Statistical Thinking for Industrial Problem Solving
A free online statistics course
Course Outline
The Statistical Thinking for Industrial Problem Solving course is comprised of seven modules, totaling about 30 hours of self-paced learning. Each module includes short instructional videos, JMP demonstrations, questions and exercises. The topics covered in each module are outlined below.
Explore topics by module (or download a PDF version):
Statistical Thinking and Problem Solving
Statistical Thinking
- What is Statistical Thinking
Problem Solving
- Overview of Problem Solving
- Statistical Problem Solving
- Types of Problems
Defining the Problem
- Defining the Problem
- Goals and Key Performance Indicators
- The White Polymer Case Study
Defining the Process
- What is a Process?
- Developing a SIPOC Map
- Developing an Input/Output Process Map
- Top-Down and Deployment Flowcharts
Identifying Potential Root Causes
- Tools for Identifying Potential Causes
- Brainstorming
- Multi-voting
- Using Affinity Diagrams
- Cause-and-Effect Diagrams
- The Five Whys
- Cause-and-Effect Matrices
Compiling and Collecting Data
- Data Collection for Problem Solving
- Types of Data
- Operational Definitions
- Data Collection Strategies
- Importing Data for Analysis
Exploratory Data Analysis
Describing Data
- Introduction to Descriptive Statistics
- Types of Data
- Histograms
- Measures of Central Tendency and Location
- Measures of Spread — Range and Interquartile Range
- Measures of Spread — Variance and Standard Deviation
- Visualizing Continuous Data
- Describing Categorical Data
Probability Concepts
- Introduction to Probability Concepts
- Samples and Populations
- Understanding the Normal Distribution
- Checking for Normality
- The Central Limit Theorem
Exploratory Data Analysis for Problem Solving
- Introduction to Exploratory Data Analysis
- Exploring Continuous Data: Enhanced Tools
- Pareto Plots
- Packed Bar Charts and Data Filtering
- Tree Maps and Mosaic Plots
- Using Trellis Plots and Overlay Variables
- Bubble Plots and Heat Maps
- Summary of Exploratory Data Analysis Tools
Communicating with Data
- Introduction to Communicating with Data
- Creating Effective Visualizations
- Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Visualization
- Designing an Effective Visualization
- Communicating Visually with Animation
- Designing for Your Audience
- Understanding Your Target Audience
- Designing Visualizations for Communication
- Designing Visualizations: The Do's and Don'ts
Saving and Sharing Results
- Introduction to Saving and Sharing Results
- Saving and Sharing Results in JMP
- Saving and Sharing Results Outside of JMP
- Deciding Which Format to Use
Data Preparation for Analysis
- Data Tables Essentials
- Common Data Quality Issues
- Identifying Issues in the Data Table
- Identifying Issues One Variable at a Time
- Restructuring Data for Analysis
- Combining Data
- Deriving New Variables
- Working with Dates
Quality Methods
Statistical Process Control
- Introduction to Control Charts
- Individual and Moving Range Charts
- Common Cause versus Special Cause Variation
- Testing for Special Causes
- X-bar and R, and X-bar and S Charts
- Rational Subgrouping
- 3-Way Control Charts
- Control Charts with Phases
Process Capability
- The Voice of the Customer
- Process Capability Indices
- Short- and Long-Term Estimates of Capability
- Understanding Capability for Process Improvement
- Estimating Process Capability: An Example
- Calculating Capability for Nonnormal Data
- Estimating Process Capability for Many Variables
- Identifying Poorly Performing Processes
- A View from Industry
Measurement System Studies
- What is a Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA)?
- Language and Terminology
- Designing a Measurement System Study
- Designing and Conducting an MSA
- Analyzing an MSA
- Studying Measurement System Accuracy
- Improving the Measurement Process
Decision Making With Data
Estimation
- Introduction to Statistical Inference
- What Is a Confidence Interval?
