This syllabus
describes the scheduling of and procedural details for CORS 236. This
information is subject to change, as described below. The website for the
class, (in the short term), which displays this syllabus, the book, homework
assignments, and old exams is http://cors236.com/
Now Online MWF 10:30-11:30 (#74518, 75470)
Date |
Event |
January
13 (Wednesday) |
First
Lecture (first day of class) |
January
18 (Monday) |
MLK
Day (no class) |
January 29 (Friday) |
Test 1 (during class time) |
February 12 (Friday) |
Test 2 (during class time) |
February
15 (Monday) |
President’s
Day (no class) |
February
22 (Monday) |
Homework 1 due (Honors students) |
February 26 (Friday) |
Test 3 (during class time) |
March
8 (Monday) |
Homework 2 due (Honors students) |
March 12 (Friday) |
Test 4 (during class time) |
March 13-21 |
Spring Break |
April 2 (Friday) |
Test 5 (during class time) Drop deadline |
April 7 (Wednesday) |
Homework 3 due (Honors students) |
April 16 (Friday) |
Test 6 (during class time) Homework 3 due (Honors students) |
April 30 (Friday) |
Test 7 (during class time) |
May 7
(Friday) |
Last
class day |
No final exam
(see below for potential use of the final exam period). |
|
|
|
Dates
|
Topics
covered
|
13, 15 January
|
Introduction to CORS236, Scientific Method
|
20, 22 January
|
Scientific Method, Human fallacies
|
25, 27, 29 January
|
Human fallacies, Test 1
|
1, 3, 5 February
|
Models (general)
|
8, 10, 12 February
|
Models (condom testing), Test 2
|
17, 19
February
|
DWI testing, Data errors and fixes
|
22, 24, 26 February
|
Data errors and fixes, forensics, Test 3
|
1, 3, 5 March
|
Evaluation (language, basics)
|
8, 10, 12 March
|
Correlation, Test 4
|
22, 24, 26 March
|
Third variables, Controls
|
29, 31 March, 2 April
|
Experiments, Test 5
|
5, 7, 9 April
|
Experiments
|
12, 14, 16 April
|
Impediments, Test 6
|
19, 21, 23 April
|
Conflict, deliberate bias, fake news
|
26, 28, 30 April
|
Defeating bias, Test 7
|
3, 5, 7 May
|
Current Topics (applying the knowledge)
|
Who
|
office location
|
office hours
|
email
|
Jim Bull
|
LSS 266B
|
by appt; all meetings are online. We will let the class pick a weekly time
for ‘opt in’ office hours.
|
cors236@uidaho.edu
|
Course
content
This class teaches
an evidence-based method of making decisions: how to evaluate evidence, what
alternatives to consider, and what to trust. The main ideas are taken from the
scientific method, but the emphasis is on applying that style of
decision-making to all sorts of normal problems in daily life. You should learn
how to evaluate a newspaper article about some new claim or discovery, what
kinds of limitations underlie any study (and thus how to look for weaknesses),
and how to improve almost any goal-oriented procedure. The course content
consists of lectures and demonstrations (plus a few short videos) in
class. Your course grade is determined by your performance on the exams,
written homework assignments, a few on-line quizzes and an on-line
survey.
As noted above,
lectures mostly follow the order and content in the class book (Scientific Decision-Making) written by Pease and Bull
(modified by Chis Warnock and Konrad Prus in 2012), although
lectures also augment the material in the book. In addition, some of the
first topics are not in the book, and a few others may not be as well.
Whether you attend lecture or not, you should know what was covered in class
for the exams.
The
syllabus describes the procedures, materials and events/schedules for
CORS236. It is not only useful at the beginning of the semester, but it
is also relevant throughout the course.
Updates.
If it is necessary to make changes during the semester, I will announce these
changes in lecture and post a new syllabus and post a notice on the class web
site. You are responsible for all announced changes, whether or not you attend
lecture. Indeed, I cannot guarantee that
all lectures will be recorded, and relying on videos in lieu of attending
lecture is done at your own risk.
I
do not use a standard text for this course, instead lecturing from my own
material and from various publications in the scientific literature, news, and
other sources. An online book (Scientific Decision-Making, no charge) contains
most of the class material. It is available for free on the class web site http://cors236.com/ . Although
the book contains most of the material for this class, the lectures include
current events and a few new topics each semester that are not in the book.
The class
website (http://cors236.com/) has the on-line class material. The syllabus, book
(and homework assignments, for honors students) may be modified during the
semester. You will be notified of any changes, but you should be aware
that any downloads of material done at the beginning of the semester will not
have those updates.
Old
exams available.
Exams and keys from previous years are posted on the class website. You
are encouraged to study them as ‘practice’ exams, but there is no credit given
for doing so.
Grades
will be determined by your best
1)
6 tests (7 are given) 30
points each
2)
10 online quizzes (at least 11 are given)
6 points each
3)
20 online surveys (at least 20 are given)
3 points each
4)
3 homeworks -- Honors section only (4 given) 20 points each
Tests cover the material in class –
pre-recorded videos, live lectures, and anything assigned. Quizzes are standalone; they give an
article or video and ask you to apply what you have learned. The online surveys constitute
participation credits – you will receive full credit for completion, regardless
of which answers you chose. And in some
cases, a survey may count double credit, if completion is especially important.
