STA 101 Data Analysis and Statistical Inference

Duke University Fall 2026

Below is a prospective outline for the course. Due dates are firm, but topics may change with advanced notice.

WEEK DATE TOPIC MATERIALS READING MORE DUE
1 Tue, Aug 25 🧑‍🏫 Welcome! 🛝 slides 00



Thu, Aug 27 🧑‍🏫 The bottom line, at the top 🛝 slides 01
🎶 notes 01
📗 r4ds - intro
📘 ims - ch 1
📘 ims - ch 2
📘 ims - ch 3
🎥 Meet the toolkit :: R and RStudio
🎥 Meet the toolkit :: Quarto
🏋️ Tutorial: language of data
🏋️ Tutorial: types of studies
🏋️ Tutorial: experimental design


Fri, Aug 28 💻 Lab 0 🔬 lab 00

Intro survey @ 5PM
2 Tue, Sep 1 🧑‍🏫 Exploratory data analysis 🛝 slides 02
🎶 notes 02
⛴️ ARC info
📗 r4ds - ch 1
📗 r4ds - ch 3
📘 ims - ch 5
🎥 Visualizing data
🎥 Building a plot with ggplot2
🎥 Grammar of graphics
🎥 Grammar of data transformation
🎥 Exploring numerical data
🏋️ Tutorial: viz for numerical data
🏋️ Tutorial: summarizing data


Thu, Sep 3 🧑‍🏫 Exploratory data analysis
📘 ims - ch 4 🎥 Exploring categorical data
🎥 Exploring relationships
🏋️ Tutorial: viz for categorical data


Fri, Sep 4 💻 Lab 1 🔬 lab 01

Lab 1 @ end-of-lab
3 Tue, Sep 8 🧑‍🏫 Exploratory data analysis 🛝 slides 03
🎶 notes 03
📘 ims - ch 6 🏋️ Tutorial: case study
🏋️ Tutorial: visualizing two variables


Thu, Sep 10 🧑‍🏫 Modeling data 🛝 slides 04
🎶 notes 04
🧊 ae 03
🫵 practice!
📘 ims - ch 7.1 🎥 The language of models
🏋️ Tutorial: correlation


Fri, Sep 11 💻 Lab 2 🔬 lab 02

HW 1 @ 10 AM
Lab 2 @ end-of-lab
4 Tue, Sep 15 🧑‍🏫 Simple linear regression 🛝 slides 05
🎶 notes 05
📈 play!
📘 ims - ch 7.2 🎥 Simple linear regression
🏋️ Tutorial: SLR
🏋️ Tutorial: interpretation
🏋️ Tutorial: model fit


Thu, Sep 17 🧑‍🏫 Multiple linear regression 🛝 slides 06
🎶 notes 06
🐧 ae 04
📘 ims - ch 8.1 - 8.2 🎥 Linear regression with a categorical predictor
🎥 Linear regression with multiple predictors
🎥 Main and interaction effects
🏋️ Tutorial: additive models
🏋️ Tutorial: extensions
🏋️ Tutorial: multiple linear regression


Fri, Sep 18 💻 Lab 3 🔬 lab 03

HW 2 @ 10 AM
Lab 3 @ end-of-lab
5 Tue, Sep 22 🧑‍🏫 Multiple linear regression
📘 ims - ch 8.3 - 8.4


Thu, Sep 24 🧑‍🏫 Multiple linear regression




Fri, Sep 25 💻 Lab 4


HW 3 @ 10 AM
Lab 4 @ end-of-lab
6 Tue, Sep 29 🧑‍🏫 Logistic regression
📘 ims - ch 9 🎥 Logistic regression
🏋️ Tutorial: logistic regression


Thu, Oct 1 🧑‍🏫 Logistic regression

🎥 Classification and decision errors
🎥 Overfitting and spending your data


Fri, Oct 2 💻 Lab 5


HW 4 @ 10 AM
Lab 5 @ end-of-lab
7 Tue, Oct 6 🧑‍🏫 Modeling wrap-up
📘 ims - ch 10 🏋️ Tutorial: case study

Thu, Oct 8 📝 Midterm




Fri, Oct 9 No Lab



8 Tue, Oct 13 Fall Break - No Lecture




Thu, Oct 15 🧑‍🏫 Causality in experiments




Fri, Oct 16 💻 Project kick-off



9 Tue, Oct 20 🧑‍🏫 Causality in observational studies




Thu, Oct 22 🧑‍🏫 Causality wrap-up




Fri, Oct 23 💻 Lab 6


Project proposal @ 10 AM
Lab 6 @ end-of-lab
10 Tue, Oct 27 🧑‍🏫 Interval estimation
📘 ims - ch 12
📘 ims - ch 24
🎥 Quantifying uncertainty
🎥 Bootstrapping
🏋️ Tutorial: sampling uncertainty
🏋️ Tutorial: interval estimation


Thu, Oct 29 🧑‍🏫 Interval estimation

🏋️ Tutorial: regression inference
🏋️ Tutorial: intervals for regression


Fri, Oct 30 💻 Lab 7


HW 5 @ 10 AM
Lab 7 @ end-of-lab
11 Tue, Nov 3 🧑‍🏫 Hypothesis testing
📘 ims - ch 11
📘 ims - ch 14
📘 ims - ch 24
🎥 Hypothesis testing
🏋️ Tutorial: permutation testing
🏋️ Tutorial: decision errors


Thu, Nov 5 🧑‍🏫 Hypothesis testing

🏋️ Tutorial: t-test for the slope

Fri, Nov 6 💻 Lab 8


HW 6 @ 10 AM
Lab 8 @ end-of-lab
12 Tue, Nov 10 🧑‍🏫 Inference for proportions
📘 ims - ch 16 🏋️ Tutorial: proportion inference

Thu, Nov 12 🧑‍🏫 Inference for proportions
📘 ims - ch 17
📘 ims - ch 18
🏋️ Tutorial: two proportions
🏋️ Tutorial: independence
🏋️ Tutorial: goodness-of-fit


Fri, Nov 13 💻 Lab 9


HW 7 @ 10 AM
Lab 9 @ end-of-lab
13 Tue, Nov 17 🧑‍🏫 Inference for means
📘 ims - ch 19
📘 ims - ch 20
🏋️ Tutorial: bootstrap anything
🏋️ Tutorial: t distribution


Thu, Nov 19 🧑‍🏫 Inference for means
📘 ims - ch 21 🏋️ Tutorial: two means

Fri, Nov 20 💻 Lab 10


HW 8 @ 10 AM
Lab 10 @ end-of-lab
14 Tue, Nov 24 🧑‍🏫 ANOVA
📘 ims - ch 22 🏋️ Tutorial: ANOVA

Thu, Nov 26 Thanksgiving - No Lecture




Fri, Nov 27 Thanksgiving - No Lab



15 Tue, Dec 1 🧑‍🏫 Data science ethics

🎥 Misrepresentation
🎥 Data privacy
🎥 Algorithmic bias


Thu, Dec 3 🧑‍🏫 The bottom line




Fri, Dec 4 💻 Project presentations



16 Mon, Dec 7



Project report @ 5 PM

Thu, Dec 10 📝 Final (2PM - 5PM)