Data Analysis, Fall Quarter 2025

Read This Document!

While this document is admittedly, somewhat long, is not "boilerplate"! There is a lot of important information that you need to know about this course contained here.

It is your guideline to the course. Not only does it give you all kinds of information (e.g. how to register for exams, how to contact the instructor, how to get help, what is required on assignments, etc etc, ), it also reiterates some key "rules and regulations" that you need to know about.

Again, be sure to read this document and to refer to it regularly as needed throughout the course.

Many, many common questions and sources of confusion can be clarified by referring to this document.

Time and Location

Course and Section Number: IT-223-720

Class Time & Location:

• Time: Asynchronous

• Location: Online

Important Dates

• Please DO VIEW the following and make note of the key dates: https://academics.depaul.edu/calendar/Pages/default.aspx

• In particular, note:

  • Last day to add the course

  • Last day to drop the course without penalty (i.e. tuition charge)

  • Last day to withdraw from the course

Exam Dates and Policies

Midterm Exam

• In-Class Students:

  • N/A this quarter

• Online Students: Window will be approximately from October 15-19

  • Detailed information about the exam including the specific exam window period will be communicated to you via News posting about 2 weeks before.

Final Exam

• In-Class Students:

  • N/A this quarter

  • Students registered for the in-class section MUST take the exam in the classroom. They can not take it via a proctoring service.

• Online Students: Window will be approximately from November 16-22

  • Detailed information about the exam will be communicated to you via News posting about 2 weeks before.

  • The exam MUST be taken no later than the end date specified above. If you have extenuating circumstances and need to take it earlier, you may contact me. I cannot promise that I can accommodate you, but if it is possible, I will try my best to arrange it.

  • There are NO options for taking the exam online. The exam must be taken in person using one of the two options specified in the section titled “Exams for Online Students” below.

     

Instructor Information

Name: Joseph ("Yosef") Mendelsohn

Office Hours: Please see my office hours page.

E-Mail: josephmendelsohn@gmail.com

My faculty bio can be found here.

How best to reach me?

Email: I try to check emails regularly throughout the day. Sometimes I can reply to emails within an hour or two, sometimes it take several hours before I get to them. However, I do make every attempt to answer all emails within 24 hours. In the event that this does not happen, please do feel free to resend the email. You don't have to "apologize for disturbing" me as the fault is mine!

I will never ignore an email from you. Therefore, if you do not receive a response from me, you may assume that the email got lost in the pile somewhere or ended up in my spam folder. In that case, please do resend it.

When e-mailing me, it is very important that you include your name and course number in the subject. I have various spam-filters on my e-mail, so if you don’t do this, your e-mail may well end up in my spam folder. For example:

Subject: Guttierez, IT-403: question about independence rule

Telephone: I am always willing to make phone appointments with students. However, please do NOT leave voicemail messages for me. The best way to reach me by far is via e-mail. If you wish to schedule a telephone appointment, e-mail me to do so.

Office Hours: I have regular office hours. You can find them here.

I am happy to arrange other mutually agreeable times to meet apart from my formal office hours, which I recognize are not convenient for online students in particular. If you wish to schedule an appointment, please email me at least 2-3 times that are good for you, and I will email you back with an appointment. This saves a lot of back-and-forth as we try to come up with a mutually agreeable time. Also, please let me know if you prefer Zoom, Skype, or Telephone.

Course Catalog Description

Introduction to univariate data analysis methods. Descriptive statistics and data visualization methods. Overview of sampling techniques for data collection, and introduction to statistical inference methods for decision making including simple linear regression, estimation procedures using confidence intervals and hypothesis testing.

Prerequisites

Only basic algebra is required.

Textbooks and Other Resources

The books below are recommended, but by no means required.

OpenStax Statistics: The IT program committee has moved to an online textbook that does not have a required payment. The publishers of the text do request a contribution, which I would encourage all of you to make, but it is not required. The textbook can be found at: https://openstax.org/details/books/introductory-statistics

OpenIntro Statistics: An excellent book. Perhaps has better explanations the OpenStax. https://www.openintro.org/book/os/

Assignments / Quizzes / Exams

Quizzes

Unlike assignments, all quizzes MUST be completed on time. If you miss the deadline a 0 will be recorded as the result for that quiz. (Remember that your two lowest quiz scores will be dropped).

While you may retake the quizzes as many times as you like for review, only your first submission will be recorded as your grade. The reason is that the answers are shown once you submit the quiz. The only exception is the syllabus quiz in which your highest score will be recorded and may be taken as many times as you like (until the deadline).