Not every test, quiz and survey will
count toward your final grade. Your final grade will be determined from the sum
of your
+ 6 highest exam scores (30
pts each) = 180 total
+ 10 highest quizzes (6 pts
each) = 60 total + 20
completed surveys (3 pts each) = 60
total
compared
to a threshold. This means you will get to drop the lowest test and the lowest
1-2 quizzes. Likely, there will be more
than 20 surveys, in which case you need only complete 20 of them. There are 300 points possible in the semester
(360 for Honors). I will use the following grade thresholds for
non-honors. Grades will be assigned a ‘+’ in the top 25% of the intervals
(except there is no A+).
A
(270 and above)
(90% or more of
300 points)
B+,
B (240-270)
(80%)
C+,
C (210-240)
(70%)
D+,
D (180-210)
(60%)
F
179 and below
For
honors students, the highest 3 homework scores (out of 4 given) will be
included in the total. Each homework
will be worth 20 points, so that brings the total to 360. Grade thresholds will be adjusted
correspondingly (324 288, 252, 216).
I
may change these thresholds to make them more lenient -- that is, to benefit
you; I will not make them more stringent (but there is no assurance that the
thresholds will be changed). Furthermore, any opportunities for
additional points will merely be added to your total and thus make it easier to
get a higher grade – I will not rescale your points if there is an opportunity
to make more than 300 total points.
Honors
students: All 4 homework assignments are
described on the class web site and in the book, and
will also be discussed in lecture. The BbLearn
quizzes will be announced during the semester as they become relevant and
due.
Correcting
and challenging exam grading: a 1-week window
All matters concerning your
score on an exam must be presented within a week of posting the exam and your
score.
Copies
of the exams and keys are posted within hours of the exam so that you can see
how the exam was graded. The complicated nature of many questions leads
some students to ask about or even object to the way that questions were
graded. You may ask how questions were graded in person or over email,
but there is also a formal procedure for challenging the grading of answers; if
successful, these challenges could result in a more favorable grading of your
answer. These formal challenges to the grading of exams must be
presented by email to the class email account or in writing to Jim Bull within
1 week of the date the exam results are posted. Challenges relating to the amount of partial
credit given for incorrect answers are never successful - don't
bother explaining that you think you should get some credit for getting two of
10 grouped questions correct. Likewise, you may not challenge an exam on
the grounds that you were misled when you asked a question during the exam; if
a question was genuinely misleading, then that should be the basis of the
challenge, not the fact that you were not told the answer. Some grouped
questions don't give any partial credit. The assignment of points and partial
credit depends on many factors, such as how difficult the question is, whether
you had access to that question in the sample problems, and how serious a
misunderstanding is implied by a wrong answer.
Challenges may cost you points. If your challenge to a question indicates
that you do not understand the issues, you can lose 1 point on that
question. This penalty may never be used and is not intended to dissuade
you from challenging a question. Rather, it is intended to ensure that
you understand the question and answers before offering a challenge. You
will not lose points by indicating that you interpreted the question
differently than it was intended, but you could lose points if your challenge
indicates that, after getting your exam back, you still don’t understand the
issues needed to answer it.
You
may challenge
a maximum of two questions per exam. If you think that more than two questions
had problems, use the best two cases for your challenges and get someone else
to challenge the others. If a question has fundamental problems, then it
will be regraded for the entire class, so you can benefit by someone else’s
challenge. Probably at least half the challenges that are accepted lead
to regrading of the entire class (done in such a way that no one’s score goes
down).
The
format for challenges to the key, whether on paper or email must do the following:
1) Give your
exam version (keycode)
2) Paste or write the exam question and its preamble and
into your document – so that all the information used to answer the question is
there.
3) Indicate the answer you chose, the answer on the key, and
why you think your answer should be credited.
If
your challenge deviates from this format so much that I cannot understand it or
cannot evaluate it without going back to your version of the exam or your
answer sheet, there is a good chance that your challenge will be dismissed
regardless of its content. Furthermore, I do not engage in a dialogue
about challenges or send email responses back. I will evaluate those that
are submitted and regrade where appropriate, but you will not be notified of
the outcome except via changes to your exam score.
You
are not penalized for failing to attend lecture. Nonetheless, you are responsible for material
presented in class, regardless of whether you attend.
Lost assignments; internet
downtime, and other factors preventing on-time completion/submission
There
is a host of problems that can delay completing online work. In general, don’t wait until the last minute
to take a quiz or survey, since there are times of high activity that slow
internet traffic on campus, and you may be affected by software
incompatibilities. I will honor major,
campus-wide interruptions that last more than a couple hours but not individual
cases of internet interruptions, computer loss and hardware/software
malfunction specific to your computer.
Other
Matters
CORS
236 counts toward the Idaho STEM requirement.
Any
student with a documented disability (physical or cognitive) who requires
academic accommodations should contact the Services for Students with Disabilities
office as soon as possible to request an official letter outlining authorized
accommodations.
If
you have a problem with the conduct of the course (e.g., you take issue with
teaching methods, feel that the classroom environment is not conducive to
proper education, or another matter), please first discuss the matter with Jim
Bull. If you are not satisfied, you may take the matter higher up.
Religious Holidays. By UI policy, you must notify me of
your pending absence at least fourteen days prior to the date of observance of
a religious holy day. If you must miss a class, an examination, a work
assignment, or a project in order to observe a religious holy day, you will be
given an opportunity to complete the missed work within a reasonable time after
the absence.
I
solicit your help in identifying problems when they arise. If something is
wrong with the class, please contact Jim Bull (jbull@uidaho.edu) pronto.