1.4 Grading

Assessments

Each assessment will be graded, and you will receive a point score. If you are taking this course for a grade, these scores on the assessments will be used to help calculate your overall course grade. If you are taking this course for knowledge only, and not receiving any sort of course credit, then these scores will help you better measure your level of understanding. 

Because this course does not need to be curved and because the intention of the course is to maximize learning, you may retake any assessment as many times as you like. With this in mind, I strongly encourage you to do your best to actually learn the material and not to just zip through the assessments, note what you missed, and then retake the assessment by changing answers based on the feedback from missed answers the first time around. Finishing this course with a good score should be a reflection of your learning and new skill, not just an artifact of you finishing. Along these lines, you may notice the completion tracking analytics are incorrect for videos and readings. Do not worry about this. I do not use these metrics. Your score, if you'd like one, is based solely on graded content, not on reading/viewing completion. 

Final Project

For those taking this course for a grade (or for completion for course credit), there is a mandatory final project. If you are simply taking the course for knowledge, this final project is optional (as are all assessments). The final project is nearly comprehensive and will require you to test hypotheses through the full process of data preparation, measurement validation, and causal analysis. This final project will be assessed through a multiple-choice exam that can only be taken as you complete the project. For example, the exam may ask you for the number of rows of data which contained more than 10% missing values, the standardized regression coefficient of a particular relationship, or how much variance was explained in a particular dependent variable. This exam is heavily weighted in your final score.

Confirmation of Course Completion

If you are taking this course for credit at a university, after completion, you may email me to request I personally send a notice of completion, including your overall score, to your faculty advisor. This personal and individualized email to your faculty advisor should be sufficient confirmation of your completion of the course. Please include any specific instructions to me; otherwise, the email to your advisor will look something like this: