Foundations of Statistics
UndergraduateSWI-STA100032022
Course information for 2022 intake
Criticise statistics. Carry out independent investigations and order and group data. Describe and display data relationships. Recognise data limits and assumptions using specific statistical methods. Make decisions about means and variables.
Enrolments for this course are closed, but you may have other options to start studying now. Book a consultation to learn more.
- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Entry requirements
- Prior study needed
- Duration
- 13 weeks
- Loan available
- HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP available
Foundations of Statistics
About this subject
Students who successfully complete this subject will be able to:
- Specify the objectives of an investigation in statistical terms;
- Identify the level of measurement of a variable, appropriate sampling methods, and research design of a study;
- Produce appropriate descriptions and visualisations of data distributions;
- Estimate population parameters (proportions, means) using appropriate statistics and confidence intervals;
- Select and conduct appropriate hypothesis tests for different population parameters (proportions, single sample means, difference of means for matched and independent samples);
- Describe the relationships between variables (correlations, crosstabs, relative risk and odds ratios) and test the significance of these relationships;
- Interpret the outcomes of data analysis to write a concise report on findings.
- Critical thinking in statistics; confounding and sources of bias.
- Ordering & grouping data: interpretation frequency tables and histograms; summarising data: median, IQR & boxplots; the mean & standard deviation.
- Describing and displaying relationships; Pearson's r; introduction to regression; relationships in tabulated data; correlation and causality.
- Producing data; experiments; population and samples; density curves and normal distribution.
- Introduction to estimation, confidence intervals for proportions, means and correlations.
- Making decisions about means, the Binomial, t tests; testing relationships; Pearson's r and the Chi-square test of independence.
- Relative Risk & Odds Ratios
This subject of study enables students to develop the capacity to undertake independent statistical investigations, including the assumptions and limitations of their application. The subject will provide practical skills to allow students to meaningfully interpret the results of various hypothesis tests, as well as to understand probability distributions and sampling methods commonly applied when collecting data.
This subject is part of the Social Science Pathway.
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Please note: assessment values are indicative only, details will be advised at the start of the subject.
- Assignment (40%)
- Final Assessment (TBC) (40%)
- Test — Online (20%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
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Entry requirements
Equivalent subjects
You should not enrol in this subject if you have successfully completed any of the following subject(s) because they are considered academically equivalent:
SWI-STA102 (Not currently available)
SWI-STA15 (Not currently available)
Others
Do not enrol into this subject if you have completed STA15.
Additional requirements
- Other requirements -
IBM SPSS Statistics BASE GradPack (for Windows or Mac) is sufficient for this unit. The current version of SPSS is v.25. Note: Earlier versions 23 and 24 of the SPSS GradPack, are also acceptable. This software can be purchased from On The Hub
Please note that if you have already purchased earlier versions from Co-op you can still use it.
Additional required materials will be advised on the Swinburne’s STA10003 Canvas Learning Management System site when it opens the week before the start of the study period.
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
Equivalent full time study load (EFTSL) is one way to calculate your study load. One (1.0) EFTSL is equivalent to a full-time study load for one year.
Find out more information on Commonwealth Loans to understand what this means to your eligibility for financial support.
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