We welcome you as a lab instructor in Stat 337 for Fall Term 2011. The following information will be important to you as the lab instructor:
All labs in Stat 337 will be held in PC labs in Windows XP environment. You will be using SPSS version 19. SPSS is one of the most widely used and well-liked statistical software packages available for PC. It can take data from almost any type of file and use them to generate summary reports, charts, descriptive statistics, and complex statistical analyses. Most tasks can be accomplished simply by pointing and clicking the mouse. You should check your lab room before the first lab session to get familiar with the computer interface and projectors.
Labs in Stat 337 will start on Tuesday, September 13, 2011. The Introductory Lab (Doing Statistics with SPSS) will be discussed in the first lab session.. The Introductory Lab should be treated as a reference material. We do not expect the students to get familiar with all the SPSS features discussed there in the first lab session. Students are not required to submit any work in the lab session.
Students should be strongly encouraged to save their work on the AICT backup server rather than on a floppy. Using a floppy may lead to loss of data when the disk is damaged or corrupted. Please demonstrate in the second lab how to save files on the AICT server using the AICT GPU account. Students are responsible for keeping a backup of their work on the FTP server, they will not be excused if their portable storage device gets damaged or corrupted!
There are five assignments in the course. Each assignment consists of some theoretical problems as well problems requiring data analysis with SPSS package. Before the students start working on any lab assignment, they should first get familiar with the lecture material and then with the lab instructions. Lab Instructions can also be used as a reference.
The students will have approximately two weeks to work on each assignment. You should give an introduction to the topics of the current lab in the first week only. You should spend approximately 15-20 minutes at the start of the lab explaining the lab assignment problems in the context of SPSS implementation.
There are five lab assignments in the course. The due dates are provided in the following table:
You should pick up the lab assignments next working day by noon at the latest. The solutions to the lab assignments will be posted on the Internet next working day late afternoon. The assignments should be handed in to the wooden box outside CAB 373 by the due date. There are several slots in the box, each of them labeled with the name of the lab instructor and the section number. Pick up the key to the lab assignment box from the General Office.
You will be marking the assignments in your sections. Obtain class lists from the appropriate instructors. It is very convenient to keep a copy of all your records as an Excel file. At the end of the term you should return the file with your grades to the course instructor.
For each lab assignment in the course, the detailed solutions with marking schema are provided on the site. Please stick to the marking schema while marking the assignments, in this way we will maintain a uniform standard across all Stat 337 lab sections.
Labs should be handed back in the lab in the first lab period after they are graded. It is your responsibility to record the scores for each lab assignment. Return the marked assignments to the students as soon as possible. You are not allowed to leave the marked assignments outside your office. The grades should not appear on the cover sheet (FOIPP).
You are not required to provide office hours, but give the students your e-mail address and answer systematically the received messages from the students regarding the labs. This will make it easier for students to work on their lab assignments at home and at times other than assigned laboratory hours. Though you may answer quick questions about labs, you are not required to provide detailed lab instructions through e-mail.
The lab exam will be held at the end of the term. The details will be provided by the course instructor.
At the end of the term, some course instructors may ask you to calculate the overall percentage score for each student in your section. This score is based on the five lab assignments in the course. The score for the lab exam is not included in the score.
With Excel, it is very easy to calculate the overall percentage by entering an appropriate formula for one student and copying it down for the remaining students. The following formula should be used to calculate the overall percentage score for the five lab assignments in the course:
where Lab1,…, Lab5 are the scores obtained by a particular student, MaxLab1,…, MaxLab5 are the maximum scores for each of the five lab assignments.
Return the class book to the Department Office, not to the course instructor. The Department Office is supposed to receive the class book from you not later than one week after the lab exam. Moreover, give a copy of the class book to the course instructor. The class book should include the raw scores of the five lab assignments, the lab exam score, and overall percentage for each student.
