All scientific
investigation deals with building models for reality. The models will
necessarily be simplifications of reality, and so the actual
observations we do, i.e., the data we have, will contain variability
not captured in the model. When our data are numbers, like counts or
measurements, statistics is an indispensable tool for dealing with
the variability in a scientific way, so that conclusions about the
simplified models can be drawn in spite of the extra variability in
the data. When the data is the result of an experiment, the design of
the experiment, i.e., how it is performed, determines how firm
conclusions can be drawn about the models, in spite of the
variability in the data. Good experimental design is essential for a
good scientific experiment; without it, a lot of work can be wasted.
The
course is given for masters students from a number of different
fields within the natural sciences, and we aim to reflect some of
their different subject matter in the course. However, the principles
of statistical analysis and experimental design are generally the
same. We will focus on ideas and methods that should be useful in
many masters-projects, as well as in later scientific investigations.
The students' differeing interests and backgrounds in statistics will
be reflected in their work on a miniproject.
The
course gives 7.5 hp.
- Latest
news
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News about the course will be available at the course home pages at
GUL: log in at portalen.gu.se
and go to GUL. Those who are registered in LADOK
as students of this course will have an activity called ”MSA830,
V10, Statistical analysis and experimental design” there, which
will contain more information.
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Examiner and lecturer
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Petter
Mostad
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Exercises: Malin
Östensson
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Course literature
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Main text book
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Lecture notes, available from GUL.
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In addition, the following book is recommended reading:
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Douglas C. Montgomery: Design and Analysis of Experiments, 7th
edition.
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The book is available at the Cremona bookstore. The following
parts of Montgomery are recommended reading: Chapter 1, Chapter 2,
Chapter 3 (3.1-3.4), Chapter 4 (4.1-4-2), Chapter 5 (5.1-5.3),
Chapter 6 (6.1-6.4), C hapter 7 (7.1-7.5), Chapter 8 (8.1-8.2).
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Preliminary plan for
lectures and classes
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Schedule
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The
shedule is available here.
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To find the location of the varous rooms, you may use this
map. (If you allow pop-ups, you will get a clickable list of
lecture rooms).
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There will be two exercise groups each week (”Lek” in the
schedule) and each student should only attend one of these. In the
same way, there are two computer labs each week (”Lab” in the
schedule) and each student should only attend one of these. Students
will be divided into two groups at the first lecture. If you want to
switch groups, you will have to find another student to switch with,
and you both need to notify the teacher of the exercise groups
and/or the teacher of the computer labs about the switch.
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For the contents of the lectures, exercise groups, and labs, please
see GUL.
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Computer labs
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An important part of the course is working with computers. It is
your own responsibility
to obtain a username and password for the computers in the computer
lab. You can get this at the Mathematical Sciences helpdesk, which
is located close to the glass bridge connecting the buildings of
our institution and which has general office hours 12:30 – 13:30
on Tuesdays and Thursdays. NOTE THE FOLLOWING:
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Students in computer lab group 1, who will have their first computer
lab on Wednesday September 8 at 13:15, must go to the helpdesk on
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 7 between 12:30 and 13:30
to get their username and password (if they do not, for some reason,
already have these).
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Students in computer lab group 2, who will have their first computer
lab on Tuesday September 8 at 13:15, must go to the helpdesk on
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 7 between 9:00 and 10:00
to get their username and password (if they do not, for some reason,
already have these).
- To get
information about the contents of the computer labs, go to GUL.
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Exercise groups
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There will be two exercise groups each week, and each student
should attend one of these. The subdivision into group 1 and 2 will
be done at the first lecture. At the exercise groups, you will
practice exercises similar to those given at the written exam.
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Sign-up and registration
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Ideally, you should sign up for this course using the
studera.nu website.
Unfortunately, we are currently not allowed to inform about this
course in the English-language part of studera.nu. Thus, if you
cannot navigate the Swedish interface of studera.nu, you should
sign up by contacting your master program coordinator. He or she
will then forward your sign-up to the mathematics department. To
avoid administrative problems and delays for yourself and others,
please sign up as early as possible.
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Course registration is done by personal appearance at the
first lecture. If you signed up for the course and then show up for
the first lecture, you will be registered for the course in the
Ladok database very soon afterwards. If you signed up and would
like to take the course, but cannot come to the first lecture,
contact Petter
Mostad. If you for some reason were unable to sign up for the
course but would like to follow it, you should show up at the first
lecture and leave your name and personal Swedish ID number, and we
will try to register you, but there may be delays, and we make no
guarantees.
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It is your own responsibility to make sure you are registered for
the course. You can check this in the GU
student portal. If you have followed one of the procedures
above, but are still not registered 3-4 days after the first
lecture, you should contact Jeanette
Montell to clear things up. It is only after you have been
registered that you will be able to access all course material at
the GUL website at the GU student
portal, get a computer account, and submit project reports.
Course-related mails will be sent out to registered students using
their GU mail adress. Thus you must check this mail account, or
make sure it forwards to a mail account you use.
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Taking this course as a compulsory course
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This course is gererally compulsory for master students at the
Faculty of Natural Science at Göteborg University. Consult your
own master program to see if this course is compulsory for you.
Even when the course is compulsory, you may be exempt if you have
corresponding knowledge from other courses. It is the coordinator
of your master program who decides (possibly after consulting with
the teacher of this course) if you may be exempted, so you should
contact her or him with questions about this.
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When this course is a compulsory part of your master degree, it is
advisable to pass the exam early in your master program. The course
is taught two times each year, in the first part of the autumn and
the first part of the spring, and in addition there may be three
re-exams, in January, June, and in August. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES
will there be additional exams given. Some students delay passing
this exam so long that they end up with serious problems with
visas, with PhD positions, etc. Make sure you will not be one of
these students.
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Examination
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To pass this course you should pass
the written exam and complete the miniproject. The written exam
counts as 5.5 higher education points, while the miniproject counts
as 2 higher education points. The course grade is based on the
written exam, with the additional requirement that the miniproject
has been passed.
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Written examination
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IMPORTANT NOTE: You need to sign
up for the written examination, separately from signing up for
the course. You sign up for the exam via the
Ladok web-service which you should have access to via your student
portal. If you want to take a re-examination, you also need
to sign up for it the same way.
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During the exam the following aids
are permitted: A calculator, lecture notes and textbooks,
printouts, and your own personal notes. Copies of relevant tables
from the textbook will be provided. Bring an ID. The Chalmers
examination
room instructions will apply.
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The exam will be graded in the weeks
following the course. Directly after the grading is finished,
suggested solutions will appear at the GUL webpage. Please do not
enquire about the grading, as this will only take time away from
the grading. After the results have been de-anonymized and
registered in Ladok, you will automatically receive a mail from
Ladok with your result.
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After you have received notification
about your result, we will announce a time when you may come and
pick up your exam from the teacher. After this time, the exams
will then be kept for a year at the students' office in the
Mathematical Sciences building, where you may pick up your exam.
Check that the number of points and your grade given on the exam
and registered in Ladok coincide. Complaints about the marking
should be in writing and handed in at the expedition. There is a
form you can use; ask at the expedition.
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Miniproject
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Students should work in groups of 2-3 people. In the projects, the
students should apply methods for experimental planning and
data-analysis to some problem they find interesting. First, an
experimental plan is written and handed in for comments. Then, the
actual experiment is performed, and an analysis is written and
handed in for comments. Exact instructions will be given out via
GUL.
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Old exams
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Because of changes in the textbooks used, the newest exams are the
most relevant to study for current students: