[W1111] Introduction to Statistics (A)

Below is my course evaluation for Professor Emir. I have not yet taken the final or gotten a grade, so I cannot speak to that.

Professor Emir is the worst professor I have ever encountered. He did not communicate the subject matter coherently. He did not prepare adequately for class. His assignments were unclear both in the content (poorly worded questions) and the process (changing the requirements and the due date multiple times). As far as I can tell (everything in this class is really unclear), Prof Emir grades everything out of 110 possible points so that everyone will get good grades, regardless of his poor teaching.

All of the material we covered up to the midterm was covered in my 4th grade arithmetic class (with the exception of how to take a standard deviation, which I both already knew and could have googled and learned in 5 minutes). He assumed that since the course was statistics without calculus, we had no prior math exprience at all and actually asked us if we knew what even and odd numbers were.

In addition, he repeatedly made inappropriately classist comments (comments which assumed that and made fun of us for all coming from extremely privileged backgrounds).

I have honestly never written a course evaluation like this, and I hope I never will again. I imagine that Professor Emir is a brilliant statistician at Pfizer, but I should not have wasted my time in his class and I hope nobody else ever has to.

Speaking from an English major's point of view (and not one who, by an interesting character-twist, loves math), this was the wrong course to take. I was hoping that I would end up like stats and find it interesting, but it was both boring and difficult. How is that possible? Well, taught myself. Badly. I spent hours on something I was definitely not capable of understanding alone. Yes, I actually did go to every single agonizingly boring 9 a.m. class, unlike half the students enrolled, but Mr. Caridi's power-points are about as helpful as spending a whole class JUST reading Hamlet without discussing it. Not to compare statistics to Hamlet (sorry Shakey.) Not that I intend to take too many more math classes, but I've heard that, while Columbia has many great departments, statistics is not one of them.

If, like some people (and believe me, the average for this class was extremely low and NOT CURVED) you are a stats-smart person and think you can handle it, take the class. But don't expect to be thrilled by Caridi's teaching style. Looking back, I should have taken astronomy or something more challenging, but also more interesting.

My Advice:

1. Start early, learn the powerpoints before class

2. See the TA

3. DO THE PRACTICE PROBLEMS

4. Don't take this class. :l For serious, not worth it unless you have a particular interest in statistics.

Although I'm sure Professor Caridi has an excellent knowledge of statistics, he does not have an excellent method of teaching. He fails to teach the concepts, just creates excessive amounts of slides and doesn't explain them well.

All this could be manageable if you read the text -- unfortunately he decided to jump around in the textbook a lot and the textbook really requires that you read all the chapters leading up to a chapter --- so it is very difficult to supplement the lectures with the recommended reading. if you take this class start reading the textbook right away on your own.

(I don't think Andrew is teaching this semester, but Val is. She was on his team last semester and is great, you should take her class.)

Having had a beast of a Stat teacher in high school (I'm talking about you Mrs. Campbell you ogre, wherever you are!) who I literally learned ZERO from, I was not looking forward to having to take Statistics. At all.

To the reviewer below I say the following: the first day of class Andrew told us he would be teaching the class in a different way to the other sections, and that if you wanted a more traditional approach to Stat (in a class that would not be using R) then you should switch to any another section. So, perhaps you should have switched to another section then?

I decided to stick with Gelman's class, and am glad that I did! (By the way, I have no computer programming experience whatsoever, and absolutely loathe math.)

Andrew, along with Val (who was a HUGE help with the class), Vince the TA, and Daniel the R programming guru, taught statistics in a way that illuminated why the subject is in fact important and exciting as well.

Yes the weekly homework assignments sometimes took a long time. Yes the book wasn't always as clear as it could be. But, we were told from the beginning that Andrew was in the process of writing a new book, and that would be the "textbook" that we would use. So, all students knew that the book/class was a work in progress and some kinks might need to be ironed out along the way. Also, in general the R-code could be copied/slightly modified from examples in lecture for the homework. And the Stat team encouraged doing the R portions of the homework in this way.

As far as workload is concerned, especially in comparison with other Science/Math classes, the workload was totally doable. And, the whole Stat team were ALWAYS available to help work through homeworks/questions about the material. That's more than I can say about other classes.

