Policies
When in doubt about anything at all, ask questions!!!
Prerequisites
ALL students are expected to be familiar with all the topics covered within the required prerequisites to be in this course. That is, STA 611 or the following: STA 210 and (STA 230 or 240L) and (MATH 202, 202D, 212, or 222) and (MATH 216, 218, or 221, any of which may be taken concurrently). Students are also expected to be very familiar with R and are encouraged to have learned LaTeX or a Markdown language by the end of the course.
Workload
You are expected to put in approximately 15-20 hours of work per week if you are enrolled in STA 360 and 18-25 hours of work per week if you are enrolled in STA 602, depending on your level of comfort with the topics covered in the prerequisites. The work hours will include time spent going through the preassigned readings, watching the lecture videos, watching or attending the lab sessions, and doing all graded work. Please note that the more focused and engaged you are, the quicker you will be able to get through all the materials.
Graded Work
Graded work for the course will consist of problem sets, lab exercises, two quizzes, a midterm exam and a final exam. Most of the problem sets and lab exercises assigned to students enrolled in STA 602 will contain at least one question more than those assigned to students enrolled in STA 360. Regrade requests for homework and lab exercises must be done via Gradescope AT MOST 24 hours after grades are released! Regrade requests for quizzes, midterm, and final exams must be done via Gradescope AT MOST 12 hours after grades are released! Always write in complete sentences and show all of your steps.
| Component | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Final Exam | 25% |
| Midterm | 20% |
| Problem Sets | 20% |
| Quiz I | 10% |
| Quiz II | 10% |
| Lab exercises | 10% |
| Participation Quizzes | 5% |
There are no make-ups for any of the graded work except for medical or familial emergencies or for reasons approved by the instructor BEFORE the due date. See the instructor in advance of relevant due dates to discuss possible alternatives.
Grades may be curved at the end of the semester. Cumulative 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 after the final exam.
If grades are curved, grades for students in STA 360 will be curved differently in comparison to the grades for students in STA 602.
Descriptions of graded work
Problem sets and lab exercises
There will be five problem sets which will be handed out on a weekly basis. They will be based on all topics covered in the lecture videos and assigned readings will often be posted on the website every Monday, so please check the website regularly! Also, please note that any work that is not legible by the instructor or TAs will not be graded (given a score of 0). Every write-up must be clearly written in full sentences and clear English. Any assignment that is completely unclear to the instructors and/or TAs, may result in a grade of a 0. For programming exercises, you are required to use R and you must submit ALL of the code as an appendix.
Each student MUST write up and turn in her or his own answers. You are encouraged to talk to each other regarding homework problems or to the instructor/TA. However, the write-up, solution, and code must be entirely your own work. The assignments must be submitted on Gradescope under ``Assignments''. Note that you will not be able to make online submissions after the due date, so be sure to submit before or by the Gradescope-specified deadline.
Homework solutions will be curated from student solutions with proper attribution. Every week the TAs will select a representative correct solution for the assigned problems and put them together into one solutions set with each answer being attributed to the student who wrote it. If you would like to OPT OUT of having your homework solutions used for the class solutions, please let the Instructor and TAs know in advance.
Finally, your lowest homework score will be dropped!
Lab exercises
The objective of the lab assignments is to give you more hands-on experience with Bayesian data analysis. Come learn a concept or two and some R from the TAs and then work on the computational part of the homework assignments. Lab attendance is not mandatory, however, each lab assignment should be submitted in timely fashion on the due date. You are REQUIRED to use R Markdown to type up your lab reports.
Quizzes
There will be two quizzes, both timed and online. Students will be able to take the quiz within any one-hour slot in a 24-hour window. Detailed instructions on the quizzes will be made available later.
Midterm Exam
Students will be able to take the midterm within a 24-hour window. Soon after the midterm, you will be given a midterm grade assessing your overall performance. Note that the main purpose of this is to let you know how you are doing in the class. Detailed instructions on the midterm will be made available later.
Final Exam
There will be a final exam, which you will be able to take within a 48-hour window. If you miss any quiz or the midterm, your grade will depend more on the final exam score since there are no make-up exams. You cannot miss the final exam! Detailed instructions on the final will be made available later.
Late Submission Policy
You will lose
- 25% of the total points on each problem set if you submit within the first 24 hours after it is due,
- 50% of the total points if you submit within the first 48 hours after it is due, and
- 100% of the total points if you submit later than that.
In addition, you will lose
- 50% of the total points on each lab exercise if you submit within the first 24 hours after it is due, and
- 100% of the total points if you submit later than that.
You will lose 100% of the total points on quizzes, midterms and final exams if you miss the dates/times.
Auditing
Students who audit this course will be expected to complete most of the graded work with the goal of getting an overall score of at least 70%; you will only need to complete enough graded work to get to 70%. You are also expected to watch the videos, go through the readings, and generally, participate like everyone else. You must contact the instructor in advance if you wish to audit the course.
Academic integrity:
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:
- I will not lie, cheat, or steal in my academic endeavors;
- I will conduct myself honorably in all my endeavors; and
- I will act if the Standard is compromised.
Cheating on exams or plagiarism on homework 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 for all parties involved. Additionally, there may be penalties to your final class grade along with being reported to the Office of Student Conduct.
Please review the Academic Dishonesty policies here.
Diversity & Inclusiveness:
This course is designed so that students from all backgrounds and perspectives all feel welcome both in and out of class. Please feel free to talk to me (in person or via email) if you do not feel well-served by any aspect of this class, or if some aspect of class is not welcoming or accessible to you. My goal is for you to succeed in this course, therefore, please let me know immediately if you feel you are struggling with any part of the course more than you know how to manage. Doing so will not affect your grades, but it will allow me to provide the resources to help you succeed in the course.
Disability Statement
Students with disabilities who believe that they may need accommodations in the class are encouraged to contact the Student Disabilities Access Office at 919-668-1267 or disabilities@aas.duke.edu as soon as possible to better ensure that such accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion.
Other Information
It can be a lot more pleasant oftentimes to get one-on-one answers and help. Make use of the teaching team's office hours, we're here to help! Do not hesitate to talk to me during office hours or by appointment to discuss a problem set or any aspect of the course. Questions related to course assignments and honesty policy should be directed to me. When the teaching team has announcements for you we will send an email to your Duke email address. Please make sure to check your email daily.
Most of the course components, including discussion sessions, labs and all office hours, will be held online using Zoom meetings. Meeting IDs will be provided closer to the beginning of the course. If you have any concerns, issues or challenges, please let the instructor know as soon as possible. Also, all students are strongly encouraged to rely on Ed Discussion, for interacting among yourself and asking other students questions. You can also ask the instructor or the TAs questions on there and we will try to respond as soon as possible. If you experience any technical issues with joining or using Ed Discussion, let the instructor know.
Professionalism
Try as much as possible to refrain from texting or using your computer for anything other than coursework while watching the lecture videos. Again, the more engaged you are, the quicker you will be able to get through the materials. You are responsible for everything covered in the lecture videos, labs, lecture notes/slides, and in the Hoff book. You will be expected to follow along with the Hoff book as we go along in the lectures.