LECON4151 Applied Statistics Course Descriptor

Course Overview

The Applied Statistics course places significant emphasis on practical software usage, ensuring students gain essential skills in data manipulation and analysis. The course contains numerous empirical applications, emphasising the practical application of statistical methods. 

Tailored for those seeking to apply statistics in various disciplines in social sciences, the course offers a comprehensive introduction to statistical techniques and methodologies. Through hands-on experience with statistical software, students develop proficiency in manipulating, visualising, and analysing data, thus becoming prepared for the demands of more advanced empirical coursework. 

The course aims to cultivate a data-driven mindset, ensuring students are proficient at working with actual data and employing software tools to address various research questions. This immersive learning experience allows students to emerge equipped with the essential skills and knowledge to excel in their academic pursuits and beyond.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

Subject Specific Skills

Transferable and Employability Skills

Teaching and Learning

This course has a dedicated Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) page with a syllabus and range of additional resources (e.g. readings, question prompts, tasks, assignment briefs, discussion boards) to orientate and engage you in your studies.

The scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course are:

1. Lectures and seminars 

36 scheduled hours – typically including induction, consolidation or revision, and assessment activity hours.

Faculty hold regular ‘office hours’, which are opportunities for students to drop in or sign up to explore ideas, raise questions, or seek targeted guidance or feedback, individually or in small groups. 

Students are to attend and participate in all the scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course and to manage their directed learning and independent study.

Indicative total learning hours for this course: 150 

Assessment

Both formative and summative assessment are used as part of this course, with purely formative opportunities typically embedded within interactive teaching sessions, office hours, and/or the VLE. 

Summative Assessments

Assessment for this course will typically consist of two assignments containing a mix of theoretical and empirical exercises. When possible, emphasis will be placed on empirical, data-driven applications.

Further information about the assessments can be found in the Course Syllabus.

Feedback

Students will receive formative and summative feedback in a variety of ways, written (e.g. marked up on assignments, through email or the VLE) or oral (e.g. as part of interactive teaching sessions or in office hours). 

Indicative Reading

Note: Comprehensive and current reading lists are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative reading list provided below is for a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

• Core text: Essential Statistics, Regression, and Econometrics, Gary Smith, Academic Press 2011
• Alternative: Statistics for Business and Economics, Paul Newbold et al. Tenth Global Edition Pearson or any other previous edition 

Indicative Topics

Note: Comprehensive and current topics for courses are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative topics provided below are used as a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

Students will typically study the following topics: 

• Types of data and data collection 
• Visualising data with software 
• Descriptive statistics
• Sampling and sampling distributions 
• Hypothesis testing

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