At the end of the course the students should be able to demonstrate subject specific knowledge, understanding and skills and have the ability to:
Apply appropriate statistical procedures to answer simple research questions, using appropriate data.
Explain the concept of sampling distribution.
Write down likelihood functions for simple models and calculate maximum likelihood estimators for parameters.
Fit linear regressions using the least squares method to appropriate data.
Construct confidence intervals for estimators, perform hypothesis tests, and appreciate the similarities and differences between the two approaches.
Understand some of the asymptotic theory and properties of statistical inference methods.
Critically evaluate whether modelling assumptions are appropriate.
Compare and contrast different models, and be able to make an informed choice about which is the most appropriate to answer a given question.
Interpret the results and conclusions implied by fitted models in real world situations.
Use the statistical package ’R’ to fit and evaluate models.