MAT120 PROJECT
This project will pull together the information we cover in this class; it will count as 120 points (12%) of your overall grade. There are several parts of this project; some parts can be completed very quickly, others will take more time. Be sure you have completely read through the instructions before you begin collecting data. At the end this document is the grading rubric.
Have you ever wondered if the claims made by companies/governments/organizations are true? For this project, you will be given a chance to test these claims.
There will undoubtedly be many questions that arise as you go through this project. Part of that is by design—I want to you experience many of the intricacies of designing and conducting an observational study, including data collection and analysis. It’s all a positive thing—and, more importantly, realistic in the life of a statistician. In your final write-up for the project, be sure to clearly state any assumptions you had to or chose to make.
*NOTE: Throughout this project, write as if you are communicating to a general audience!!! Do NOT assume that what you are writing will be read by a bunch of statisticians. For example, write a report that “your grandmother could understand.”
TO GET STARTED: Choose a claim from a reputable source. You need to submit this claim to your instructor for approval before you begin the rest of the project!
Example Claim: The National Association of College and Employers claims the average salary
Offered to 2010 graduates is $48,351.
PART I
Collect the data from 100 people to test your chosen claim. For example, if you were using the claim from above, then you would get at least 100 people who graduated from college in 2010 to tell you their average salary upon graduation. Collect your data in any way you wish, via email, Survey Monkey, Facebook, etc.
Last revised fall 2016
Present your data (the 100 individual responses) in table form, similar to the example provided in Canvas. To produce your tables and any graphs, you should use Excel, StatCrunch in MyStatLab or other statistical resources.
PART II
Answer the following questions about your data. NOTE: TYPE YOUR ANSWERS IN COMPLETE SENTENCES!
1. What sampling technique did you use to collect the data? How do you know? 2. Describe any bias in the samples. [Answers to this question will vary in length] 3. Is the data qualitative or quantitative? If qualitative, is it nominal or ordinal? If quantitative, is it continuous or discrete?
4. Is this data from a population (therefore a parameter)?
Is this data from a sample (therefore a statistic)? 5. Is the study more likely descriptive or inferential statistics? Why?
PART III
• Construct a frequency distribution using 5 – 8 classes. • Create 2 different, appropriate pictorial representations of your data (ie, bar/column graph, pie
chart, etc).
PART IV
• Compile a summary of statistics. If you haven’t already, put your data into Excel as you are going to be performing many data manipulations in future parts of the project. Treat your data just as you would one of the datasets from the homework. Be sure you include appropriate
measures of central tenancy and dispersion etc.
• Write a brief paragraph describing the meaning of the statistics you chose. For example, if some of the statistics chosen were the mean, median, and mode, then briefly discuss the differences among the samples and the combined total as well as the different measures of central tendency.
Last revised fall 2016
*You should have a minimum of 8 statistical values for each question!! More is fine as long as you can explain WHAT the statistic is measuring.
PART V
1. Construct a 95% Confidence Interval to estimate the population mean/proportion in the
claim.
2. What can you conclude from this result regarding the claim?
PART VII
Write a BRIEF (no more than 2, type-written pages) summary of your general conclusions about the data you have collected. Include your summary any conjectures about the claim. Also address whether you think it would be appropriate to make any conjectures about the entire state in which you live or even United States, etc. Be sure to address any potential pitfalls within your data—things that might make your conclusions not as valid.
The summary should incorporate the charts/graphs/tables from Excel within your report. Your summary report should be no more than 6 pages once the tables/graphs are included. NOTE: Part VII does NOT include parts V and VI—those items are separate.
Remember, you are presenting this report to someone who has little or no knowledge of statistics (and may not even know their way around Excel) so BE CERTAIN your report is written in such a manner that a non-statistician could understand it!!