Entry requirements

30 credits in Environmental Science, Biology, Earth Science, Geography or Social Science

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course, the student should be able to:

• describe how basic statistical methods can be used to describe and analyse environmental data
• calculate position and deviation measurements
• analyse correlation between variables
• analyse differences in frequencies
• analyse differences in mean values
• estimate the basis for statistical tests and when necessary perform transformations of data

Content

The course contains descriptive statistics as well as hypothesis evaluation in environmental science. The students learn how to calculate and analyse measurements of position and deviations from them, frequencies and covariation. The course also includes sampling methods, sources of error, basic methods for hypothesis testing and the suitability of various statistical tests for different types of data. The course is taking up both parametric and non-parametric tests; t-test, Mann-Whitney U-test, Wilcoxon test, F-test, chi2-test, correlation, linear regression, one-way ANOVA and Kruskall-Wallis test. Exercise tasks are solved with both own calculations and statistical computer programs.

Instruction

Lectures and excercises.

Assessment

Written examination.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the disability coordinator of the university.