STA 242/ENV 255:

APPLIED REGRESSION ANALYSIS

Instructor: Merlise Clyde

Office: 210A Old Chemistry Building
Phone: 681-8440
e-mail: clyde@stat.duke.edu

Teaching Assistants

The instructors for the lab sessions are Joe Cook, Anik Mehta, and Jason McLachlan

Office Hours

are posted under the Announcements: Office Hours in the World Wide Web material.

Labs

There are four labs for this course, given at the following times: Labs are scheduled to meet in Teer 106, Because lab space is limited, if you wish to attend a different lab section for some reason, you should first check with the lab instructors.

Texts

  1. Regression With Graphics by L. Hamilton
  2. SAS INSIGHT manual (required).
The course prerequisite is STA210 or equivalent. If you feel you need to review material, a suggested reference is Statistics for the Life Sciences by Myra Samuels. No prior experience with SAS or the UNIX workstations is expected; this will be covered in the lab portion of the course. There are statistic tutors available through SOE.

We will cover material in Chapters 1-5 and 7 of Regression with Graphics . Material in Chapters 6 and 8, or other topics will be covered if there is sufficient time and interest. Daily topics and reading assignments will be posted in the Course Calendar in the WWW material. This will be updated throughout the course as necessary.

Grading

There will be two exams during the semester plus a final group project. The tentative dates are posted in the Course Calendar Please check your schedules now for possible conflicts.

Although the exact percentages may be adjusted based on the difficulty of the homework and exams, as a guide based on past classes you can expect that about 90% and above will be required for an "E", 89-75% will be required for a "G". Grades of "I" will be given only in extraordinary circumstances. An incomplete will not be given on the grounds of an unexpectedly heavy course load.

Homework is a required part of the course. There will be approximately 9 weekly assignments during the semester. All assignments will require computer work. Late homework will not be accepted. Assignments are posted on the computer so you can always work ahead if you anticipate a heavy workload at some point in the semester. You are permitted and encouraged to discuss homework problems with others in the class, but the work turned in must be your own. Conscientious completion of all homework assignments is essential to getting a good grade in this course

Computing

The lab sections are an important part of this course. The SAS software package will be used to support the calculations in the lab portion of the course and output from SAS will be included on exams. You may use another computer program, but be aware that it may not provide all of the necessary features.

You will receive instruction on SAS during the lab meetings. This program is available in the ACPUB labs. We will also try to cover any UNIX material that is useful to the course and completing the assignments. During the regular lab sessions, you will go over assignments and occasionally receive instruction to supplement the lectures. Time will usually be scheduled for individual help. You should prepare for lab before hand by reading through the assignment on the WWW and any reading in the text or SAS manual.

You will also need a hand calculator that can find roots, logs and exponentials. Bring your calculator to the exams