Assignment:
Project: Part 1 - Data Collection Assignment
For this part of the project, answer the following questions:
What was your age (in years) on the first day of our course?
What is your gender?
In addition, you will match the following terms from the study:
- Population
- Parameters
- Sample
- Statistics
Note: Your instructor will compile the answers for the entire class and will send out an Excel spreadsheet with all the data, so that you can use the spreadsheet for the rest of the project. You will continue to build on this one Excel spreadsheet throughout the project.
Project: Part 2 - Descriptive Statistics Assignment
For this part of the project, you will calculate descriptive statistics for the first question, age, using the Excel spreadsheet your instructor will send with all the class data at the end of Module 2.
This sheet will also provide space for you to do the following descriptive statistics under the "Module 3" tab:
You will submit the Excel sheet with the following information:
Make a Frequency Distribution with 5 classes, also list the midpoints, relative frequency, and cumulative relative frequency
Make a cumulative relative frequency ogive
Don't forget descriptive title and labels on x and y axis (ogive is not descriptive, what does the graph represent?)
Make a frequency polygon
Don't forget a descriptive title and labels on x and y axis (polygon is not descriptive, what does the graph represent?)
Calculate the mean
Calculate the median
Calculate the sample standard deviation (our data is sample from our class, not a population!)
Calculate the Q1 and Q3 values
Project: Part 3 - Confidence Intervals Assignment
For this part of the project and based on the class sample, you will create a 95% confidence interval for the mean age and the proportion of males in the population of all online college students.
Note: The goal of the project is to practice making a confidence interval for a mean and proportion with real data. Do not worry about failed assumptions tests and do not make corrections for small sample size. Use primary methods described in text and used on homework.
Using the same excel sheet you submitted for Part 2, answer the following in the "Module 5" tab:
For the average age, form a 95% confidence interval:
- What distribution should be used?
- What is the critical value?
- What is the error bound?
- What is the lower bound?
- What is the upper bound?
- How do we interpret the results, in context of our study?
For the proportion of males, form a 95% confidence interval:
- What distribution should be used?
- What is the critical value?
- What is the error bound?
- What is the lower bound?
- What is the upper bound?
- How do we interpret the results, in context of our study?
Project: Part 4 - Hypothesis Tests Assignment
For this part of the project and based on your sample, you will conduct a hypothesis test with α=0.05 to test two of the claims of the above article.
Using the same excel sheet as Part 3, answer the following in the "Module 6" tab:
Claim: the average age of online students is 32 years old. Can you prove it is not?
What is the null hypothesis?
What is the alternative hypothesis?
What distribution should be used?
What is the test statistic?
What is the p-value?
What is the conclusion?
How do we interpret the results, in context of our study?
Claim: the proportion of males in online classes is 35%. Can you prove it is not?
What is the null hypothesis?
What is the alternative hypothesis?
What distribution should be used?
What is the test statistic?
What is the p-value?
What is the conclusion?
How do we interpret the results, in context of our study?
Project: Part 5 - Final Report Assignment
You will submit a final report, written in Word (or similar word processing software), based on your findings and submissions from Parts 1 - 4. It is highly suggested you not submit this paper without first reviewing all the feedback from your instructor on submissions from all parts of this project. Be sure to ask any questions you may have on your feedback.
This final submission should be three paragraphs and summarize your entire project. It will be submitted to Turnitin to check for originality.
The project must be submitted in paragraph form and not just a list of the calculations from your project. Be sure your paragraphs flow (not just listing the answers to the questions, but complete sentences with transitions) and are written in third person. The goal is not to define all the terms, nor describe how they are calculated. Rather, you should describe the results and what they told you about online students.
You are presenting your results to a nonstatistical audience, do not describe the calculations, describe your results. It should include the following:
Paragraph 1:
Brief summary of the U.S. News Data: The Average Online Bachelor's Student article, including the source
A direct link to this article is located in the Learn section of Module 7: Week 7 entitled Read: U.S. News Data: The Average Online Bachelor's Student.
Define the population, sample, and statistic for the study
Statement of the two claims in the article that were tested in this project
Null and alternative hypothesis for both tests run for this project (in words)
Paragraph 2 (address the claim about the mean):
Summary of sample statistics (mean, standard deviation, median, quartiles, sample size)
Confidence interval, along with interpretation of the confidence interval
Description of hypothesis test (alpha, test statistic, p-value, conclusion, interpretation)
Paragraph 3 (address the claim about the proportion):
Summary of sample statistics (sample size, successes, proportion)
Confidence interval, along with interpretation of the confidence interval
Description of hypothesis test (alpha, test statistic, p-value, conclusion, interpretation