Unit 1 edit

Subunit 1.1: Introduction to Statistics edit

Statistics, Probability, and Key Terms edit

  • Readings: Barbara Illowsky and Susan Dean’s Collaborative Statistics: “Chapter 1: Sampling and Data

Instructions: Please read each of the linked sections above in their entirety.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpages.

Data and Sampling edit

  • Readings: Barbara Illowsky and Susan Dean’s Collaborative Statistics: "Chapter 1: Sampling and Data”

Instructions: Please read each of the linked sections above in their entirety.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpages.

Variation and Frequency edit

Video Lecture 1: Sampling and Data


  • Readings: Barbara Illowsky and Susan Dean’s Collaborative Statistics: “Chapter 1: Sampling and Data”

Instructions: Please read each of the linked sections above in their entirety.

Instructions: Please view the lecture to the right in its entirety.

Instructions: Please solve problems 1-6 under the section titled “Key Terms” and problems 7-12 under the section titled “Discussion Questions.” Next, click on the hyperlink titled “[1]” and solve problems 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 16, 19, 21, 25-27. Please click on the “[ Show Solution ]” link below the problem to check your solution.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpages.

Subunit 1.2: Descriptive Statistics: Displaying Data edit

Stem and Leaf Graphs (Stemplots), Line Graphs, and Bar Graphs edit

  • Readings: Barbara Illowsky and Susan Dean’s Collaborative Statistics: “Chapter 2: Descriptive Statistics”

Instructions: Please read each of the linked sections above in their entirety.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpages.

Histograms edit

  • Readings: Barbara Illowsky and Susan Dean’s Collaborative Statistics: “Chapter 2: Descriptive Statistics”

Instructions: Please read the section above in its entirety.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpages.

Box Plots edit

  • Readings: Barbara Illowsky and Susan Dean’s Collaborative Statistics: “Chapter 2: Descriptive Statistics”

Instructions: Please read the section above in its entirety.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpages.

Subunit 1.3: Descriptive Statistics: Measures edit

Measures of the Location of the Data edit

  • Readings: Barbara Illowsky and Susan Dean’s Collaborative Statistics: “Chapter 2: Descriptive Statistics”

Instructions: Please read the section above in its entirety.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpages.

Measures of the Center of the Data edit

  • Readings: Barbara Illowsky and Susan Dean’s Collaborative Statistics: “Chapter 2: Descriptive Statistics”

Instructions: Please read the section above in its entirety.

  • Lectures: Khan Academy’s Statistics

Instructions: Please view the linked lecture titled “Statistics: The Average” in its entirety (12:35 minutes). This lecture provides an introduction to descriptive statistics and central tendency as well as ways to measure the average of a set using median, mean, and mode. Then, view the lecture titled “Sample vs. Population Mean” in its entirety (6:42 minutes). This lecture discusses the difference between the mean of a sample and the mean of a population.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpages displayed above.

Skewness and the Mean, Median, and Mode edit

  • Readings: Barbara Illowsky and Susan Dean’s Collaborative Statistics: “Chapter 2: Descriptive Statistics”
  • “Section 8: Skewness and the Mean, Median, and Mode”

Links: Barbara Illowsky and Susan Dean’s Collaborative Statistics: “Chapter 2: Descriptive Statistics,” “Section 8: Skewness and the Mean, Median, and Mode

Instructions: Please read the section above in its entirety.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpages.

Measures of the Spread of the Data edit

Video Lecture 2: Descriptive Statistics
  • Readings: Barbara Illowsky and Susan Dean’s Collaborative Statistics: “Chapter 2: Descriptive Statistics”

Instructions: Please read the section above in its entirety.

  • Lecture: Barbara Illowsky and Susan Dean’s Collaborative Statistics

Instructions: Please view the lecture to the right in its entirety.

  • Lectures: Khan Academy’s Statistics

Instructions: Please view all four lectures in their entirety. First, view “Variance of a Population” (12:23 minutes). Secondly, watch the lecture titled “Sample Variance” (12:23 minutes), which explains how to estimate the variance of a population using the variance of a sample. Then, watch the video titled “Standard Deviation” (13:07 minutes), which will provide a review for what you have learned so far as well as an introduction to the standard deviation. Finally, watch the video titled “Alternate Variance Formulas” (12:17 minutes) to learn alternates for the variance of a population.

  • Assignment: Barbara Illowsky and Susan Dean’s Collaborative Statistics: Chapter 2: Descriptive Statistics

Instructions: Please solve all the problems in these two sections. Next, click on the hyperlink titled “Homework” and solve problems 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 15, 17, 21, 24-30. Please click on “[ Show Solution ]” link below the problem to check your solution

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpages.

About the Resources in This Course edit

This course project draws upon three main types of resources:

The first are readings and video lectures from Barbara Illowsky and Susan Dean’s Collaborative Statistics, which is available freely under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) license from the following location: http://cnx.org/content/col10522/latest/

The second type of resources in this course are lectures from Kahn Academy. These lectures are available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) license. Kahn Academy has many lectures available from http://www.khanacademy.org/

Finally, the above resources have been woven together and organized into a format analogous to a traditional college-level course by professional consultants that work as experts within the subject area. This process was facilitated by The Saylor Foundation. Additionally, if you have worked through all of the material contained in this project, you may be interested in taking the final exam provided by Saylor.org or completing other courses available there that are not yet on Wikiversity.