Instructions for home assignments - Biostats Course VHM 802 at AVC

Some frequently asked questions:

• Where can I find the home assignment and the data?
  The home assignment is listed directly at the VHM 802 homepage, and links to the data are given on the Exercises page.
• How much of the course mark does the home assignment account for?
  Taken together, the home assignments account for 40% of the course mark. This mark is assigned upon satisfactory completion of all assignments.
• When is the home assignment due?
  The specific due dates are listed on the VHM 802 homepage. Unless noted otherwise, there is no specific due time on the due date. The home assignments are always posted at least one week in advance of the due date.
• What are the requirements with regard to format?
  You should preferably hand in a paper version, signed with your name and your student id. The text may be printed or handwritten as you like. See below for handing in an electronic version (if handing in a paper version is inconvenient or impossible).
• Where should I hand in the home assignment?
  A paper version of the home assignment should be handed directly to the course instructor, or be put in the mailbox or under the office door if the instructor is not available. Electronic submission of the home assignment should use your Moodle account for VHM 802.
• Is collaboration allowed?
  Collaboration is not allowed. Discussion is allowed, but every student must carry out all calculations on her/his own, and must hand in a personal version with the relevant explanations and interpretations (and those versions should not be virtually identical for two or more students).
• Is it allowed to get assistance from another person (in or outside the course)?
  Any assistance from another person is limited to discussion, as explained above. It is not allowed to let another person "correct" your assignment before you hand it in.
• Can I use any resource of information (e.g. found on the Internet) to assist me in answering the questions?
  Yes, but be aware of the requirement (as part of the principles of Academic Honesty) to properly reference your sources. Sources of information implicit in the course (e.g. the course material and the textbooks) do not need to be referenced. Any sources of information that are specific to the problem/assignment at hand should be referenced. Also, larger segments of text included in your solution that originate from an external source should be given as a quote, with a proper reference.
• Is it serious to violate the rules for collaboration, assistance and referencing of source material? ?
  That depends on the circumstances of the violation. Severe violations will be dealt with according to the Graduate Program Regulation on Academic Dishonesty.
• Do I have to use a specific statistical software package?
  No, you may use any package you like, as long as the method of analysis is properly documented. Nevertheless, unless you are very proficient in another package, it is probably going to be easiest to use one of the packages covered in the course (and it is recommended to do so).

Some hints about the format and contents:

• Make sure that you demonstrate clearly how you arrived at your results. This applies both to calculations done by hand and by computer (for the latter, you may show Minitab listings from the session window or Stata do-files).
• Don't forget the conclusions - they are the most important part of any analysis.
• Usually, computer program listings are put in an appendix, but you may put selected output (tables and graphs) in the main text. Note that the report should never be a mere collection of annotated computer listings.
• Organize the text properly, by consecutive page numbering and by numbering of items in an appendix.
• The expected length of reports vary (of course), but they would hardly ever be expected to exceed 3 pages of text (not counting computer listings).

Help resources:

• Questions to clarify the assignment's meaning or of general type (e.g. how to do something in Minitab/Stata or explanation of methods) may be addressed to the course instructor, preferably using the Discussion Forum at the course Moodle account.
• The solutions to lab exercises and previous year's home assignments.
• The textbook(s), and any other reference material you want to use (but see comments above about proper referencing of external resources).