The key to being successful in Andrew's class was attending recitation with Val. Within the course of an hour she would breakdown seemingly impenetrable concepts into straightforward formulas, ideas, etc.

Andrew really seems to care about his students, and its hard not to enjoy a class where the professor says things like "noise is the data's way of getting jiggy" on a regular basis.

If you just want an easy A without much thought, then perhaps you should take another Statistics section.If you'd like to be in an entry level class where you can participate, where the professor values your ideas and takes criticism into account, where you can ALWAYS find someone to help you with the material when you're stuck, and where you'll actually learn something, then take this class.

You know, if more professors (I'm looking at you Calculus professors!) quoted Will Smith raps on a regular basis, perhaps Columbia's math classes might be a little more bearable...

THE HORROR, THE HORROR…

Abandon all hope ye who enter here, for ye will feel like Sisyphus, continually rolling a rock up a hill, only to watch it roll back down.

At least Sisyphus though was being punished for what he did. This is more like Kafka. Watch! Just watch! as you are metamorphosed from the primarily positive person into an angry bridge troll, lacking sleep while kicking people in the shins for HAVING THE GALL to smile.

In this class, you will learn the fine line that can often exist between tragedy and comedy…you will start to laugh if only to keep from crying.

But enough with might seem to the uninitiated like hyperbole, but so very very unfortunately isn’t.

It is not as if Mr. Gelman does not know the material, or even doesn’t care (though complaints fall on deaf ears). No. He is just teaching the class wrong. It is not as if the material is difficult—it’s rather that I could learn far better with an Idiot’s Guide to Statistics than with his manner of teaching. His lectures will take a simple concept, and in the interest of making it simpler by providing illustrative examples, actually ends up twisting the material into an unrecognizable glop, leaving you scrambling to ask your friends “What was this class about….?”

He once made an analogy that learning statistics is like learning a language, where you learn individual phrases and eventually put the rules together. I wanted to scream. NO, actually, that’s not your job. We should learn the rules in a straightforward way and how to apply them. THAT’S your job. That’s how you should teach.

And BEWARE, those who think they are taking simply a statistics class, for it is also half a computer science class. Didn’t tell you that in the class description now did they? Yep. You will be learning R! A cruel and unusual form of torture masquerading as computer software! This is necessary to do the homework. You will spend your weekends trying to write intense code that you have been given only the slightest clue of how to write all for a meager few points, points that add up though. Also, no partial credit. It’s okay though, you can go to office hours. All the way in the social work building. At 1 pm on a Monday. YEAH. If you were like me, you missed out on an opportunity to be GIVEN the answers directly, cuz you got shit to do yo! My time ain’t free!

Regarding the positive review….I don’t know, I really don’t. I read it thinking, what??? How??? At least know I’ve talked with many in the class and have never heard positive comments about the class. Maybe it’s my habit of talking to non-masochists, I guess.

I can barely go on…I may be a healthy 20 year old, but I fear my blood pressure when talking about this class.

In summary, this would be the level of hell if your sin were having excessive joy in your life. “BAHHAHAH YOU LIKE JOY DO YA!?! WELL ENJOY INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICS WITH ANDREW GELMAN!!! MWAHHAHHA!!!”, said the demon.

Great professor in a course that has a lot of potential for boring-ness. Gelman taught the whole year from his own free textbook that he is writing to compete with "normal" textbooks, which he thinks are overpriced. The material was pretty standard...surveys, standard deviations, confidence intervals, probability, but Prof. Gelman was extremely good at breaking the fourth wall and getting the class involved with engaging and creative activities (the first day of class he filled a bucket full of ping pong balls with everyones' names on them and randomly called out people to answer). There was a lot of work, much of it using R, an open-source statistics program, although it was not nearly as difficult as Stat B sounds...more like busy work. Bottom line is that Gelman is hilarious, engaging, and you will not regret taking this class.

Because the previous reviewer did not attend class frequently, I feel that he has a different point-of-view compared to someone who did. I attended every single lecture and let me tell you, this class is HARD if you do not have any background in Calculus or Stats (which I didn't). If you don't read over the chapters before class, you will be very lost and that was my problem most of the time. My saving grace was going to the TAs office hours. They were the only ones who could really help in terms of availability and teaching the material. (Prof. Emir is an adjunct; he works at Pfizer full-time and does not have the time to meet with students even though he claims he will be available before and after class).

