This unit is intended for students with a high level of proficiency in mathematics. The unit provides an introduction to modern statistical principles and practice with special emphasis on data analytical techniques. Methods for the organisation and display of data will be considered with special emphasis on data quality. Students will be expected to report on their investigations of real life problems. Data entry and computer analysis will be undertaken using a statistical package. This does not require any previous computing experience.

The unit includes topics such as basic probability and random variables, data summarisation and display, data quality, probability models for data including the normal, poisson, binomial and sampling distributions and their important properties. Statistical inference techniques will be considered such as estimates and their accuracy, tests of means, proportions and other characteristics, regression and correlation and an introduction to the analysis of counted data.