BASICS

The instructor for this course is Dr. Ashley Carter.

The lecture part of this course has been designed to be fully asynchronous and online. You will not be required to attend lectures at designated times.

The lab part of this course has been designed to be synchronous and online. You will be required to attend labs meetings via Zoom at designated times.

This course is Bio 260 Biostatistics, a preliminary course designed for biology students. During the regular semesters the lecture meets twice a week for 50 minutes each session with a concurrent lab section that meets for 2:45 each week. This online course has been designed to match the regular semester course as much as possible.

The course catalog describes this course as: "Use of probability and statistics in the description and analysis of biological data" which is most of what we will cover."

Although the online format is very convenient for students with work schedules or travel plans, studies have shown that non-completion rates are often higher for online courses compared to traditional ones. One of the primary causes of this is the lack of a sense of community that students feel in such courses. To assist with this, the synchronous lab sections will help keep you involved and connected. This is the primary reason why the labs are synchronous.

Course format

The lecture portion of the course has weekly videos to watch, homework assignments, and exams.
The lab portion of the course has synchronous sessions with the TA, homework assignments, an exam, and a project.

Canvas

For lecture, Canvas will be used for submission of assignments and taking exams associated with the lecture. The lectures themselves are available on YouTube (i.e., logging in to Canvas is not required).

For the lab, your lab TAs may use Canvas more. They will contact you will the procedure they will use for their lab.

Textbooks and readings

There is a lab manual required for this course. This is an electronic product distributed through Day 1 Digital Access:

• Carter, Ashley J.R., Archie, James W. Laboratory Manual for Biostatistics.

This lab manual is very detailed and has long introductory section for each lab. The lectures and labs are designed to follow the order of topics closely. This to be more than just a manual for lab, this is useful for the lecture as well. You should keep this for future courses as a reference.

There is a hardcover textbook recommended for this course:

• Whitlock & Schluter. The Analysis of Biological Data. Roberts and Company.

The book is mainly intended to supplement the lecture and lab material, making concepts clearer via the author's alternative presentation. The book listed is excellent. In the past I have told students that using an alternate text is just fine, but based on reading many texts over the years, this one is by far the best and you should keep it after the class to use as a reference in future courses.

Lecture overview

The course is divided into three sections, each corresponding to several topics in the book and labs in the lab manual. Lectures will not necessarily strictly follow the order of topics in the chapters within each section, but will cover much of the material while adding additional material not in the texts. You should read all the chapters for each section as soon as you can when we begin that section.

Section 1

Textbook chapters: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and interleafs 2, 5.
Lab manual labs: 1-8.
Topics covered:

• Concepts of populations, samples, statistics, and parameters.
• Summary statistics for data sets.
• Introduction to probability.
• The binomial probability distribution.
• The Poisson probability distribution.

Section 2

Textbook chapters 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13 and interleafs 3, 6, 8.
Lab manual labs: 9-15.
Topics covered:

• The normal probability distribution.
• Central limit theorem and confidence intervals for the population mean.
• One-sample t-test.
• Two-sample t-test.
• F test for the equality of two variances.
• Experimental design, cognitive biases, ethics of human experimentation.
• Visual display of quantitative information.
• Calculating the rates of false positives and negatives.
• Chi-squared and contingency analyses, including relative risk, odds ratio, and risk difference.

Section 3

Textbook chapters 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17 (18, 19, 20, 21 in less detail) and interleafs 4, 7, 10.
Lab manual labs: 16-19.
Topics covered:

• The normal probability distribution.
• Central limit theorem and confidence intervals for the population mean.
• One-factor ANOVA.
• Two-factor ANOVA.
• F_max test for equality of multiple variances.
• Correlation and regression analyses.
• Power analysis.
• How to read a scientific paper.
• Designing metrics.
• Survey of advanced techniques.

Homework assignments

• There are 10 of these and they are due on the Mondays after the lectures and labs for the topic.

