Project

6/1/20 Assignment 3 IRM PEAK CUBE.docx P a g e | 1

Assignment 3: Group Assignment Tip: Read through this document in its entirety before you begin.

With your group, create a presentation in R Markdown. You will present this information live in Collaborate.

Topic: Stock prices

Objective: Using more than one forecasting or predicting method from this course, identify the method that

can more accurately predict stock prices.

Data:

• Use the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) historical data for

a period of five years: 6/2/2015 – 6/1/2020. Forecast using the closing value of the stock prices.

• When collecting the data, use the following uniform resource locator (URL) to obtain historical values

from NASDAQ. Interchange the stock symbols for the stocks you are going to evaluate, like “FISV” in

this example:

o https://www.nasdaq.com/api/v1/historical/FISV/stocks/2015-06-02/2020-06-01

o Read the URL into R as a comma-separated value file, for each stock assigned.

• The stocks to evaluate are:

o IRM; Iron Mountain Incorporated

o PEAK; Healthpeak Properties, Inc.

o CUBE; CubeSmart

Requirements for this data analysis project:

• Develop a well-developed problem statement.

• Develop at least two well-developed research questions. Focus the research on your research

questions.

o The focus will not include “using R”, “using RStudio”, or any other reference to programming.

o The research focus shall remain on the stocks and forecasting methods or a variation thereof.

• Forecasting must be iteratively evaluated to understand the accuracy. That means that you will need to

model more than one set of training data within the time period. You will not forecast five years at the

same time. You do not need to use all five years of data; but the research method shall demonstrate

reliability and validity, particularly external validity to the stocks assigned.

• Make sure to submit all files necessary to make the program fully functioning.

• The R Markdown file and the slides in the presentation slides shall match exactly. Do not change the

slides after submitting.

• Make sure every member of the group is named on the R Markdown file.

• Every student in the group must deliver part of the presentation to earn credit for this assignment.

• Every student is responsible for fully comprehending the programming and the interpretations of all

analyses.

• When completing the within group review, provide thorough feedback for every member of the group.

Reporting your research:

• During week seven groups will be given an opportunity to select a time and date for the group’s

presentation.

• Your presentation shall be 10 – 15 minutes in length. Practice it!

6/1/20 Assignment 3 IRM PEAK CUBE.docx P a g e | 2

• This research will be presented. There is no research paper for this assignment.

• Consider good practices for presenting information, such as

o The amount of slide content

o Organized content

o Interaction of the presenters

• When developing your slides, ensure the audience understands why, what, and how, then the method,

regarding the research.

o Why are you telling me this? (topic)

o What are you telling me for? (problem)

o How are you going to do this? (research questions – do not have to be in the form of a question)

o Method – the design or high-level plan

o Keep in mind, this is a presentation, summarize** (No paragraphs on slides.)

• DO NOT forget to cite and reference your sources in APA 7.

• You do not have to annotate figures and tables in APA 7 format in your slides. If you do, you will

exceed the expectations.

• You may use any type of slides available in R Markdown.

Bonus challenge: Is there a day of the week that is better for investing? If participation in the challenge is

accepted, make sure that it serves a purpose in the research. The method used to answer this question must

be reliable and valid. Please note, the question posed in this paragraph is not appropriate as a research

question. It does not meet the criteria.

Good to know:

• When submitting in Blackboard, you may receive an error, because the R and R Markdown file types

are not recognized. That is okay. It is only indicating that SafeAssign cannot evaluate that part of your

submission.

o Ensure that every reference in your reference list is also cited in the text.

o Do not forget to cite and reference the source of the data.

• Complete this assignment independent of the other groups.

• Each group has a different version of this assignment. If you complete a version of this assignment that

is not available to you in Blackboard, you will violate your pledge.

• Plagiarism on this assignment will result in all group members earning zero points for the assignment.