Biology 300 Lab (May 2015)

Instructor: Gordon McIntyre

Tentative Outline of Lab Topics and Schedule for the Session

The lab portion of this course will supplement the lectures and will also stress exploratory data analysis and approaches to choosing analysis methods. Both parametric and non-parametric testing will be discussed. Some topics will be covered that will not be dealt with during lectures due to time constraints.

The labs use JMPin. This analysis program is comprehensive, flexible, easy to use and will expose you to one of the more common commercial statistical packages.

The lab manual is available from this web site. You may also get a printed version of the manual from Copysmart in the UBC village (available in May). The cost is about $10.00.

Lab materials from previous years may no longer be useful.

The lab mark (from the lab exam) is considered part of the overall course grade. You will pass or fail the course as a whole. You do not need to pass the lab and lecture portions separately.

Hints for the lab exam:

Read the questions thoroughly. One of the most common ways people lose marks is by providing a thorough answer to a question we didn't ask.

If you check your assumptions and transforms are needed, apply the appropriate transform, note the reason for the transform on your exam, and then assume that it worked. To save time for the exam (and only for this exam), you don't need to recheck to see if you can now meet the assumptions.

Look for key phrases: causation, prediction or functional relationship imply regression. Association or vary together imply correlation. Independence of variables implies contingency tests. Describe a regression relationship algebraically means tell us the equation of the line (don't forget to include any transforms in the equation). Describe the strength of a relationship means r². Summarize the differences between means should tell you to do a Tukey test.

This is the tentative schedule for the summer. Unexpected events may change this schedule. Do not treat this as definitive.

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