ST 794 - Spring 2010

Advanced Statistical Inference II
Tuesday-Thursday, 10:15-11:30, 5270 SAS Hall

Instructor

Grader

Text

The text for part of the course is the same as used in ST 793, a bound copy of my notes with Dr. Stefanski. We will cover more from the bootstrap chapter and some from the Bayes and rank chapters. I will hand out copies of notes and papers for the other topics.

Other suggested references are:

Theoretical Statistics, D. R. Cox and D. V. Hinkley (1974)
Approximation Theorems of Mathematical Statistics, R. J. Serfling (1980)
An Introduction to the Bootstrap, B. Efron and R. J. Tibshirani (1995)
The Jackknife and Bootstrap, J. Shao and D. Tu (1995)

Grading

Homework	10%
Midterm Exam	45%	March 9
Final Exam	45%	May 11 (8-11 am)

There are no quotas or curves for A's and B's. I would be happy to give all A's, although it is more typical to see about half A's and half B's. I value class participation: attendance and willingness to ask and answer questions in class. It will be used in deciding borderline grades.

ST 794 will use a plus/minus grading system. If WA is the overall weighted average, then the final course grade will be at least as good (but could be higher, for example, the A range might be 87-98) as obtained from the following table:

Range	Grade
99 &le WA &le 100	A+
92 &le WA < 99	A
90 &le WA < 92	A-
88 &le WA < 90	B+
82 &le WA < 88	B
80 &le WA < 82	B-
78 &le WA < 80	C+
72 &le WA < 78	C
70 &le WA < 72	C-
68 &le WA < 70	D+
62 &le WA < 68	D
60 &le WA < 62	D-
0 &le WA < 60	F

Miscellaneous

1. Homework will be assigned almost every week. It will be due at the beginning of class. As a rule, I do not accept late homework. I allow students to work in groups on homework if they like, but no one should copy directly from someone else's paper (either present or past students). I strongly urge everyone to work on their own as much as possible.

   You should not obtain copies of previous student hw's or use them for helping to complete assignments. (Part of the reason for making the hw grade count only 10% is due to abuse of these rules. In particular, it is counter-productive to get much help on the hw because you will not learn the material using that approach.)

2. The midterm and final exams will be in-class, closed book exams. You will be provided with calculators (if needed) and scratch paper. No cell phones or other electronic devices should be in sight or used in any way.

3. If you would like to audit the course, I require at least a 50% grade on homework to get an official audit. (After many years of teaching and sitting in on courses myself, I believe it is usually a waste of time to sit in a course without doing the homework.)

4. I will regularly ask for feedback on how the class is going. Please help me with your suggestions.

5. Academic Integrity: It is the understanding and expectation that a student's signature on any test or assignment means that the student neither gave nor received unauthorized aid. Consult the following website for further details on the code of student conduct: http://www2.ncsu.edu/prr/student_services/student_conduct/POL445.00.1.htm

For students with disabilities:

Reasonable accommodations will be made for students with verifiable disabilities. In order to take advantage of available accommodations, students must register with Disability Services for Students at 1900 Student Health Center, Campus Box 7509, 515-7653.

http://www.ncsu.edu/provost/offices/affirm_action/dss/

For more information on NC State's policy on working with students with disabilities, please see the Academic Accommodations for Students with Disabilities Regulation

http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/academic_affairs/courses_undergrad/REG02.20.1.php

Evaluations of course and instructor:

Online class evaluations will be available for students to complete during the last two weeks of class. Students will receive an email message directing them to a website where they can login using their Unity ID and complete evaluations. All evaluations are confidential; instructors will never know how any one student responded to any question, and students will never know the ratings for any particular instructors.

Evaluation website
Student help desk: classeval@ncsu.edu
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