FRS 001AA — Sec. 001 — (1 unit) — CRN 73847— W 5:10-6:15pm — 201 Wellman
Dog Overpopulation

Instructor: Christiana Drake, Department of Statistics, College of Letters and Science

Description: The seminar will assess two aspects of dog overpopulation, (1) How extensive is the problem of pet overpopulation? How reliable are the statistics available? And (2) What factors are related/contribute to dog overpopulation and abandonment of family pets? Students will read scientific papers that have studied pet overpopulation issues and will also contact local shelters and contact local humane societies to obtain information on the extent of the problem and gather data. Students will need to develop questionnaires to obtain data. They will furthermore learn how to process data electronically and summarize and interpret simple statistics. There will be weekly assignments, individual assignments and group assignments. Individual assignments will be written, group assignments will be oral and written. Students will learn how to critically approach emotionally charged issues such as pet overpopulation, how to use numerical information to obtain facts. Students will also learn how to use qualitative and quantitative information to address issues. The seminar will teach them how to ask the right questions, how to design a questionnaire to get the right answers to the right questions and how to summarize and interpret numerical information. Visits to local animal control offices/shelters will be at the discretion of the students.

Format: Students will receive written assignments most weeks. Furthermore, students will conduct surveys and will also be required to contact animal shelters in Yolo County and Sacramento County for fact finding. Required work will include weekly homework assignments, reading of scientific papers, design of a questionnaire, conducting a survey and analyzing the data, and taking class minutes. Grading: The course grade will be 30% in class participation, 30% individual assignments (students will be expected to do written assignments comprised of one or two paragraphs and will be graded on the quality of their write-up as well as the content). The remaining 40% of the grade will come from the group work performed. Different groups will be assigned different tasks. Group work will not be duplicated by different groups.

About the Instructor: Chris Drake is Associate Professor of Statistics. Her primary interest is in applications of statistical methods to epidemiologic data. She has been at UC Davis for 16 years. For more information you can go to her website at http://www.stat.ucdavis.edu/faculty/drake.html.