Instructors' Notes
How the Signal Detection Theory (SDT) tutorial may be
used in a statistics course: The SDT tutorial is
designed to be used on its own, though students will profit
from classroom instruction and demonstrations.
The SDT tutorial assumes that students have
familiarity with basic elementary statistics such as
means, standard deviation, and the normal distribution.
Familiarity with hypothesis testing is helpful but not
essential. The SDT tutorial includes optional links to brief
reviews of z-scores and normal distributions as well as
other WISE tutorials on basic statistics concepts.
Suggestions for Using the SDT Tutorial
- Class demonstration/Lecture Aid
- Lab assignment
- Homework assignment
- Review assignment
The SDT tutorial and its components may be incorporated into your
classroom curriculum in several ways. Here are some suggestions:
1. Live Demonstration
As part of either a lecture or guided lab assignment, instructors may use
the WISE SDT Applet by itself to
demonstrate different aspects of signal detection theory and applications.
Instructors may choose to step through parts or the entire tutorial in a
demonstration mode. This demonstration may serve as a stimulus for classroom
discussion and/or introduction to an assignment for students.
Instructors may interact with the applet to demonstrate the relationships between
conventional ROC graphs and features of the decision-making scenario, showing how
hit rates and false alarm rates depend on signal strength and response bias.
Access: SDT Applet
2. Post-lecture Assignment
The WISE Signal Detection Tutorial may be used to reinforce and explore
concepts introduced by the instructor during lecture, either as a guided
lab exercise or as a homework assignment to be completed independently.
Although answers are
provided to selected exercise questions, students need to draw their
own conclusions to questions that are posed throughout the exercise and at
the end of the tutorial.
For z-probability calculations, students may use either a table for the
standardized normal distribution (z) or the WISE
p-z converter. Java and JavaScript must be
enabled on students’ browsers to use many features of the signal detection
tutorial. Most students complete the tutorial in less than 45 minutes.
3. Review
For students already familiar with signal detection concepts, the tutorial may be
recommended as a supplemental review.
Additional review of major concepts concerning hypothesis testing and the normal
distribution is supported by links to other WISE instructional material.
Your Feedback
We hope this tutorial is helpful for you and your students, and we
welcome your feedback on this tutorial and other aspects of the WISE site.
Please send your comments to wise@cgu.edu.
Questions, comments, difficulties? See our
technical support page or contact us: wise@cgu.edu.
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