PSYC 2101: Statistics in the Social Sciences
This course provides an overview of the basic descriptive and inferential statistical techniques used in the analysis of social science research data. Students become familiar with organizing and analyzing data, communicating research results, translating statistical jargon into meaningful English, and understanding basic theories underlying statistics, such as elementary probability theory.
Learning outcomes
After successfully completing this course, students will be able to effectively use techniques in descriptive and inferential statistics. After having internalized the concepts underlying each technique, students should be able to accurately apply the appropriate technique to solve problems involving:
- Various scales of measurement
- Frequency distributions, tables, and graphs
- Percentiles and percentile ranks
- Measures of central tendency
- Measures of variability
- z-scores
- Probability
- Sampling distributions
- Hypothesis testing
- t-tests confidence intervals
- Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
- Correlation and regression
- Chi-square
- Various statistical techniques for ordinal data
Course topics
- Part 1: Introduction and Descriptive Statistics
- Part 2: Foundations of Inferential Statistics
- Part 3: Inferences About Means and Mean Differences
- Part 4: Correlations and Regression
- Part 5: Nonparametric Tests
Required text and materials
The following materials are required for this course:
- Gravetter, F. J., Wallnau, L. B., Forzano, L. B., & Witnauer, J. E. (2021).
Essentials of statistics for the behavioral Sciences (10th ed.). Nelson.
Type: Textbook. ISBN 9780357365298
Additional requirements
Calculator is required.
Assessments
Please be aware that should your course have a final exam, you are responsible for the fee to the online proctoring service, ProctorU, or to the in-person approved Testing Centre. Please contact exams@tru.ca with any questions about this.
To successfully complete this course, students must achieve a passing grade of 50% or higher on the overall course, and 50% or higher on the final mandatory exam.
| Assignment 1: Introduction and Descriptive Statistics | 8% |
| Assignment 2: Foundations of Inferential Statistics | 10% |
| Assignment 3: Inferences About Means and Mean Differences | 16% |
| Assignment 4: Correlations and Regression | 8% |
| Assignment 5: Nonparametric Tests | 8% |
| Final Examination (mandatory) | 50% |
| Total | 100% |
Open Learning Faculty Member Information
An Open Learning Faculty Member is available to assist students. Students will receive the necessary contact information at the start of the course.