‘Feedback’: You will note that after you submit a quiz, there is a ‘Feedback’ link below certain questions. Please ALWAYS view these feedback comments. They frequently remind/reinforce certain important concepts.

Assignments

1. Assignments may be turned in up to two days after the due date with a small penalty (typically 3 points out of 40) per day late. Late assignments (i.e. after the two-day grace period) will not be accepted, as it would be unfair to other students. However, things do happen, so for this reason, your lowest assignment score will be dropped in the calculation of your final grade.

2. Make sure that you submit the correct assignment! It is up to the student to ensure that their attachment is not empty, and also that it contains the appropriate files. Accidentally submitting, say, the previous week’s assignment will not be considered a valid excuse.

3. If you make modifications to an assignment that you have already submitted, you are welcome to upload the newer version to D2L provided, of course, that it is uploaded before the assignment deadline. I will always grade your most recent submission.

4. Assignments may not be submitted as PDF! If you do, the grader will assign you a 0 for the assignment.

5. Please note that all assignments will be run through TurnItIn which is plagiarism detection software. This software compares your assignment with all other submissions ever submitted for this course. This database also includes the online "tutoring" services that sell other students' work.

Exams for Online Students

As online students, exams will be proctored at DePaul University and at other remote locations.

Please note the following:

Exams MUST be taken either

1. Through DePaul’s online learning proctoring service, or

2. If you live more than 30 miles away from DePaul University, at a certified proctoring center.

If you are unable to take the exam in person using one of the two options above (proctored at DePaul, proctored at a certified testing center), you should not register for this course. Please note that this is university policy (not my personal policy).

Can the exam be taken online: Unfortunately, there are NO options for taking the exam online.

Exam Window:

• Exams must be completed within the specified time window (see “Important Dates” above).

• A score of 0 will be recorded for the exam if it is not taken within the timeframe. Makeups will not be offered without very extenuating circumstances, and documentation will always be required. It is not possible to pass the course without taking the exam.

• The exam scheduling window will be opened about 2 weeks before the exam week. I will email the class when scheduling is available. It is always a good idea to register right away for proctored exams since preferred times and locations do fill up.

Registering for an Online Exam:

• You register for exams through D2L. About 2-3 weeks before the exam, you will see a widget at the top of your D2L course page allowing you to register. I will send out an email reminder asking you to register as the exam time approaches.

Important: There are several things to know about taking exams for online students. Please be sure to read the online student policies document for detailed information.

Important: All questions relating to online exams should be directed to the online learning staff. That is, please do not contact me with questions about online exams. The online learning staff can be reached at olstaff@cdm.depaul.edu The reason you should contact the OL staff instead of me is that I do not have anything to do with the organization or scheduling of online exams. All of this is handled by CDM’s online learning staff.

For example, if you need to modify an existing exam reservation (i.e. change day or time), please email olstaff@cdm.depaul.edu if the Exam App prevents you from making changes

DO NOT DELAY IN REGISTERING! The exam scheduling window will be opened about 2 weeks before the exam week. I will email the class when scheduling is available. Be sure to register PROPMTLY for proctored exams since preferred times and locations do fill up.

If you delay in registering for an exam, and all your preferred time slots are filled up, your only option is to contact the Online Learning staff to see if they can squeeze you in somewhere. Your professor is, unfortunately not able to assist with this as he does not have anything to do with exam proctoring.

• Under extenuating circumstances, the professor may extend the exam window, but this will come with a significant (30 points) deduction on the exam. This is not to penalize any one student. Rather it is so that all students are treated fairly, and have the same time period and window in which to take the exam.

• To reiterate: When you receive the News posting telling you to to register for exams, please be sure to do so promptly!

Required Resources

You will need to make use of several of the resources listed under General Course Resources on the ‘Content’ tab of D2L). We will discuss specifics such as the statistical software R as we progress through the course.

News Postings

After the first few days of the quarter, all communications will occur through D2L ‘News’ postings. These postings are extremely important – particularly so for online courses. So make absolutely certain that you have “subscribed” to News postings. By subscribing, all News postings will automatically be sent to your email or whichever preferred notification method you choose.

Doing so is quite easy. Here at the steps:

1. Log into D2L and go to the web page for this course.

2. Click on 'Course Home'

3. Click on the little down arrow next to the word 'News' and choose 'Notifications'

4. Under 'Contact Methods' enter your email address

5. Under 'Instant Notifications' check 'News - New Item Available'

Getting Started

DePaul University uses Desire 2 Learn (D2L) as our course management system: https://d2l.depaul.edu

All course content, assignments and grades will be posted here. It is your responsibility to keep up with all class materials through this website. You will also be required to submit your work through D2L.

