Math 210
Project 1

Using Data Analysis to answer your own Questions

For the first project, I want you to come up with some question or questions that can be answered by analyzing data with the techniques we have learned so far in class.  You will need to obtain some data, analyze it with graphs and numbers, and then answer your original question. I will be going over an example in lab.
When you do this, you should do the following:

  1. State some question or questions that you will answer.
  2. Gather some data. There are lots of data sets on the web. I have set up a site at http://www.math.hope.edu/swanson/statlabs/stat_resources.html that gives a number places where you can look for data. Feel free to use other sources for data, but do not use our text or any other place where the data has already been analyzed.
  3. Produce graphs, means, medians, standard deviations, regression equations, correlations, two-way tables, or whatever is appropriate.  You need to have at least one descriptive measure and at least one graph.  More is usually, but not always, better.
  4. Talk about your distributions, the relationships between variables, or anything else appropriate to your data.
  5. Answer your question based on the data you obtained.
  6. Do a nice job of writing up your project. (One that you would be proud to have hanging on your mother's refrigerator.) Write the project up in Word with tables or graphs embedded.  Do not write it up like a lab, with items numbered, but as a nicely flowing written report.
  7. It would be nice to have information from another source other than your data source.
  8. Reference all of your sources.
  9. You may do this project by yourself or with a partner.

We will be working on the project September 24.  It is due by Thursday, October 9.