1. 1 Quantitative Reasoning Fall 2012 Lecture Notes

2. 2 Contact information Instructor  Professor Olukayode Ajayi (Professor Ajayi) SCH 424 oaajayi@ilstu.edu (best communication method) oaajayi@ilstu.edu Office Hours: MWF, noon – 1:30 pm

3. Graduate Assistants Graduate Assistant: Chris Farrer  Office: 408D SCH  Email: crfarre@ilstu.edu  Office Hours: MTW 1 pm – 3 pm 3

4. 4 Contact Instructions Use ReggieNet Send ALL email to BOTH the instructor and the Graduate Assistants  Email not meeting these criteria will be deleted unread

5. 5 Class Documents All documents on ReggieNet Library assistance herehere Syllabus and Lecture Notes  On-line – Lecture notes by 9 am Thursday Spend your time  Listening  Writing down salient points  Writing down questions Each lecture note slide is numbered

6. 6 Attendance and Participation Attendance  Mandatory  Random checks  50 points

7. 7 My Philosophy Welcome to the real world  This is your job  I am your boss  You must follow instructions to the letter You will treat everyone with respect This class requires you to think for yourselves  You get to pick your topic  MAKE SURE YOU HAVE DATA!!!!!!! More on this later …

8. 8 Exams None

9. 9 Detailed syllabus review

10. Resources On Reggienet:  Research Paper Rubric and Guidance  Research Paper Template Library Assistance  Subject librarians will be here next week 10

11. 11 Paper Overview Section%Points Topic Due 9/121095 Lit Review Research Question Due 10/3 15 10 142.5 95 Hypothesis Variables Research Design Due 10/24 10 15 10 95 142.5 95 Data Due 11/1415142.5 Conclusions Due 12/515142.5 Total100950.0

12. 12 Research Paper Topic  What I want to talk about and why Literature Review  What others think about my topic Positions illustrated by articles Research Question  The question I want to answer Hypothesis  My answer to my question

13. 13 Research Paper Criteria Variables  Independent, dependent and control  Operational definitions Research Design  How I will investigate my hypothesis Data  What I find out Conclusions  What my data means  Is my hypothesis correct?  Implications for future research

14. What is Quantitative Reasoning? Do you agree or disagree with the following statements? Why?  Intervening in Libya was the right thing to do  The United States should not intervene in Syria  Romney has the best chance to beat Obama  The Bears are the best team in the NFL Who is right? How do we find out? 14

15. 15 Normative versus Empirical Empirical statements  Refer to what is true or false  Can be confirmed or disproved by investigation  May be questions or statements  May deal with past, present, or future  Examples?

16. 16 Normative statements Deal with what is  Good or bad  Desirable or undesirable  Beautiful or ugly Cannot be answered objectively  Depend on value judgment Even if all agree with the statement, may still be normative – i.e. not empirically testable  E.g. Murder is bad Other examples?

17. 17 Analytical statements Validity is dependent on assumptions or definitions, not empirical observations Example  Is it possible for a candidate to be elected president by the electoral college without having the greater number of popular votes?

18. 18 Week 2 Assignments Start thinking about your own examples of normative and empirical statements or questions Start thinking about a topic for your paper  The topic may be normative (at this stage) Be broad in your topic  If you think “drinking soda causes obesity”, your topic is “causes of obesity”, not “drinking soda causes obesity”! Find DATA!!!!!  Examples here, here, and herehere