Data Analysis Project For Miss Brigit
OBJECTIVE:
The purpose of this project is to describe a data set of your choice using the descriptive tools learned in this course. You will also estimate the population mean, test a claim about the population mean, and create an infographic. Excel will be used for the data analysis portion of the project.
FORMAT:
The 5 data analysis sections of the project are to be submitted in a single EXCEL spreadsheet (workbook, saved as Excel 2016) with 5 separate tabs, one for each section and labeled appropriately. The infographic will be a single 8.5 x 11 page, either a WORD document or PowerPoint slide.
DATA SELECTION:
Select a data set to use for your project. It could be a data set from work, personal data (bills, budget, glucose readings, etc), or magazine/internet/newspaper data. The following website https://www.bls.gov/Data/ is a great source for data. This is the federal government’s source, Bureau of Labor Statistics. This will be an observational study, as you will be using data that is already available. Data must be numeric. You want to include at least 100 data values. In your description, include how many rows? How many columns? Operationally define your variables; what are the labels for the rows and columns?
TWO GRAPHS:
Create 2 graphs for your data set. One must be a histogram. The other can be a time series, boxplot, scatterplot etc. From the histogram, describe the shape of the distribution of data, center, and variation. Does this data set appear to have outliers? Are there any trends present? Explain with several complete sentences (short essay).
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS:
Run descriptive statistics for your data set. Do your numerical results support the description you provided in section 2 for your graphs? Explain using several complete sentences. Confirm any outliers by calculating, (mean + 3s) and (mean - 3s). Do any of your data values fall outside of that interval? Show the computation and discuss this in your short essay.
ESTIMATION:
Find a 95% confidence interval estimate for the population mean. State this and interpret your results (several complete sentences).
HYPOTHESIS TEST:
Select a claim about the population mean to statistically test for your data set. Use a 0.05 significance level. Make sure to include the null hypothesis (H0), alternative hypothesis (Ha), test statistic, critical value and p-value, decision (reject H0/do not reject H0), and interpretation.
INFOGRAPHIC or DASHBOARD DESIGN:
What is an infographic? In our modern technology-driven world, software programs and websites (even apps) have dashboards showing us our usage statistics or important information about our business operations. Examples of dashboards can quickly be pulled up by a simple Google search. Likewise, several companies sell software for designing infographics and a search yields these. Infographics are similar condensed marketing and communication tools, which often contain statistics. Wikipedia defines an infographic as a graphic visual representation of information, data, or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly. This encyclopedia provides a decent listing of history and a few examples. They can improve cognition by utilizing graphics to enhance the human visual system’s ability to see patterns and trends.
For this project, you are to create an 8.5 x 11 infographic for your data set. Make sure to include some of the information from your data analysis. Click here for some examples: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/best-infographics-2016#.W6bHSDhMhyM.mailto
Access templates in Microsoft Office online at https://templates.office.com/en-us/Statistics-Infographics-Sampler-TM16401876. These may serve better as ideas, then you can build your own by inserting content in similar arrangements. For more idea, search the Office templates (https://templates.office.com/en-us/Search/results?query=infographic).
GRADING: There are two 15-point discussions and a 50-point project submission.
Project Discussion 1: You will have two discussions. The first is a two-fold discussion. You will share your ideas on a data set to use for your project: classmates and teacher will aid in narrowing down your idea and you must confirm that you have your data. Secondly, you will view an infographic and comment critically (thoughtfully) on it. This activity is produced by the American Statistical Association (ASA) and the New York Times. The Jan. 30th graphic and comments are available here. There is another one being posted soon for Feb. 6th and Feb. 13th live online discussions.
You may participate live with the weekly published graphic, comment on it live on the New York Times site (and paste it also in our discussion in our course). If you elect to view and comment on a past chart or infographic, then be sure to state the date and include a direct link for your classmates (you will only post these comments in our course discussion, as the past articles are closed to comment). Go to the main page (https://www.nytimes.com/column/whats-going-on-in-this-graph) and scroll to see a few recent links; scroll a little more to see a list and a search feature.
Project Discussion 2: Share your project with the class. You will post your project in the discussion as an attachment. In like manner to the first discussion, select two of your classmates’ projects and comment critically on them.
NOTE: Submit your assignment for grading in the assignment area; you will also share it in the discussion for discussion.
How do I organize my data into an Infographic or dashboard?
Here is a series of videos, start with episode 7 and view at least parts 1-3 of this “how to” series. This site includes the videos, transcripts and access to the slides. Here is the first video (episode 7 of their videos, but part 1 of a series for beginners).