Survey of geographic problems and quantitative problem-solving methods; creation or extraction of relevant data sets from published geographic resources; application, interpretation and presentation of appropriate spatial and non-spatial statistics.

This course examines the use of statistics and statistical procedures for the purpose of analyzing and interpreting geographic data, questions, and hypotheses – all components of geographic research, and also tasks that you may have to do in your jobs once you graduate. Many of you are involved in GIS and GIS are essentially huge geographic databases. How do we analyze and interpret all that data? How do we make it useful and meaningful? Those of you not involved in GIS will still encounter data in your jobs after you graduate. How do you organize that data and how do you interpret it? How do you make it useful and meaningful? And more importantly, how do you convey that information to others? Keeping these questions in mind, there are several objectives this course hopes to achieve.

By the end of the semester you should be able to:

• determine the appropriateness of various statistical tests and procedures for analyzing different types of geographic data.

  This means we must cover aspects of data such as scales of measurement, whether variables are discrete or continuous, and whether our data are implicitly or explicitly spatial. These data characteristics affect the types of analyses we can legitimately conduct.

• use and correctly interpret the outcome of various statistical tests and procedures.

  Once you know which tests and procedures are appropriate, you then need to figure out what the results mean.

• collect data using appropriate sampling techniques.

  We are not going to cover field methods of data collection (i.e. learning how to use different types of equipment for collecting data); rather we will learn methods for getting a sample that is amenable to statistical analysis. This means deciding which element to measure or at which place to measure an element. Since geographers use both spatial and nonspatial data, both types of sampling will be covered.

• organize and manipulate data in Excel and ArcView.

  We will build on elements of ArcView covered in Geography 279: Introduction to GIS. We will also cover a variety of techniques for organizing and analyzing data in Excel.

• create appropriate graphs, charts, maps, and tables to represent data.

  We will build on some of the map design elements you learned in Geography 276: Cartography, and apply similar guidelines to graphs and charts. Well designed graphs, charts, maps and tables should clearly convey information to others. Graphs, charts and tables will be created in Excel, while maps will be created in ArcView

• critically analyze statistical information produced as part of geographic inquiry.

  Anyone can run a computer program and produce a map, a graph, or a statistic. The more important questions are related to whether you understand what the map, graph, or numbers mean, and how to interpret or apply them in particular situations

These objectives will be assessed through a variety of exercises, quizzes, and exams. This course has prerequisites: Geography 276: Cartography and Math 355: Elementary Statistical Methods. You will be required to use skills you learned in these two classes. There may be times when you will want (or need) to refer back to notes you took in those two classes. In addition to building on skills you learned in Geography 276 and Math 355, this course helps lay the necessary foundation for work you will do in Geography 490: Senior Research Seminar, which is required of all geography majors. Last, it will provide you with numerous skills to enhance your marketability when the time comes to look for internships or a job after graduation.

There are three hours of class each week. We will meet on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 12:00 in room B338. Occasionally we will meet in the Spatial Information Analysis Lab (D326). You are responsible for all material covered in class. If you miss a class, even for a legitimate reason, you are still responsible for the material covered in that class and should get notes from a fellow student. Exams and quizzes should be taken at the scheduled time. Make up tests are allowed only for extreme cause and with a verified excuse.

Attendance

Attendance will be taken at every class. Because of the nature of statistics, you are allowed only two (2) unexcused absences. The third unexcused absence will cost you a third of a grade. Every three additional unexcused absences will cost you an additional third of a grade. For example, if your calculated final course grade is a B+, but you have 3 unexcused absences, your final grade will be a B. If you have 6 unexcused absences and your calculated final course grade is a B+, your final grade will be a B-. Therefore, you should always attend class. Excused absences include absences for university related events, such as sporting events, for which you have a note from the supervising faculty, or absences related to medical or other emergency issues for which you can show you were incapable of attending class.

