Project Assignment Sheet

Your assignment is to choose a topic of interest and conduct a statistical study about your topic. Your study must be purposeful and generate useful results. For example, the question “how many miles do Waycross College students travel in order to attend classes?” would be helpful in determining if there is a need for distance learning classes. You may ask a single question or a variety of questions about your topic. For instance, in addition to travel distances, one could ask participants to indicate the county in which they reside. Be very careful with “sensitive” issues. You do not want to offend anyone! Your project will be due in several parts throughout the semester. Below is a description of each part. All parts must be typed in size 12, times new roman, double-spaced with one-inch margins only. No exceptions! No parts will be accepted late!

Part #1 - Survey (5 points)

Survey must be complete and must be within one page in length typed. It must not contain any grammatical or spelling errors and must be reflective of one of the survey formats discussed in class. The topic must be purposeful and the survey items must consist of both quantitative and qualitative questions.

Part #2 - Tally of results and descriptive paragraph (5 points)

Results must be a ‘count’ of responses for each question on the survey. The results must be typed and all questions must be tallied. A summary of responses for explanation items must be provided as well. The descriptive paragraph must be typed and must include a description of your experiment and the surveyed participants.

Part #3 - Statistical calculations (10 points)

The calculations must be typed and all questions must have statistical calculations. Calculations for qualitative items must consist of percentages. Calculations for quantitative items must include mean, median, mode, standard deviation, range, and quartiles. Additional calculations are optional.

Part #4 - Graphs (10 points)

Two different types of graphs must be generated for two separate survey items. They must be computer generated and appropriately labeled with ‘values’ and titles. All components of the graphs must be identified including axes, legend information, etc. dependent upon the type of graph used to display an item.

Part #5 - Article summaries (10 points)

A copy of three articles relating to the chosen topic must be located and submitted. Articles do not have to include or address all of the content of the survey but should have some relationship. A typed paragraph 5-7 sentences in length summarizing each article must be provided. All three summaries may be submitted on the same page, rather than three separate. Summaries must include the purpose of each article and any pertinent findings in each article. Each summary must also include a statement of how it is related to the chosen topic or survey.

Part #6 - Project paper (60 points)

Paper must be three pages in length typed (between 2 ½ and 3 ½ pages). It must address the following questions and contain no grammatical or spelling errors. An additional cover page may be included indicating name, date, topic, course and section number. The cover page does not count as part of the three pages.

Questions to be addressed:

1.) What is the purpose of the experiment?

2.) How might the results be useful?

3.) Describe the experiment and the participants.

4.) Summarize the statistical findings.

5.) Make reference to the graphs.

6.) Summarize related articles.

7.) Were the results expected? Why or why not?

8.) What would you do differently if given another opportunity to conduct this

experiment?