The goal of this project is for you to demonstrate your understanding of the following topics:

  1. Data collection (sampling bias, variability, etc.)
  2. Data visualizations and descriptive statistics (univariate and bivariate graphs and summaries)
  3. Multivariate relationships and confounding variables

\(~\)

Basic Information

You will work in a group (2-3 students in total, you may choose your group or ask to be randomly assigned) to collect and summarize data. Your data can pertain to any topic so long as it ethically permissible, the collection is voluntary, and no personally identifying information is recorded. You will be required to submit a brief proposal for instructor approval prior to collecting any data.

\(~\)

Project Steps

Data Acquisition:

  1. First identify a topic of interest, then come up with 2-3 explanatory and 2-3 response variables pertaining to that topic.
  2. Construct a data collection instrument (Google Forms, Qualtrics, or “by hand”), or locate a publicly available dataset (sports-reference.com, data.gov, etc.)
  3. Submit your data collection plans as a project proposal

Data Presentation:

  1. Identify important features and relationships contained within your data using the appropriate descriptive statistics and graphs.
  2. Identify possible limitations of your data.
  3. Present your work to the class in a 10 minute presentation.

Example:

For example, my topic of interest might be “Views on the Green Bay Packers”. My outcome variables might be knowledge of the current team and ability to predict the results of their next game. My explanatory variables might be the participant’s interest level in the NFL, their experience playing sports, and their gender. Then, I might construct a Google Forms survey asking a few Packers related knowledge questions (I’d tally the number correct as a quantitative outcome variable), asking for a score prediction (I’d compare vs. the actual outcome to measure predictive success), and asking for a rating of interest in the NFL, a rating of sports experience, and gender. I’d take this survey and send it to the instructor for approval.

\(~\)

Details

Assessment of the project is based upon your presentation. Therefore, your presentation must include of the relevant aspects of your work. In particular, I’m looking for you to include:

  1. a brief introduction to your topic
  2. a detailed description of how you collected your data
  3. univariate graphs and summaries (discussed using the appropriate terminology)
  4. bivariate graphs and summaries (discussed using the appropriate terminology)
  5. explorations and discussion of multivariate relationships, confounding variables, and limitations of your data

A detailed rubric for how the project will be scored can be found here: Rubric Link

\(~\)

Deadlines

  1. Groups (desired partners or random assignment) - Monday, Jan 24th by 11:59pm
  2. Project proposal - Monday, Jan 31st by 11:59pm
  3. Presentations - Wednesday, Feb 9th and Friday, Feb 11th
  4. Presentation slides and final dataset (Canvas submission) - Friday, Feb 11th by 11:59pm

\(~\)

Minutia

Xavier University defines research as “a systematic investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge. The concept of generalizability is usually applied to quantitative research, but in this sense also applies to qualitative research because of the expectation to contribute to knowledge.” While your project should be systematic, it’s not a research project as it does not contribute to generalizable knowledge. Nevertheless, you should still be respectful of anyone who chooses to contribute to your project. This means you should take precautions to avoid putting anyone into uncomfortable, unethical, or coercive situations.