ANT407H5

Quantitative Methods in Archaeology and Biological Anthropology

This course will provide students with the basic analytic background necessary to evaluate quantitative data in biological anthropology and archaeology. Students will be introduced to foundational statistical concepts and research methods suitable for anthropological exploration. The focus will be on analysing univariate and bivariate data using both nonparametric and parametric statistical techniques, hypothesis testing, and methods of data collection. The goal of this course is for students to learn how to manipulate simple datasets, ask and answer theoretically relevant questions, and choose the appropriate statistical test for a given research problem. Students will receive hands-on training during lab components and will learn how to analyse data using relevant statistical software. Students will have access to a number of biological anthropology and archaeology datasets for class assignments. No prior knowledge of statistics and mathematics is required.