences. In those unfortunate circumstances, you are encouraged to seek an exception from the program. If granted, the program will notify the relevant professors.
Course Summary:
| Date | Details | Due |
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