Statistics abounds in our everyday lives, from economics to physics, accountancy to medicine, business to technology, geography to law, social science to politics, a veritable all-embracing giant. No discipline does well that disavows it or belittles it. Though many occupations may not require specialized statistics degrees, they demand at least a working understanding of statistics, and able competency with data crunching, statistical software and results management.
This course gives students an introduction from the basics to mid-level statistics and applications in running analyses through manual means plus Excel, with interpretation through practical cases and examples. By the end of this course, students will have mastered descriptive and summary statistics, probability axioms, discrete univariate probability distributions, continuous univariate distributions, regression, means, variance, covariance, sampling distributions, central limit theorems, point v. interval estimations, one-, two-, multiple-sample hypothesis tests; and
- know the principles and elements of basic statistics;
- summarise data sets into meaningful information;
- perform appropriate statistical procedures and write sound interpretations for use in practical decision-making
Through this project, students statistically quantified the well-being of caregivers of persons with mental health issues in Singapore, the attitudes towards various profile groups in Singapore. In addition, students provided recommendations on dispelling the stigma against caregivers of PMHI and raised awareness of the needs for these caregivers' well-being, especially in this COVID-19 period.
Students did an in-depth study and research to understand the perceptions towards dementia in Singapore, and provided recommendations on how to help increase public awareness of dementia and reduce the stigma faced by persons with dementia and their caregivers. More information can be found here: https://x.smu.edu.sg/project-showcase/alzheimers-disease-association-0
The nationwide study, titled 'Guide.Me.' was conducted by faculty and her 95 SMU undergraduates. As part of the project, SMU students interviewed 3,733 Singaporeans across all postal codes in Singapore, about their experiences and perceptions of the blind community. Within the backdrop of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, students conducted the surveys through face-to-face interviews, phone and Zoom calls. With the support of Guide Dogs Singapore, the study aimed to examine the perceptions and views of the visually-impaired, their mobility challenges in Singapore, and how far along Singapore is as an inclusive society.