Daniels_M 358K TERM PROJECT DESCRIPTION – SP `09
The purpose of your project is to experience the entire statistical process of studying a
question, including the following aspects:
1. Choosing the question and formulating it carefully.
2. Designing the data collection procedure.
3. Collecting the data.
4. Analyzing the data
5. Writing up your results, including the method of data collection, the data obtained, any
difficulties encountered in data collection, your analysis, and any interpretations or
conclusions that can be drawn from your data and analysis.
You should do your project in a group of three or four students. (Individual projects will be
permitted only in unusual circumstances.)
Your question should meet the following three criteria:
1. It falls into one of the classifications I -VII below.
2. It can be studied by inference from a sample to the entire population. In particular, the
population you are studying must be large enough so that you can choose a sample meeting the
criteria listed below for the type of question involved. Also, you should be willing and able to
choose a sample that is reasonably random.
Types of questions you may choose to study:
Caution: The examples given here are meant only to illustrate the type of question; they
are not necessarily as precisely formulated as your project question will ultimately need
to be.
I. What is the mean of some quantitative variable? Examples:
a. What is the average amount of sleep a UT student gets on Sunday night?
b. What has been the average increase in U. S. college and university tuition and
fees in the past year?
II. How do the means of a quantitative variable in tow populations compare?
Examples:
a. Do male or female students study more on average?
b. On which of your two favorite running courses is your average speed higher?
III. What is the proportion of a population that has a certain characteristic?
