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SYLLABUS
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| Quantitative Methods in Anthropology introduces students to basic statistical
concepts and techniques. The course qualifies as Mathematics & Reasoning
credit for the General Education requirements. The major goal of the class
is to provide an understanding of the role of statistical methods in anthropological
research. We will be addressing basic descriptive statistics and simple
inferential statistics in sufficient depth to provide you with a background
in the general uses of quantitative approaches, as well as some of the potential
abuses. It is not expected that you will become a quantitative expert after
taking this class. Our aims are to familiarize you with statistical techniques,
and just as importantly, to acquaint students with the potential of translating
quantitative anthropological data into meaningful statements about human
behavior.
It is not expected that students have a statistics or quantitative background beyond basic algebra. We thus will be starting with the very basics. The course will be taught twice a week. Typically, the Monday and Wednesday lectures will be devoted to various topics in statistics. Computer sections will be held on Friday. During those sessions we will familiarize ourselves with the statistical program that we will be using, SPSS, and will be running programs using that particular week's topical material. The major requirements for the course include six take-home assignments worth 50 pts each. The take-home work will draw on examples from the various subfields of anthropology in order to provide students with a broad perspective on the use of statistics in anthropology. These assignments also serve as a means for reinforcing statistical skills learned in class, and for turning numbers into readable prose for other social scientists. A total of 300 pts. is possible for this course. Below is a scale of grade ranges and corresponding cumulative points: |
| Points | Grade | Points | Grade |
| 279-300 270-279 261-269 249-260 240-248 |
A A- B+ B B- |
231-239 219-230 210-218 180-209 <180 |
C+ C C- D F |
| SPSS, our software package, is already installed on the computers in Science II, Room 134. | |
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The text for the class is: |
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SCHEDULE AND READINGS Week 1 Introduction to
Class Week 2 Measures of Central Tendency and Dispersion Week 3 Scaling and Exploratory
Data Analysis Week 4 Probability and
Sampling Week 5 Hypothesis Testing & Statistical Inference; Statistical Error Week 6 T-Test and Evaluating Means Week 7 Chi-Square and Contingency Tables Week 8 Spring Break Week 9 Analysis of Variance and post-hoc comparisons Week 10 Nonparametric Statistics Week 11 Correlation: Pearson's and Spearmans Week 12 Regression and residuals Week 13 Seriation & Spatial Analysis Week 14 Qualitative Analysis Week 15 Typology Week 16 Multivariate Statistics:
The Next Step? |
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FINAL: Due Monday, May 12, Finals week at 5:00 p.m. No late papers allowed |
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