The Duke University Community Commitment states: “Because diversity is essential to fulfilling the university’s mission, Duke is committed to building an inclusive and diverse university community. Every student, faculty, and staff member —whatever their race, gender, age, ethnicity, cultural heritage or nationality; religious or political beliefs; sexual orientation or gender identity; or socioeconomic, veteran or ability status—has the right to inclusion, respect, agency and voice in the Duke community. Further, all members of the University community have a responsibility to uphold these values and actively foster full participation in university life.”
It is my goal for our learning environment to facilitate learning and intellectual development for everyone. To help accomplish this:
Duke University is a community dedicated to scholarship, leadership, and service and to the principles of honesty, fairness, respect, and accountability. Citizens of this community commit to reflect upon and uphold these principles in all academic and nonacademic endeavors, and to protect and promote a culture of integrity.
Remember the Duke Community Standard that you have agreed to abide by:
To uphold the Duke Community Standard:
Cheating or plagiarism on assignments, lying about an illness or absence and other forms of academic dishonesty are a breach of trust with classmates and faculty, violate the Duke Community Standard, and will not be tolerated. Such incidences will result in a 0 grade. Additionally, there may be penalties to your final class grade along with being reported to the Undergraduate Conduct Board (undergraduates) or relevant Director of Graduate Studies (graduate students).
Please review the Academic Dishonesty policies here.
Several datasets we are privileged to use in class are confidential and cannot be distributed more broadly. Further dissemination of such datasets, made available on Sakai, will be considered a violation of the Duke Community Standard. If you are unsure whether you can use a dataset for purposes beyond class, please ask me.
Much of the work assigned in class is collaborative. The individual case study must be completed independently. In addition, regular assessments must be completed individually before they are tackled by the group.
Referencing code: The web contains an enormous volume of code that you may find useful. You are welcome to make use of any online resources (e.g. StackOverflow), but you must explicitly cite your sources. Any recycled code that is discovered and is not explicitly cited will be treated as plagiarism. On the individual case study you may not directly share code with another student in this class, and on team assignments you may not share code with another team in this class (you are welcome to discuss the problems together and ask for advice, but you may not send or make use of code from another team).
If you miss class or would like to review the material covered in class, you can view the recordings. Note that you will need to log in with your Net ID.
STA 610 involves detailed analysis of two case studies using current, relevant data. Each case study will require a written report.
Additional details on the case studies will be provided as the course progresses.
Each case study will have a page limit, and under no circumstances should font sizes less than 11 point be used, with the exception of labels in figures (and then only if they are still clearly legible to readers of all ages).
Reports from lab will be turned in after most labs, and graded pass/fail. These reports, along with any in-class activities, will comprise a small fraction of your final grade. Students who miss the relevant lab or class sessions will receive 0 points for those submission. However, there will be a make-up lab the final day of class.
Four homework assignments will be given throughout the semester. These homework assignments are to be completed independently without collaborating with other students.
Students who miss homework or case study submissions will receive 0 points for those submissions.
Two in-class midterm examinations will be given as specified on the syllabus. There is no final exam and these two midterms will be weighted equally on the course grade. If you know in advance you must miss an in-class examination, please contact Prof. Dunson as soon as possible and plan to be present on December 2 for a make-up exam.
Your final grade will be comprised of the following:
| Component | % of Grade |
|---|---|
| Homework assignments | 20% |
| Lab reports and class activities | 5% |
| Case study 1 | 10% |
| Case study 2 | 15% |
| Exam 1 | 25% |
| Exam 2 | 25% |
Class attendance is a firm expectation; frequent absences or late arrivals are a legitimate cause for grade reduction.
Cumulative numerical averages of 90 - 100 are guaranteed at least an A-, 80 - 89 at least a B-, and 70 - 79 at least a C-; however, the exact ranges for letter grades will be determined at the end of the semester. The more evidence there is that the class is performing at the highest level, the higher the grade distribution will be.
Students who miss a class due to a short-term illness should fill out an online short-term illness form. Note that these excused absences do not excuse you from assigned case studies.
If you are faced with a personal or family emergency or a chronic health condition that interferes with your ability to attend or complete classes, you should contact the Director of Graduate Studies in your department (graduate). See more information on policies surrounding these conditions at https://trinity.duke.edu/undergraduate/academic-policies/personal-emergencies.
Late work policy for case study reports:
Regrade requests must be made within three days of when a report is returned. These will be honored if points were tallied incorrectly, or if you feel part of your report is correct, but it was marked wrong. No regrade will be made to alter the number of points deducted for an issue. When a regrade request is evaluated, if new errors are identified, additional points may be deducted from the grade. The last day to file a grade change request is December 2.