Spring 2007
Statistics 703/J703 - Introduction to Statistical Theory II
Tuesday / Thursday 4:00-5:15
203 BA Building

Instructor: Dr. Brian Habing, Associate Professor
office: 203 LeConte
e-mail: habing@stat.sc.edu
MSN messenger: brian@habing.com
AOL or Yahoo messenger: DrStatpsy
FAX: (803)777-4048
office phone: (803)777-3578
home phone: (803)739-2686 (9am to 10pm only)
Office Hours: whenever the door is open, by appointment, and
Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday 9:00-11:00
Website: http://www.stat.sc.edu/~habing/courses/702S07.html
Bulletin Description: STAT 703 —Introduction to Statistical Theory II. (3) (Prereq: STAT 702)Continuation of STAT 702. Topics include discussion of theoretical properties of point estimators and tests of hypotheses, elements of statistical tests, the Neyman-Pearson Lemma, UMP tests, likelihood ratio and other types of tests, and Bayes procedures in the decision process. Not to be used for M.S. or Ph.D. credit in Statistics.
Note: The deadline for dropping the course without failing is Monday, February 26th.
Purpose of Course: To expose the student to the basic concepts of theoretical statistics necessary for the solid understanding of the statistical procedures and methods typically used by practicing industrial personnel at an advanced level.
Expectations: All students are expected to:
  • Attend/view class regularly, asking questions when clarification is needed and participating in any in-class activities. (Possibly incomplete) copies of the power-point slides will be posted on the course page by noon the day of each class, and it may be helpful to print them out for use during class.
  • Read the pages covered in each class before the following class period. The pages will be listed on the course page.
  • Attempt all of the assigned homework problems and turn them in before the start of the class in which they are due
  • Use the resource of their fellow students and their instructor to seek answers to questions that arise in class, in the readings, and on the homework
Required Text: Mathematical Statistics and Data Analysis (3rd Edition), by John A. Rice, Duxbury Press, 2007.

The University Bookstore can be linked to at http://sc.bkstore.com/ .

Computers: This course will periodically use the software package R. Copies of R can be downloaded free following the instructions at http://www.stat.sc.edu/help.html#r.

NO PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE OF R IS ASSUMED.

Exams and
Topics Covered:
There will be two take-home exams and a take-home final. The topics covered in the exams will generally follow the chapters of the text listed below. However, the exams may also cover material which was solely presented in class, and that is not contained in the text. You are to recieve help from no-one except me on the exams. The exams may be turned in to me personally, left in my mailbox in 216 LeConte, faxed to (803)777-4048, or sent by e-mail in a pre-approved format.

The first exam will be posted on-line Thursday, February 15th and due by the start of class Thursday, February 22nd. It will focus on materials related to Chapter 8, including estimators and their properties.

The second exam will be posted on-line Thursday, March 22nd and due by the start of class on Thursday, March 29th. It will focus on materials related to Chapters 9 and 11, including the theory of hypothesis tests and Neyman-Pearson theory.

The final exam will be posted on-line Thursday, April 24th and due by 7:30pm, Thursday, May 3rd. It will focus on material related to Chapters 9, 11, and 15, including Likelihood ratio tests, goodness-of-fit tests, nonparametric tests, and an introduction to Bayesian staitistics.

Incidence of cheating and academic dishonesty will be punished to the full extent allowed by university regulations.

Homework: Homework is due at the beginning of the class period it was assigned for. Late homework is not accepted. The homework may be turned in to me personally, left in my mailbox in 216 LeConte, faxed to (803)777-4048, or sent by e-mail in a pre-approved format.

Homework will be assigned at least one week in advance in class, and will also be posted on the class website.

The writing on the homework must be legible, the work used to obtain the answers must be shown and correct, and the final answers must be clearly indicated in order to receive full credit.

You MAY consult with other students on the homework assignments (e.g. you can ask each other for advice and may work on the big picture together, but you should write up the details yourself).

Grades: The grade is determined by the scores on the homework and examinations as follows:

Homework25%
Exam 125%
Exam 225%
Final Exam25%

The grading scale may be adjusted as needed, but will not be made more difficult than:

LetterMinimum
GradePercent
A90
B+85
B80
C+75
C70
D+65
D60

There is no "extra credit".

Any deviations from the above grading scheme will be to the benefit of the students.

Complaints
and
Comments:
While there are end of semester evaluation forms, they come far too late to resolve any difficulties experienced in the class. All complaints should be raised by either speaking with me directly, or by anonymously leaving a message in my mailbox in 216 LeConte.