Review Sheet for Test III, Spring 2017
Colorado State University, Pueblo
Math 156 — Introduction to Statistics

Definitions

Terms you should know -- be able to state clearly what they mean, recognize them in examples, and create your own examples of them
  1. [population] parameter
  2. [sample] statistic
  3. representative sample
  4. bias
  5. voluntary sample bias
  6. wording effects
  7. Simple Random Sample [SRS]
  8. The Law of Large Numbers
  9. observational study vs experiment
  10. control vs treatment group
  11. confounding variables
  12. lurking variables
  13. placebo effect, placebo [not the same thing]
  14. blind, double-blind
  15. randomized, controlled trial [RCT]
  16. informed consent
  17. do no harm
  18. independent oversight -- IRB
  19. confidentiality
  20. confidence interval, confidence level [its meaning!]
  21. margin of error
  22. hypothesis test or test of significance
  23. null hypothesis $H_0$ and alternative hypothesis $H_a$
  24. $p$-value [its meaning! and how to calculate it]
  25. when to say "We reject $H_0$" and when to say "We fail to reject $H_0$"
  26. significance level
  27. type I error

Things to know how to do

  1. tell the difference between an observational study and an experiment, and also between a parameter and a statistic
  2. given a description of a research question, describe a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind experiment to investigate it
  3. given a description of an experimental design, think of possible sources of bias, possible lurking variables
  4. given an experimental design, do an ethical analysis of the design
  5. given a description of a situation with some quantitative variable of interest, compute and explain the meaning of a confidence interval at various confidence levels for the population mean of the variable.
  6. given a description of a research question, carefully set up, explain, and perform a hypothesis test about the population mean of a quantitative variable in the situation.

Format of the test

Problems will be of a level of difficulty and wording similar to those on homework and quizzes. There will also be one problem with some information to interpret as if for an ASE. The total points for the test will be well more than 100, you can choose which 100 points you want to do out of the available problems. This means you should definitely choose to do first the problems about which you are the most confident, only coming back for the rest after finishing your first pass through the entire test.

Don't forget your calculator or whatever electronic tool[s] you like and notes or books to consult. While you can consult notes, you should always do so simply to make certain you have the right formula or you are checking all of the appropriate conditions — you should know the general shape of all the formulæ, results, and definitions.

How to Study

It might be a good idea to put together all of your Big Ideas, review them, and make sure you know all of the things they describe.

Go over your quizzes, HW problems, and quizzes, and make sure you know how to do those kinds of things, and that you could do them again and get perfect scores on them now. Maybe practice writing good solutions with complete explanations and justifications of every step.

Look at your ASEs and make sure you know how you could change them so that you would get a better score (if that is possible).