Quantitative Methods in Geography Geography 391

Introductions and Questions What (and when) was the last math class you had? Have you had statistics before? What do you expect from this class? What to you hope to learn in this class?

General Course Overview Class Foci –Basic statistical techniques –Introduction to spatial statistics –Statistical terminology & symbols –Conducting statistical analyses using computer software My goal is for this course to be as practical as possible

Course Topics Statistics and Geography (ch1) Univariate Descriptive Statistics (ch2, ch3) Probability Theory (ch5) Random Variables and Probability Distributions (ch6) Sampling (ch7) Statistical Inference: Estimation (ch8) Statistical Inference: Hypothesis (ch9) Parametric Statistical Inference: Two Samples (ch10) Correlation Analysis (ch12) Regression Analysis (ch13)

Course Information Class: 204 Saunders, 2:00 – 2:50 MWF Office Hours: 317 Saunders, 3:00 – 4:00 Wednesday (or by appointment)

Course Schedule Monday & Wednesday – Lecture –Lecture notes will be available online after class Friday – Technique demonstration & work day –Bring your laptops –Have questions prepared

Course Information The syllabus, assignments, lecture slides, etc. can be found on blackboard or on the course website og/391/001/ og/391/001/

Textbook Burt, J.E. and Barber, G.M. (1995). Elementary Statistics for Geographers, 2nd edition. (ISBN: ) Reading assignments will be posted online You are expected complete the reading before class

Textbook Organization The textbook is divided into 3 sections Descriptive Statistics (ch1 – ch3) –Including simple spatial & non-spatial statistics Inferential Statistics (ch5 – ch11) –Including probability theory, sampling, & hypothesis testing Statistical Relationships (ch12 – ch14) –Including correlation & regression analyses

Course Organization & Exams The course will be divided into 3 sections corresponding to those in the textbook There will be an exam after each section, Exam #3 will be held during the final exam time (Tuesday, May 12:00 PM) Each exam will be worth 50 points (10%) Note that section 2 is longer than sections 1 & 3

Homework There will be 10 homework assignments in this course Each assignment will be worth 30 points (6%) You will have a week for completing most assignments, details are available in the syllabus There will be a 10% per day penalty for late work

Attendance You are expected to attend all classes and engage in discussions Attendance will be taken at the beginning of class (don’t be late) Attendance and participation will ultimately count for 50 points (as much as an exam!!)

Terminology Terms and symbols are important for communicating methods and results and explaining what they mean, particularly to non- statisticians Terms and symbols are also the building blocks for more advanced statistical techniques The textbook does a pretty good job of explaining basic statistical terms

Software Initially we’ll do stats by hand and/or calculator Microsoft Excel – should be on your laptop already –Basic functions and the data analysis add-in tools S-Plus – available through UNC (** for the computer savvy, you may choose to use R instead) Time permitting, we may use statistical extensions in GIS software

Your To Do List Contact the software acquisitions office and order S-Plus on CD (we’ll install it later, but get the ball rolling) Bring your laptop every Friday - we’ll talk about a few Excel basics this week Read Chapter 1 for Monday