Introduction to Statistical Ideas and Methods

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The modules on this website are intended for use by instructors teaching an introduction to statistical reasoning, concepts and methods. No mathematics prerequisites are assumed beyond the secondary school level. These modules are designed to be used in a blended or fully online learning environment, or for review and remediation.

Each module consists of a sequence of learning resources, typically including: text web pages; short video lectures; introductory and summary notes, and points to consider for each video; and interactive applications. Instructors may use and adapt the learning resources for use in their courses, provided the terms of the license (see below) are met.

The lecture videos have quiz questions embedded in them. These embedded questions are not intended to form part of the formal evaluation of learners. They allow learners to engage with the material and self-evaluate how well they are following along. For each video, the version of the lecture video with embedded quiz questions is available by downloading the SCORM object and importing it into a platform that supports the SCORM standard, for example most common Learning Management Systems. Because these are large files and to avoid unintended downloads, downloading SCORM objects requires logging in with a name and password. Click on this link to get the name and password for downloading all of these files.

Some modules include interactive applications, written in Shiny, with accompanying learning activities. The code for the Shiny apps can be downloaded and deployed for local use on a Shiny Server. Information on making these apps accessible to your learners through a web browser can be found at the Shiny website.

Several datasets are used throughout these modules. Introductions to the datasets and links to download them are available on the Data page. Each module starts with a list of the datasets used in that module, and learners should be encouraged to first familiarize themselves with the data and its purpose.

When relevant, each module includes guides to carrying out the analysis in the module in R and in SPSS. Introductions and orientations to R and SPSS are provided on the Statistical Software page.

As much as possible, the materials have been designed to meet WCAG 2.0 accessibility standards. Captioned versions of all videos are available. Learning objects are keyboard accessible.

The information and materials on these webpages including web page content, videos, SCORM packages, PDFs, and Shiny code are released under a Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0 license unless clearly noted as subject to an alternative license.