While there may be a slight learning curve the first few times you navigate the site, it should not take long before you develop some comfort with it. D2L is not very difficult to use, there is a slight learning curve. Once you have finished reading this syllabus, you can look at a series of explanations and tutorials can be found here.

Ways to Get Help in this Course

D2L Discussion Forum

This is the PREFERRED way of asking questions.

Post course content questions to the D2L forum so I can answer you and share the answer with the class [posting to the Board is better than emailing me as someone else in the class might answer you before I do. Also, any answer I (or another student) give you, is available to everyone!

It is possible to subscribe to this forum so that you receive a notification every time someone posts. I would definitely recommend that you do so.

Here are the steps:

1. Log into D2L and go to the web page for this course.

2. Click on the tab labeled 'Discussions' at the top

3. There will be a heading along the lines of “General Discussions”. Click on the little downward arrow next to it.

4. Click on Subscribe.

CDM Tutors

Free tutoring is available for all students in this course. Please do make use of it! The tutoring center is located in the CDM building in downtown Chicago. Virtual tutoring for online students is also available. You can find out more information here.

Contact the Professor

I am happy to hear from you if you have questions, if something sparks your interest, or if you are struggling with some aspect of the course. If you are struggling, I’d much rather hear from you sooner than later.

Grading Breakdown

Summer Quarter Modifications

Because there are only four assignments during summer quarter, there will not be a dropped assignment during summer quarters.

Grading Scale

IMPORTANT GRADING NOTES

• Your quizzes and assignments are for YOU TO LEARN. They are not meant for evaluation which is why they do not form a significant part of your grade. Note that the total (combined) quiz and assignment percentage is less than any of your exams! So if you use any outside resources on quizzes and/or assignments (e.g generative AI), it is guaranteed that this will result in correspondingly poor results on the exams. In Other Words: There is no need to cheat on quizzes and exams as they only form a small percentage of your course grade. To reiterate: The quizzes and exams in this course are there as tools for YOU to LEARN the material. Your lowest assignment score will be dropped (though not in the summer).

• A score of below 50% on the final exam cannot result in a course letter grade above a C-.

• A score of below 50% on the final exam may require a consultation with the instructor in which you will be required to explain your code from assignments submitted during the course.

• A score of below 40% on the final exam cannot result in a course letter grade above a D. (This is extraordinarily unlikely, and only occurs when someone has not been keeping up at all with the course.)

• Missing either of the exams (midterm or final) will result in a failing grade for the course.

Extra Credit

Please note that there will not be any extra credit opportunities. It's not that I do not want to, but rather that I cannot give "extra" opportunities, as this would be tremendously unfair to all of the other students in the class. However, I do give options for things that may go wrong by dropping your lowest assignment, and dropping your two lowest quizzes.

Other College and Course Policies

Name Preference and Pronouns

Professional courtesy and sensitivity are especially important with respect to individuals and topics dealing with differences of race, culture, religion, politics, sexual orientation, gender, gender variance, and nationalities. I will gladly honor your request to address you by an alternate name or gender pronoun. Please advise me of this preference early in the quarter so that I may make appropriate changes to my records. Please also note that students may choose to identify within the University community with a preferred first name that differs from their legal name and may also update their gender. The preferred first name will appear in University related systems and documents except where the use of the legal name is necessitated or required by University business or legal need. For more information and instructions on how to do so, please see the Student Preferred Name and Gender Policy at http://policies.depaul.edu/policy/policy.aspx?pid=332

Online Course Evaluations

Evaluations are a way for students to provide valuable feedback regarding their instructor and the course. Detailed feedback will enable the instructor to continuously tailor teaching methods and course content to meet the learning goals of the course and the academic needs of the students. They are a requirement of the course and are key to continue to provide you with the highest quality of teaching. The evaluations are anonymous; the instructor and administration do not track who entered what responses. A program is used to check if the student completed the evaluations, but the evaluation is completely separate from the student’s identity. Since 100% participation is our goal, students are sent periodic reminders over three weeks. Students do not receive reminders once they complete the evaluation. Students complete the evaluation online in Campus Connect.

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

This course will be subject to the university's academic integrity policy.

