Course Policies
This course recognizes the extraordinary circumstances that many students may be facing and have created the course policies and schedule to help reduce stress and promote effective course mastery. If you find that anything is affecting your wellbeing or academic success and you find it difficult to complete your work, please let me and your Academic Deans know as soon as possible. We are happy to work with you to make sure you succeed in STA 440. You may also find additional information regarding personal emergencies here.
The course website will have an up-to-date course schedule, policies, and slides. Detailed assignment introductions will be made available on each assignment's GitHub repository in the course organization. Announcements will be sent to the class by e-mail, so please check your e-mail regularly.
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity honesty is of paramount importance in this class, and all work must be done in accordance with the Duke Community Standard, reproduced as follows:
To uphold the Duke Community Standard:
- I will not lie, cheat, or steal in my academic endeavors;
- I will conduct myself honorably in all my endeavors; and
- I will act if the Standard is compromised.
By enrolling in this course, you have agreed to abide by and uphold the provisions of the Duke Community Standard as well as the policies specific to this course. Cheating or plagiarism on assignments, lying about an illness or absence and other forms of academic dishonesty are a breach of trust with classmates and faculty, violate this Standard, and will not be tolerated; any violations will automatically result in a grade of 0 on the assignment, be reported to the Office of Student Conduct for further action, and potentially a failing (F) course grade depending on the magnitude of the offense.
Occasionally, datasets we are privileged to use in class are confidential and cannot be distributed more broadly or without express permission from the data-granting sponsor. Any unauthorized dissemination or further use of these datasets beyond this class is a violation of the Duke Community Standard.
Reusing code: You are always welcome to use online resources (e.g. StackOverflow) on your case studies. If you use code from an outside source, either directly or as inspiration, you must explicitly cite where you obtained the code. Any recycled code that is discovered and is not explicitly cited will be treated as plagiarism and a violation of the Duke Community Standard.
On individual assignments, you may not directly share code or write up with other students. On team assignments, you may not directly share code or write up with another team. Unauthorized sharing of the code or write up will be considered a violation for all students involved.
Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
It is my intent that students from all diverse backgrounds and perspectives be well-served by this course, that students' learning needs be addressed both in and out of class, and that the diversity that the students bring to this class be viewed as a resource, strength and benefit. It is my intent to present materials and activities that are respectful of diversity and in alignment with Duke’s Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion. Your suggestions are encouraged and appreciated; please let me know ways to improve the effectiveness of the course for you personally, or for other students or student groups.
Furthermore, I would like to create a learning environment for my students that supports a diversity of thoughts, perspectives and experiences, and honors your identities. To help accomplish this, if you feel like your performance in the class is being impacted by your experiences outside of class, please don't hesitate to come and talk with me. If you prefer to speak with someone outside of the course, your Academic Dean is an excellent resource. I (like many people) am still in the process of learning about diverse perspectives and identities. If something was said in class (by anyone) that made you feel uncomfortable, please talk to me about it.
Duke University is committed to providing equal access to students with documented disabilities. Students with disabilities may contact the Student Disability Access Office (SDAO) to ensure your access to this course and to the program. There you can engage in a confidential conversation about the process for requesting reasonable accommodations both in the classroom and in clinical settings. Students are encouraged to register with the SDAO as soon as they begin the program. Note that accommodations are not provided retroactively.
Activities & Assessments
Group case studies
Each case study will involve two submissions by the group: an initial submission, consisting of a written report, reproducible code on the GitHub repository, and a recorded oral presentation. This first submission will receive an initial grade. After receipt of comments from the instructor and classmates, groups will have the opportunity to write a response to review and submit a revised written report with the ability to earn up to half of the missing points on that component. Further details are available on each individual case study page.
Groups will change throughout the semester. Individual contributions to each submission will be assessed, both by group members and by instructor assessment of the GitHub repository commit history. Team members must provide assessments in order to receive credit for an assignment as part of the group’s peer evaluation process.
Note: Individual grades will be modified if peer evaluations suggest that team members make less than half of the contribution expected and if commit history reflects considerable discrepancies between contributions to the team.
Individual activities.
Throughout the semester, you will be asked to turn in two individual activities. These activities do not focus solely on statistical issues per se, but rather are aimed to help you develop as a statistician and scientist. The two activities relate to a formal peer review and reproduction of existing research. Additional details will be provided as the semester progresses.
Individual project
Each student will complete an individual project as part of the course. The individual project should use data that have not previously been used by the student in a project, and the analysis should be entirely the student’s own work. Any external resources used should be clearly documented. The student may use self-identified data or a resource provided by the instructor.
The individual project involves multiple due dates throughout the semester, to ensure students devote the required time and energy to their effort. These interim submissions will be reviewed by both the instructional team and peers, with the goal of maximizing the quality of the final report. Further details are available on the individual project page.
An additional resource (you can decide whether to opt in) available to you in Spring 2022 is participation in the Duke Reader Project. This is a great way to get help with your writing, which should lead to clearer reports and, I anticipate, higher quality work. There is no penalty for not participating; neither is there any accommodation in grading for those who do or do not participate.
Grade Calculation
The grading basis for this class is a traditional letter grade according to the standard university policy. The following table presents the contribution of each component to a student's final grade:
| Case study 01 (group) | 15% |
| Case study 02 (group) | 15% |
| Case study 03 (group) | 15% |
| Activity 01 (individual) | 15% |
| Activity 02 (individual) | 15% |
| Project (individual) | 25% |
A letter grade will be assigned as follows:
| 93 | ≤ | A | ≤ | 100 |
| 90 | ≤ | A- | < | 93 |
| 87 | ≤ | B+ | < | 90 |
| 83 | ≤ | B | < | 87 |
| 80 | ≤ | B- | < | 83 |
| 77 | ≤ | C+ | < | 80 |
| 73 | ≤ | C | < | 77 |
| 70 | ≤ | C- | < | 73 |
| 67 | ≤ | D+ | < | 70 |
| 63 | ≤ | D | < | 67 |
| 60 | ≤ | D- | < | 63 |
| 0 | ≤ | F | < | 60 |
These posted cut points are guaranteed minimums. This course is not graded to a pre-specified distribution (i.e., "curved"); if every student earns a 95 in the course, then every student will receive an A.
Regrade requests must be made within two days of when a report is returned. These will be honored only if points were tallied incorrectly, or if you feel part of your report is correct, but it was marked wrong (these things do happen!). No regrade will be made to alter the number of points deducted for an identified statistical issue. When a regrade request is evaluated, if new errors are identified, additional points may be deducted from the grade.
Late Work Policy
If work is turned in within 24 hours of the due date/time, then there is no penalty (essentially you have a 24-hour grace period). However, due to the fast-paced nature of this course, absolutely no late work will be accepted beyond this grace period. This grace period applies to all case studies and individual assignments, but does not apply to the individual project due to university final exam policies.
Manage your time wisely. Do not treat the grace period as a "modified deadline."