stat

Guidelines: You should consider your project as a technical report that you would turn into a boss on the job.

 

Your grade will be based on the quality of your written presentation, tables and graphs, and the validity of any mathematics.  The paper you turn in should have a mix of prose, tables and graphs, and calculations.  Use complete sentences, good grammar, and correct punctuation. Spelling is also important.  You should aim to write your report in such a way that it can be read and understood by anyone who knows the material for this course.  Finally, as a general rule for this and any other project, whenever you hypothesize an answer to a question, be sure to provide ample justification as to why you believe your answer to be correct.

 

Part I:  Gathering Qualitative Data

  

 

1)       Select a topic that interests you and gather qualitative, single variable data on that topic.  Data can be found in magazines, in newspapers, on the Internet, or in textbooks (choose one other than your text for this class).  Be sure the source of your data is unbiased.  Be sure you have at least 20 data points.  Write an introductory paragraph describing why you have chosen this topic.  Be sure to include your data points and the source of your data in your report.

 

2)       Type your data in Microsoft Excel.  Organize it into classes and frequency of that class. 

 

3)       Using the Insert tab in Excel, you can create tables and graphs.  Display your data in:

a)       a frequency distribution

b)       a relative frequency distribution

c)       a vertical bar graph

d)       a horizontal bar graph

e)       a pie chart

 

Be sure all graphs are visually appealing, including labeling of all axes, providing chart titles, and providing any legends that

may be necessary.  All of these adjustments can be made in the Layout Tab under Chart Tools once your chart is created.  Copy and paste these graphs in your chosen word processor so you can finish the remainder of this project.      

 

4)       Write a summary paragraph describing any trends you see in the data, similarities or differences you see from what you expected, or any thoughts you had while organizing the data.

  
 

Part II:  Gathering Quantitative Continuous Data    

1)       Select a topic that interests you and gather quantitative, continuous, single variable data on that topic.  Data can be found in magazines, in newspapers, on the Internet, or in textbooks (choose one other than your text for this class).  Be sure the source of your data is unbiased.  Be sure you have at least 20 data points.  Write an introductory paragraph describing why you have chosen this topic.  Be sure to include your data points and the source of your data in your report.

 

2)       Type your data in Microsoft Excel.  Organize it into classes and frequency of that class, ensuring a consistent class width.

 

3)       Display your data in:

a)       a frequency distribution
b)       a relative frequency distribution

c)       a vertical histogram

d)       a horizontal histogram

 
Be sure all graphs are visually appealing, including labeling of all axes, providing chart titles, and providing any legends that

may be necessary.  Copy and paste these graphs in your chosen word processor so you can finish the remainder of this project.     

 
4)       Write a summary paragraph describing any trends you see in the data, similarities or differences you see from what you expected, or any thoughts you had while organizing the data.