Postgraduate Course: Multivariate Statistics and Methodology using R (PSYL11054)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences | 
College | College of Humanities and Social Science | 
 
| Course type | Standard | 
Availability | Available to all students | 
 
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) | 
Credits | 10 | 
 
| Home subject area | Psychology | 
Other subject area | None | 
   
| Course website | 
None | 
Taught in Gaelic? | No | 
 
| Course description | The semester long course provides an advanced level overview of a variety of statistical analysis techniques and methodology issues relevant to psychological research. It is taught using a combination of lab and lecture sessions and focusses on techniques used by students following Masters programmes in Psychology and Linguistics and researchers practicing in these areas.  
 
R is a language and environment for statistical computing and graphics that is highly flexible and increasingly popular for statistical analysis. It provides a wide variety of statistical and graphical techniques, including facilities to produce well-designed publication-quality plots. 
 
Design and analysis are taught under a unifying framework which shows a) how research problems and design should inform which specific statistical method to use and b) that all statistical methods are special cases of a more general model. This course focuses on situations in which 2 or more outcome variables are being studied simultaneously. 
 
The course is co-taught between Dr Tom Booth and Dr Antje Nuthmann. 
 
Formative feedback available: 
- Lab practicals that provide direct feedback on exercises and queries. 
- Q&A sessions held once a week with course TAs. 
- Model answers for all lab and homework exercises. | 
 
 
Information for Visiting Students 
| Pre-requisites | None | 
 
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | No | 
 
 
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2014/15  Semester 2, Available to all students (SV1) 
  
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Learn enabled:  Yes | 
Quota:  None | 
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Web Timetable  | 
	
Web Timetable | 
 
| Course Start Date | 
12/01/2015 | 
 
| Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) | 
 
 Total Hours:
100
(
 Lecture Hours 20,
 Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 20,
 Feedback/Feedforward Hours 10,
 Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
48 )
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| Additional Notes | 
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| Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) | 
 
  Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
0 %,
Practical Exam
100 %
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| No Exam Information | 
 
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes 
1. Understand a variety of issues regarding the choice of statistical analysis techniques for standard and unusual data sets. 
2. Understand how to use the R language as a tool for data manipulation, analysis and graphics. 
3. Become adept in expressing statistical models typically used in psychological research and interpreting their results. | 
 
 
Assessment Information 
End of course assignment: a data analysis exercise (take home exam) 100%. 
 
Page limit: 6 pages for the write-up (2 pages of text and 4 pages of tables/figures). The report should be written in a standard font, size 12, with standard 1 inch (2.54cm) margins on all sides. There is no limit for the R-code which will be submitted alongside the report. 
 
Assignment deadline: Monday 20th April 2015, 12 noon 
Return Date: 12th May 2015 
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Special Arrangements 
| None |   
 
Additional Information 
| Academic description | 
Not entered | 
 
| Syllabus | 
Typical Syllabus 
- Estimation methods 
- Multilevel modelling (4 lectures) 
- Introduction to matrix algebra for statistics 
- Principal components analysis  
- Factor analysis (exploratory and confirmatory) 
- Introduction to structural equation modelling 
 
A detailed week by week syllabus will be provided prior to the start of the course. | 
 
| Transferable skills | 
Not entered | 
 
| Reading list | 
Not entered | 
 
| Study Abroad | 
Not entered | 
 
| Study Pattern | 
Not entered | 
 
| Keywords | Not entered | 
 
 
Contacts 
| Course organiser | Dr Thomas Booth 
Tel: (0131 6)50 8405 
Email: Tom.Booth@ed.ac.uk | 
Course secretary | Miss Toni Noble 
Tel: (0131 6)51 3188 
Email: Toni.noble@ed.ac.uk | 
   
 
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© Copyright 2014 The University of Edinburgh -  29 August 2014 4:40 am 
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