- Estimating a Mean
- Visualizing Sampling Variation
- Constructing Confidence Intervals
- Understanding the Confidence Level and Alpha Risk
- Prediction Intervals
- Tolerance Intervals
- Comparing Interval Estimates
Foundations in Statistical Testing
- Introduction to Statistical Testing
- Statistical Decision-Making
- Understanding the Null and Alternative Hypotheses
- Sampling Distribution under the Null
- The p-Value and Statistical Significance
Hypothesis Testing for Continuous Data
- Conducting a One-Sample t Test
- Understanding p-Values and t Ratios
- Equivalence Testing
- Comparing Two Means
- Unequal Variances Tests
- Paired Observations
- One-Way ANOVA (Analysis of Variance)
- Multiple Comparisons
- Statistical Versus Practical Significance
Sample Size and Power
- Introduction to Sample Size and Power
- Sample Size for a Confidence Interval for the Mean
- Outcomes of Statistical Tests
- Statistical Power
- Exploring Sample Size and Power
- Calculating the Sample Size for One-Sample t Tests
- Calculating the Sample Size for Two-Sample t Tests and ANOVA
Correlation and Regression
Correlation
- What is Correlation?
- Interpreting Correlation
Simple Linear Regression
- Introduction to Regression Analysis
- The Simple Linear Regression Model
- The Method of Least Squares
- Visualizing the Method of Least Squares
- Regression Model Assumptions
- Interpreting Regression Results
- Fitting a Model with Curvature
Multiple Linear Regression
- What is Multiple Linear Regression?
- Fitting the Multiple Linear Regression Model
- Interpreting Results in Explanatory Modeling
- Residual Analysis and Outliers
- Multiple Linear Regression with Categorical Predictors
- Multiple Linear Regression with Interactions
- Variable Selection
- Multicollinearity
Introduction to Logistic Regression
- What Is Logistic Regression?
- The Simple Logistic Model
- Simple Logistic Regression Example
- Interpreting Logistic Regression Results
- Multiple Logistic Regression
- Logistic Regression with Interactions
- Common Issues
Design of Experiments
Introduction to DOE
- What is DOE?
- Conducting Ad Hoc and One-Factor-at-a-Time (OFAT) Experiments
- Why Use DOE?
- Terminology of DOE
- Types of Experimental Designs
Factorial Experiments
- Designing Factorial Experiments
- Analyzing a Replicated Full Factorial
- Analyzing an Unreplicated Full Factorial
Screening Experiments
- Screening for Important Effects
- A Look at Fractional Factorial Designs
- Custom Screening Designs
Response Surface Experiments
- Introduction to Response Surface Designs
- Analyzing Response Surface Experiments
- Creating Custom Response Surface Designs
- Sequential Experimentation
DOE Guidelines
- Introduction to DOE Guidelines
- Defining the Problem and the Objectives
- Identifying the Responses
- Identifying the Factors and Factor Levels
- Identifying Restrictions and Constraints
- Preparing to Conduct the Experiment
- Case Study
Predictive Modeling and Text Mining
Essentials of Predictive Modeling
- Introduction to Predictive Modeling
- Overfitting and Model Validation
- Assessing Model Performance: Prediction Models
- Assessing Model Performance: Classification Models
- Receiver-Operating Characteristic (ROC) Curves
Decision Trees
- Introduction to Decision Trees
- Classification Trees
- Regression Trees
- Decision Trees with Validation
- Random (Bootstrap) Forests
Neural Networks
- What is a Neural Network?
- Interpreting Neural Networks
- Predictive Modeling with Neural Networks
Generalized Regression
- Introduction to Generalized Regression
- Fitting Models Using Maximum Likelihood
- Introduction to Penalized Regression
Model Comparison and Selection
- Comparing Predictive Models
Introduction to Text Mining
- Introduction to Text Mining
- Processing Text Data
- Curating the Term List
- Visualizing and Exploring Text Data
- Analyzing (Mining) Text Data