The DePaul Student Handbook defines plagiarism as follows: “Plagiarism includes but is not limited to the following: (a) The direct copying of any source, such as written and verbal material, computer files, audio disks, video programs or musical scores, whether published or unpublished, in whole or in part, without proper acknowledgement that it is someone else’s. (b) Copying of any source in whole or in part with only minor changes in wording or syntax even with acknowledgement. (c) Submitting as one's own work a report, examination paper, computer file, lab report or other assignment which has been prepared by someone else. This includes research papers purchased from any other person or agency. (d) The paraphrasing of another's work or ideas without proper acknowledgement.” Plagiarism will result in a failure of the assignment or possibly of the course. If you are unsure of how to cite a source, ask!

More information can be found at http://academicintegrity.depaul.edu/. If you have any questions, consult with instructor.

NOTE: Please note that you may be contacted at any time throughout the course and asked to explain work that you have submitted on your assignments.

Penalties: Can include but are not limited to: 0 on the assignment or exam. Dropping of a full letter grade in the course. Assignment of an F grade for the course.

ALL academic integrity violations will be reported to the academic integrity committee. A finding of violation of academic integrity will result in a record of this event being placed in the student's academic record.

Use of Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT

Generative AI tools are trained on existing texts, algorithms, and models to generate content like writing, images, and videos based on prompts from users. ChatGPT, Midjourney, Google Gemini, and Claude, DALL-E are all examples of generative AI tools. You may not under any circumstances use generative AI in this course.

The reason is that we will be developing skills that are necessary to understand the fundamentals of the course concepts, and using generative AI to obtain solutions is guaranteed to inhibit development, practice, and understanding of those skills.

If you’re unsure if a specific tool makes use of AI, or if a specific tool is permitted for use on assignments in this course, please contact me. Attempting to pass off AI-generated work as your own will violate DePaul’s Academic Integrity Policy and could result in failure of the assignment or the course.

Sharing of course materials

All students are expected to abide by the University’s Academic Integrity Policy which prohibits cheating and other misconduct in student coursework. Publicly sharing or posting online any prior or current materials from this course (including exam questions or answers), is considered to be providing unauthorized assistance prohibited by the policy. Both students who share/post and students who access or use such materials are considered to be cheating under the Policy and will be subject to sanctions for violations of Academic Integrity.

Using Formulas / Techniques / R Code that were not discussed in the course

For all assignments that you submit, you must use ONLY the techniques demonstrated in this course. In other words, while there may be alternative and even more advanced techniques to solving a given problem, you must demonstrated that you are able to employ the tools that are being taught in this course. This is simply to ensure that use of third party sites and resources have not been employed.

If you have good reason to use another technique, say, one that you have learned about previously somewhere, or learned on your own, I am willing to accept it - but only provided that you contact me about for permission. Contacting me for this permission must be done in advance of submitting the assignment.

Using statistical techniques, or code in R that have not been discussed in the course is grounds for the filing of an academic integrity violation.

• The one exception is if you let the professor know in advance of submitting the assignment. You will be expected to explain where you learned the technique, and to explain what the technique does. If you can do this, the professor will allow you to include these techniques on your assignment.

• Again, this must be done in advance of submitting the assignment.

Incomplete

An incomplete grade is given only for an exceptional reason such as a death in the family, a serious illness, etc. Any such reason must be documented. Any incomplete request must be made at least two weeks before the final, and approved by the Dean of the College of Computing and Digital Media. Any consequences resulting from a poor grade for the course will not be considered as valid reasons for such a request. Incompletes are only granted when the large majority of the course work has already been completed.

Academic Policies

All students are required to manage their class schedules each term in accordance with the deadlines for enrolling and withdrawing as indicated in the University Academic Calendar. Information on enrollment, withdrawal, grading and incompletes can be found at: cdm.depaul.edu/enrollment.

Students with Disabilities

Students who feel they may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact the instructor privately to discuss their specific needs. All discussions will remain confidential. To ensure that you receive the most appropriate accommodation based on your needs, contact the instructor as early as possible in the quarter (preferably within the first week of class), and make sure that you have contacted the Center for Students with Disabilities (CSD) at: csd@depaul.edu.

Lewis Center 1420, 25 East Jackson Blvd. Phone number: (312)362-8002 Fax: (312)362-6544 TTY: (773)325.7296

Decorum / Deportment

Most of the following will apply primarily to in-class sections.

Attendance: For in-class sections, students are expected to attend each class and to remain for the duration. However, attendance will not be factored into your final grade.

Class Discussion: Whether in-class or online, student participation in class discussions will be measured in two ways. First, students are highly encouraged to ask questions and offer comments relevant to the day’s topic. Participation allows the instructor to “hear” the student’s voice when grading papers. Secondly, students will be called upon by the instructor to offer comments related to the reading assignments. Students must keep up with any assigned readings to participate in class discussion.