He reads from his slides and you do have to get used to his accent because most of the time, he is hard to understand. He tries to make jokes which are funny sometimes but all in all, he isn't a great professor because of the way he teaches and his unavailability. He is notorious for not replying emails so don't even bother sending him one. The lectures (chapter slides) are posted online. They are not very helpful if you don't read the material and attend class. Sometimes, he covers 2 chapters in one class!

I am just glad I am done with this requirement. The subject was awful and the professor much worse.

Please re-train the instructor. At such an elite institution it is understandable that brilliant faculty is more synonymous with excellent researchers than excellent instructors. I have gotten used to having to learn on my own more than in the classroom. This class is not the exception. This is where the departments should take a hard look at who they hire. His method of "death by powerpoint" should in no way be considered an acceptable alternative to effective communication of course materials.

Though his powerpoint slides are incredibly through, his inability to engage the class, provide an effective method for learning the material, and lack of curiosity as to why his class size was so small except on exam days, goes to show his lack of touch with pedagogical methods.

If it wasn't for his TA's, this class would be a nightmare not because the material is difficult, but because you sit and waste an hour an change of your life when it would be better spent in the TA's office hours.

As for the course itself, of the two Intro to Stats courses, 1111 is the baby one. While 1211 requires calculus - which you should know if you are taking a quantitative science anyway - 1111 only requires a high school level of math according to its own description. If you happen to have dealt with any statistics before, or have a background in research science, this class is an easy A.

And that is even made easier by Professor Lindquist. The material was made astoundingly clear by him. I am not kidding, even the lecture slides on Courseworks (posted up the day before) are clear enough that you could have not even shown up to a single class and done fine - which is probably what happened since our room was too small, but I digress. That being said, if you have time, you should show up to class since he throws in a few examples to clear up any confusion that you may have.

He typically assigns two chapters in the textbook each week, and a problem set to accompany it. Some people find the textbook a bit annoying with all the self-referential jokes, but I enjoyed it, so that may be a personal taste; however, you could not deny that it was still effective in teaching the material rather clearly. I plan on keeping it as a reference instead of selling it. The textbook problems take maybe an hour, but the TAs can bring down the hammer on the grading from time to time. Sometimes he attaches a STATA problem set, which involves going down the computer lab, doing a tutorial on the statistical software offered there, and then doing a problem usually from the textbook the method of which you have just been guided through.

There is a project during the second of the semester, which involves forming a group and conducting a study. Just make sure you don't have a deadbeat group of friends and you should be fine. He's pretty lenient on the grading of it; even if you screw up, if you can explain what went wrong, why it was wrong, and what should have been done for it to be correct, he'll give you credit for knowing how to conduct a study though you had to learn it the hard way.

About 1/4 and 3/4 through the semester, he gives a quiz at the end of class. 10 multiple choice questions; mostly theory, a few calculations you could do in your head. If you paid any attention to the lectures, or the slides, or textbook, it's an easy 9-10/10. Halfway through he gives a midterm that takes an entire class session; a few multiple choice questions like on the quiz, and some homework-like multi-part problems that are usually straightforward. He allows a one-page, front and back, cheat sheet for formulas and the like. Go through the lecture slides, write down any formula that looks important, and you will walk out of the exam early. The final is a little bit longer than the midterm but the same format, and has about a 1/3 focus on the first half and 2/3 focus on the second half. You are allowed two cheat sheets for this. Same deal as the midterm: go through the lectures, take down the important looking formulas, walk out halfway through the three hours given with a smile on your face.

Never went to office hours - never needed to.

On the whole, the class was easy and informative. Lindquist sometimes teaches 2110, so I plan on taking that if it fits into my schedule.

Great class, nice guy, lots of work but fair. I thought I would hate having a quiz every week but they're really straightforward if you've read the book and done the homework, plus they're open notes. The project is a really cool addition to the course and Tyler does a great job helping you and gets really excited if you go talk to him about it in his office.

Classes also are also a mix of lectures and working problems in small groups or doing other activities. The lecture portion is really clear, but Tyler's style is pretty relaxed so you can ask questions. Several times he posted links to things in the news or studies that were related to what we were talking about, which makes the material seem more relevant. Working problems in groups in class is different, but works for a class like this where solving problems is so important for the material.

