Note: I reserve the right to give you other work as well (especially when looking at graphical design and other areas).
This is an outline and other areas may be added based upon the amount of work that still needs to be done.
Grading of this project:
This project shall be graded by the following designations:
30% on complete one sheet, fake product, and survey, revised based upon conversations on 5/15/2015
15% on correct collection of data
30% on the paper
20% on the presentation
5% on self and group evaluation
Note: There is, inevitably, a group that is not done by the expected date and asks to present on the second day.
The project will be considered late at that point, and will be docked a letter grade.
Each piece is outlined below for expectations.
One Sheet (due 5/13/2015 and 5/18/2015):
Your one sheet should consist of the following information:
Goal: What is the desired goal of the project? What is the thing you want to investigate or measure?
Hypothesis: What do you believe the outcome of your project will be? what patterns do you think you will see in your data?
Cautions: What problems do you foresee in your data, data collection, experiment? What will you have to watch out for? What issues do you need to make sure you avoid?
Procedure: From the one sheet to the final project, you must have everything planned out.
This should be done specifically, not generally.
You must have a plan, and it should include each person and their specific roles.
Who is going to do what, when? What conflicts do you or others in your group have? How is this going to get done on time?
Tests expected: What tests do you expect to do with your data?
What tools make the most sense for the data you will be using?
Be specific (e.g. "We expect that a 95% CI will be the best way for us to express the average feeling people have towards a Kanye West record. We will also use t.tests when comparing his albums to Beatles records. These will be t.tests based upon surveys of specific individuals, so we plan on using a matched pairs design")
Tools (survey, procedure, etc. etc.)
(due 5/14/2015 and 5/18/2015):
Your survey should be complete and ready by these dates.
Make sure you have all forms printed and all pieces ready.
The more time and work on this early, the more time there will be for corrections that I will force you to make.
For your survey, consider not only what question you want to answer, but also HOW you want that information to come in to you.
For example, would a Likert Scale be appropriate? you want quantitative data more often than not.
As a helpful exercise, consider what the data will look like when it comes back to you.
Will it be in useful form, or something that makes you have to do even more work?
There will be a peer review section for this, which means that you will make changes they suggest.
Then there is a Mundt review section after that, where I give you more things you need to change.
Both of these processes must be complete by 5/18/2015 so I can make copies and you can give your survey.
Do not blame me for changes that I have you make late in the process.
You should be asking your group, others in the class, and me about these things early and often.
Fake Final Product (due 5/14/2015 and 5/18/2015):
I need a mock up of how you see the final product looking. This is a mock up of how you are going to present your data to other people.
Your final product is required to have at least two graphs and a table when all is said and done -- what are they going to be?
What will the graphs look like?
Are there going to be tables?
What are you going to do to show your data to others, in what forms, and how does it all come together?
You do not have to make a full mock paper. Rather, this focuses on the visuals that will go in the paper.
Data Collection (due 5/20/2014):
All of your data should be collected by this point. You should have at least 50 data points if a survey, more or less depending on the type of experiment. Your data should be usable, and you should have a clear idea of what you can use compared to what you will have to discard and why. Tuesday is really going to be your best bet when doing a survey, as it will be during lunch times.
Final Paper (due beginning of class 05/27/2015):
Things that must be in the paper:
Introduction
This is a recap of the one sheet
Why are you doing what you're doing
What did you plan to do in the one sheet
What goal did you have in mind when you started this whole thing
Explanation of the written procedure compared to the actual procedure
we said we were going to collect 100 data points on may 14th. It turns out that we only got 33 results, so we had to acquire more data on the next day as well. We said we would not survey the same people, but we know that there are one or two repetitions that we could not get out of our data.
Your data
if you used a survey, include a copy (this may be included as a footnote or endnote)
if you used data from somewhere else (perhaps comparing it to the data you found), give the source as well as any discussion of how they collected the data. Make sure to find any faults with how the data has been collected.
make sure your data is attached in some form (.csv file, a table, whatever)
A comparison of the cautions to actual problems
Graphical information that shows your data
You need at least two different graphs and one other representation of your data.
A conclusion based upon the data and using mathematical tests we have learned in the classroom.
Things to consider: correlation, margin of error or confidence intervals, outliers, five points, population means, or any other important areas that work for your data.
Walk me through the important pieces and explain why you did the analysis that you did.
If necessary, include a null and alternative hypothesis.
Include all r code and graphs that you find that are relevant. As a suggestion use either end notes or foot notes for this piece of the information.
Changes that you would have made to the procedure if you were to do this again.
Questions that arose from the information that you collected.
In other words, if you were to extend this paper further, what questions would you ask next time.
Presentation (due beginning of class 05/27/2015):
YOUR PRESENTATION DOES NOT HAVE TO INCLUDE EVERYTHING FROM THE PAPER. IT CAN FOCUS ON THE INTERESTING BITS.
Pieces of your one sheet, visible and easy to read/explain
Raw data, processed into a table or some other usable form
Graphs that depict the information in useful ways (at least 2)
At least one graph that makes the data look pretty (though perhaps not as useful as the graphs above)
Your data conclusions, as well as any relevant statistical tests
note: you can just include the results and not the math (for example, just give the df and the p-value)
Time for Q and A from the audience