Attitude: A professional and academic attitude is expected throughout this course. Measurable examples of non-academic or unprofessional attitude include but are not limited to: talking to others when the instructor is speaking, mocking another’s opinion, cell phones ringing, emailing, texting or using the internet whether on a phone or computer. If any issues arise a student may be asked to leave the classroom. The professor will work with the Dean of Students Office to navigate such student issues.

Civil Discourse: DePaul University is a community that thrives on open discourse that challenges students, both intellectually and personally, to be Socially Responsible Leaders. It is the expectation that all dialogue in this course is civil and respectful of the dignity of each student. Any instances of disrespect or hostility can jeopardize a student’s ability to be successful in the course. The professor will partner with the Dean of Students Office to assist in managing such issues.

Cell Phones/On Call: If you bring a cell phone to class, it must be off or set to a silent mode. Out of respect to fellow students and the professor, texting is never allowable in class. If you are required to be on call as part of your job, please advise me at the start of the course.

Student Responsibilities: Each student is responsible for their time management and for meeting the expectations in the syllabus. The instructor is not responsible for reminding students of assignment deadlines in class. In the event of an absence, it is the student's responsibility to contact the instructor regarding the absence and the topics covered in class. If an assignment is listed on the syllabus, you are still responsible for completing the assignment on time.

Changes to Syllabus

This syllabus is subject to change as necessary during the quarter. If a change occurs, it will be communicated to you via News postings and/or email.

Anticipated Schedule

In the summer, we will cover two weeks’ worth of material each week. That is, during week #1 of a summer quarter, we will cover Week 1 and Week 2. During the second week, we will cover Week 3 and Week 4, etc. This will continue for 5 weeks.

Week 1

Syllabus and overview of the course, Data Sources, Graphing, Descriptive Statistics, Introduction to R

Week 2

Histograms, Outliers, Density Curves, Variation, R continued

Week 3

Variation continued, Empirical Rule, Scatterplots

Week 4

Correlation and Regression

Week 5

Causation, Principles in Study Design

MIDTERM WEEK (Week #6)

Midterm Exam

Week 7

Probability

Week 8

Probability continued, Inference, Confidence Intervals

Week 9

Hypothesis Testing

Week 10

Multiple Regression

Math and Computing Domain: Statistical Reasoning (MC-SR)

This section applies ONLY to those undergraduate students who wish to receive MC-SR credit. All other students may disregard.

Students who successfully complete IT 223, will have fulfilled the Liberal Studies Program – Math and Computing Domain – Statistical Reasoning category requirement.

List of MC-SR Learning Outcomes

Statistics is a rigorous intellectual challenge that must be approached systematically with extreme attention to detail. The assumptions, and mathematical rigor used to make decisions regarding which formulas to apply, as well as to build and evaluate models, require a solid understanding of the underlying theory. To that end, students will be asked not merely to “get the answer”, but to always justify their answer(s). Students will be confronted with scenarios in which the “expected” formula or model turns out to be the “wrong tool for the job”, and it is expected that they will be able to recognize such situations when they occur. In other words, the student will, at all times, be expected to understand the underlying theory and assumptions that underlie a given approach.

1. Recognize and explain statistically based results from real data (either primary or secondary) and evaluate whether reported conclusions reasonably follow from the study and analysis conducted. 

2. Use statistical software to produce and interpret graphical displays and statistical summaries. 

3. Recognize and explain the roles of variability and randomness in interpreting data and drawing conclusions.

4. Explain common ethical issues associated with sound statistical practice, including those associated with research design, and their impact on statistical decision-making.

5. Measure the strength of association between variables and identify possible effects of confounding or interacting variables on the interpretation of the association.

6. Apply basic ideas of statistical inference, including confidence intervals or hypothesis testing, in a variety of settings.

Math and Computing Domain Writing Expectations

Writing is integral for communicating ideas and progress in science, mathematics and technology. The form of writing in these disciplines is different from most other fields and includes, for example, mathematical equations, computer code, figures and graphs, lab reports and journals.

1. Students will demonstrate skills in writing at an appropriate level of detail (including the ability to summarize effectively), choosing an effective format, paraphrasing and citation of sources as required, technical accuracy, and quality of expression, including grammar, spelling and word usage.

2. Students will be required to write the equivalent of a minimum of five to ten pages, distributed across a series of assignments. Specific types of writing required will be a part of the description of assignments appropriate to the topics covered.