Exams

• There are 3 of these and they are taken on the Monday of the fifth week (covering material from weeks 1-4), the Monday of the ninth week (covering material from weeks 5-8), and the Friday of the final week (covering material from weeks 9-12).

Weekly lecture schedule

See the Weeks page for details about the lecture material (videos and assignments) for each week.

Lab

Overview

Lab sections are run by the teaching assistant(s) for this course. They are your contact person for all lab activities and grades.

There are two purposes of the lab. The first purpose of the lab is to help you develop a familiarity with computer tools for doing statistics. In the lab you will learn how to use the software programs Excel and R to perform statistical analyses. The second purpose of the lab is to provide more opportunity to learn and understand the concepts from the lecture portion of the course. Your lab instructor is a great resource for having questions answered.

Assessments in the lab will include assignments, an exam, and a final project. Your teaching assistant will provide you with the details about these items.

Topics

Topics covered in the lab include:

• How to use Excel to perfrom statistical analyses.
• How to use R to perfrom statistical analyses.
• Describing data sets with summary statistics.
• Basic probability concepts and calculations.
• Probability distributions: binomial, Poisson, normal.
• One and two sample t-tests.
• F and F_max tests for equality of variances.
• Chi-squared and contingency analyses, including relative risk, odds ratio, and risk difference.
• One and two factor ANOVA analyses.
• Correlation and regression analyses.
• Scientific communication.

Schedule

The lab teaching assistant for your enrolled section will provide you with details of the activities and assessments for each week.

Grading

The points for the course divided between the lecture and lab portions 70/30.

Lecture points (70%)

• 10 Assignments x 1% each = 10%
• 3 exams x 20% each = 60%

Lab points (30%)

• 7 lab assignments.
• 1 lab take-home practice assignment.
• 1 lab quiz.
• 1 lab exam.
• 1 group project.
• The exact number of points of these items is available from the lab instructor.

Lecture and lab graded items may be "curved" at the instructor's discretion. In the event that the class mean for an item is below 75%, and the instructor determines that rescaling the scores is appropriate, individual grades will be rescaled by adding points sufficient to move the mean score to 75%. This may also apply if mean scores are above 75%, in which case the scores may be lowered.

Overall grades may also be scaled as described by the instructor to ensure that overall grades will be distributed to match or exceed the letter grades given during previous semesters.

Miscellaneous

Late assignment policy

Late assignments will not be accepted for credit for any reason. These can be submitted earlier than the due date so if there is a chance that you may have issues on the due date, prepare in advance and submit early. If you wait until the last day or hour to submit, then you are deliberately choosing to risk that nothing will prevent your submission and therefore the responsibility if something unforeseen occurs is yours.

Makeup exam policy

Late exams are not possible because excessive time allowed has contributed to student cheating in the past. The exams will be available for a full day and the dates are provided well in advance, plan accordingly.

There is no makeup exam for this course since scaling of exam scores based on the class mean is typically used and other exams do not exist. The grade for your missed exam will be the mean of the scores from the two other exams if written explanation, along with a sworn and notarized statement to its veracity and supporting documentation, is submitted. A second missed exam will require that an incomplete grade be assigned.

SPECIAL ACCOMMODATIONS

In certain cases, students require special accommodations regarding exams or other activities.

• Religious issues: religious holidays and constraints are valid excuses as far as scheduling activities is concerned and special accommodation may be made for these. However, religious holidays and constraints are knowable beforehand to those who genuinely practice their faith. Special accommodation for such issues will only be made if the instructor is notified well in advance. Religious excuses after the fact are not acceptable.
• Emergencies: by their nature emergencies are not knowable beforehand; however genuine emergencies are documentable in written form (e.g., police report, mechanic's bill, obituary notice, medical papers, legal records). Special accommodation for such issues will only be made if written documentation of the emergency is provided as soon as possible.
• Learning disabilities: if you have a genuine learning disability special accommodations may be available. It is the student's responsibility to provide written proof of the status and research the options available at CSULB regarding this issue. Additionally, the student must notify the instructor in advance if they plan to request special accommodations due to a learning disability. Information on the CSULB resources available for learning disabled students is available at:
  www.csulb.edu/student-affairs/bob-murphy-access-center

In all cases the burden of arranging for the accommodations lies with the student.