Overall, if you need to take statistics, I would definitely recommend waiting until Tyler is teaching. I went in thinking the class would be boring, but now I think statistics is actually kinda cool.

This guy is a grad student, which usually raises warning flags for me...especially in math/science related classes. Honestly, though, Tyler is one of the best teachers I've had at Columbia. It is obvious from the first day that he has things organized and that he's put alot of thought into how to make the class relevant to as many people as possible. His lectures are clear and he tries to be funny (sometimes successfully).

He had to leave for a couple of weeks near the end of the semester for some kind of family emergency. It disrupted the flow of the class, but I think he did the best he could given the circumstances and he had lots of extra office hours when he got back to try to catch up, which was nice.

Great class. Tough but worth it. Take this guy for statistics if you possibly can. Much better than just an average intro class.

Tyler is awesome. I really wasn't looking forward to taking statistics but after taking Tyler's class I can actually see why he gets so excited about it. He did a great job making the material relevant and trying to keep people motivated.

He's also very clear and patient with non-math people, like me.

The course syllabus and the grading curve that Tyler uses is, in my opinion, a little misleading . You need to develop two study styles to get through this class with a good grade, one for the homework/quizzes and one that allows you to manipulate the material with ease.

The are many components to this class, this is the misleading part because the level of understanding you need is completely different for the quizzes compared to the midterm and final. I was surprised at the level of difficulty of the midterm after feeling that they understood the material based on his quizzes. This course is basically curved on the two exams. After people realize that the quizzes are mostly homework questions and you can bring your notes/homework, the standard grade on them is 10/10 - this grade, the lab grade, and the project grade (which we put SOO much time into), is (based on the curve) cancelled out from your final grade because everyone does well on them. The quiz grades and the project grade won't help even out your grade, but you must do well/perfect on them. Make sure you know the material inside and out for the midterm and final, the questions are more theoretical and require more than knowing the mechanics of a problem.

Suggestion to Tyler: level the playing field with quizzes on par to the level of difficulty to the exams.Tyler is really nice and willing to help. I just wish we were more prepared for his exams. We were not given problems that were of the same style in our preparation for the exams.

One last comment, I had a hard time grasping the overall concept of the class until the last couple of weeks, I think it's the way the course/book/statistics is laid out. Tyler did give us a diagram that explained the overall picture during the first class, but for someone who never took a stats class before it took a while for it to sink in.

Tian makes intro stats painless. Her lectures are well-organized, and though they are all Powerpoint-based, she works out a lot of examples on the board. She answers questions during class and always stresses the important points. She also provides in-class copies of lectures and uploads them online afterwards. When she taught us, she didn't hold a lot of office hours, but there were two Tas, each of whom held a recitation during the week (separate from her office hours), so it was easy to get help. Her accent is not an issue, and she's very good at explaining confusing concepts. The final data project is pretty annoying and useless, but the grading is generous, and she provides plenty of resources.

In short, this is a very easy class with very fair and transparent expectations. Can be easily tacked on as a sixth class. Tian is understanding of the fact that her class is probably not a priority for most people.

Better then average professor. He makes sure the students understand all the examples covered in class. Very straightforward while answering questions and will spend a good amount of time during office hours to make sure the concepts are fully understood. Take his class if you want to get a general idea of the concepts without diving into hard derivations of the formulas etc. He makes it a point on his exams to not have any complicated computations. Tries to ensure everyone has a good chance to get an A.

This course was terrible. I was accepting to leave the class with some sort of general knowledge of statistics but found that I left only with higher blood pressure. I must agree with the previous review in that the professor often spoke so quietly that I could not understand 50% (just to throw a "statistic" in here) of what she said. seemed inexperienced and defensive. When asked a question she would do one of two things:
1) try to explain, become frustrated and tell the student to go to her office hours (something I STILL don't understand since she didn't have set office hours), or
2) say "hmmm" several times and avoid the question altogether bye translating things into Icelandic.

We rarely did examples because we rarely finished the material she had hoped to cover in class. Consequently, I taught myself out of the book.

This review is harsh, but as honest as I could possibly be. I did not do horribly in the class but feel that it was a waste of time. And now I have higher blood pressure. : (