Class Participation

A large number of the classes will be lectures, however, some classes may be partially or wholly devoted to working through problems, doing assignments, doing computer work or discussion. You are expected to participate in all of these activities. Failure to participate in these activities may affect your final class grade. You are strongly encouraged to ask questions during class. There will be plenty of opportunities for asking questions, even during lecture classes. The more questions you ask, the more you will get out of the course. Some assignments will be group assignments. Group members need to respect one another and work cooperatively. All members of the group must contribute to the final product.

Readings

You are expected to complete assigned readings before coming to class; some readings are required and some are optional. The optional readings are there to enhance the required material. If you have problems understanding the required readings, then by all means do the optional readings. Information on readings and assignments, as well as other course information, is located on this course website.

Assignments

Class materials will be available on the Geography/Geology Department’s server, Geodept1. Everyone will have their own personal folder. Relevant data sets will be added to your folder as required for completing assignments. All of your computer work should be saved to your personal folder on Geodept1 for grading purposes. If you decide to do work on your personal computer, make sure you put a copy of all your work in your personal folder on Geodept1 by the assigned due date. These files will be checked as part of the grading procedure, and if your computer files showing your work are missing from your personal folder, your grade will suffer.

Cell Phones

Cell phones should be turned off or set to vibrate during class. Cell phones may not be used during exams or quizzes; they must be put away.

Students Rights and Responsibilities

UWSP has specific guidelines regarding student rights and responsibilities in class and on campus explained at http://www.uwsp.edu/admin/stuaffairs/rights/rightsCommBillRights.pdf. Student academic standards and disciplinary procedures are explained at http://www.uwsp.edu/admin/stuaffairs/rights/rightsChap14.pdf.

McGrew, J.C. and C.B. Monroe (2000) An Introduction to Statistical Problem Solving in Geography, 2nd edition, McGraw-Hill, Boston. (Available as a rental text.)

Lemke, K.A. (2007) Workbook for Applied Statistics in Geography. (Available for purchase from GTU.)

Calculator

Your grade in the class will be based on homework, exercises, exams, and quizzes. In addition, attendance and class participation may affect your final grade.

There are many exercises for this class – the best way to learn statistics is to do statistics. The exercises have been designed to assess whether you are achieving the class objectives outlined above. Most exercises will be graded, either partially or wholly. Exercises are due in class on the assigned date. Failure to hand the exercises in on time will result in a grade penalty. Late assignments will not be accepted once an exercise has been returned (i.e. I will not accept Exercise 5 from you after I have handed it back to everyone else, which means you get a zero for that exercise). Time may be allotted for discussion of the exercises before handing them in and after handing them back. Please take advantage of office hours and email if you have questions outside of class. There will also be some other miscellaneous homework assignments, such as answering review questions or other activities. As with exercises, failure to hand these in on time will result in a grade penalty.

There will generally be one quiz every week. Some quizzes may be unannounced. Some quizzes may be open note and/or open book. Some quizzes may be group quizzes. There are three exams. Exams are not open note or open book. Any information you need for exams (e.g. equations) will be provided as part of the exam. The exams are comprehensive, that is, exam 2 will include material from exam 1, and exam 3 will include material from exams 1 and 2. Make sure you bring a calculator to class for exams. Quiz and exam questions will be based on the required readings, lecture notes, and exercises. Many of the questions will require you to solve problems such as those in the exercises. You will not be tested on an exercise unless it has been graded and returned. You may also get some short answer, definition type questions, and true/false questions. The quiz and exam questions are designed to test whether you understand the assignments, the readings, lecture notes and whether you are achieving the class objectives outlined above.

These components are weighted as follows:

Quizzes (announced & unannounced) Exam 1 Exam 2 Exam 3 Exercises and Homework Total

15% 15% 18% 22% 30% 100%

Feb. 26 in class Apr. 9 in class May 17, 8:00-10:00

Remember, you may suffer a grade penalty for unexcused absences, for nonparticipation or for handing in late assignments. Exams and quizzes should be taken at the scheduled time.

The following cutoffs will be used as a guide for assigning letter grades:

A: 90%-100%
B: 80%-89%
C: 70%-79%
D: 60-69%
F: below 60%