WITHDRAWAL AND DROP DATES

Due dates for drops and withdrawals are posted at:
www.csulb.edu/enrollment-services/key-dates-and-deadlines

It is your responsibility to make yourself aware of these dates.

CAMPUS RESOURCES FOR STUDENTS

CSULB has a variety of offices and resources on campus designed to help you with whatever your needs may be. These include services for mental health, physical medical health, food insecurity, tutoring, writing assistance, learning disabilities, and more.

This CSULB site lists many of these resources and provides contact information:
https://www.csulb.edu/student-affairs/beach-wellness/health-and-wellbeing-resources

SEXUAL ASSAULT, RAPE, DATING/DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, & STALKING

Title IX prohibits gender discrimination, including sexual harassment and sexual misconduct. If you have experienced sexual harassment, sexual assault, rape, dating/domestic violence, or stalking, the campus confidential Victim’s Advocate is available to help. That person can provide free and confidential support, accommodations, and referrals for victims without having to report the assault to campus authorities. While students are welcome to discuss assaults with faculty, both faculty and teaching assistants are mandatory reporters who are required to report all incidents of sexual harassment/misconduct to the Title IX office for follow-up and possible investigation. Students who do wish to report the assault for possible investigation may contact the confidential victim’s advocate, who can help them through the reporting process, or they can report the assault directly to the Title IX Office by completing an online reporting form or contacting the Office of Equity & Diversity at OED@csulb.edu.

The CSULB site for the Title IX office is here:
https://www.csulb.edu/equity-and-diversity/title-ix-at-the-beach

INCLUSIVE DIALOGUE AND RESPECT

Universities are traditionally safe places for the pursuit of new knowledge (research) and the transfer of current knowledge (teaching). In order for that process to work, all respectful viewpoints and opinions are welcome. Debate and disagreement based on data or logic is encouraged, but speech that involves personal insults or statements that denigrate any group of people is not acceptable. Seriously, we are all here in Southern California and seeking to understand the natural world together - everyone has the same right to be here, be heard, and be respected.

This course involves the possibility of discussions about issues that some may find emotionally charged. For example, this course includes information about the Tuskegee experiment, a reprehensible study performed by members of the medical community and a dark aspect in this nation's history. When discussing this issue, and others, we must always be respectful and considerate of one another.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Education works best when we all act with integrity and avoid and dishonest practices.

CSULB has a written policy on cheating and plagiarism. This information includes definitions of cheating and plagiarism, the rights and responsibilities of students and instructors in courses, and the procedures for conflicts arising from enforcement of these policies. If you're unsure about what may constitute cheating, especially in these days of online education, check out the policy online.

CNSM REQUIRED TEXT (The Dean of the college of CNSM has requested that the following text be included on all syllabi)

Official enrollment:

• No instructor or office staff can add or change a class for you. Only YOU, THE STUDENT, can add or change classes in YOUR schedule. You may either add classes on-line through your MyCSULB account or in person at Enrollment Services during the registration period.
• Each student is responsible to check their MyCSULB account weekly to be certain that the Class Schedule listed accurately reflects the courses s/he is enrolled in for the current semester. Students should also check for any notices the University has sent to them.

Campus safety:

The Dean of the college of CNSM would also like you to be aware of the safety information described in this PDF:
CNSM safety PDF

Mutual respect:

As members of The Beach community, we practice tolerance and denounce hate and prejudice. Our classroom will strive to be a place of mutual respect where the focus is on learning and student success.