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PRELIMINARY INFORMATION FOR WRITING ASSIGNMENT #1

(this page last modified 8/23/2019 4:09 PM)

PLEASE FOLLOW THESE GUIDELINES CAREFULLY. MISSING ITEMS WILL REDUCE THE GRADE

OF THE PAPER. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUSTIONS PLEASE SEE ME OR ASK IN CLASS FOR

CLARIFICATION.

Please organize the paper in TWO parts. At the top of every page put your name, date, “Math

114W” and QC ID#. Each page should be double spaced with 1-inch margins all around.

PART I. (Tables, graphs, spreadsheets, etc.) (3+ pages; see #6 below)

(1) In the first few chapters we saw how data collected can be organized and displayed in various formats.

Don’t forget to consider any possible outliers by noting them in the paper and perhaps removing them from

calculations.

(2) You must organize the raw data into a grouped frequency data table (with 8-10 appropriate classes.) Add

columns as we did in class to show limits, boundaries, marks, and percentiles as well as other columns you

might need for intermediate calculations.

(3) Display the grouped data as a histogram and a frequency polygon graph (no cumulative frequency polygon

required). Also, see if you can figure out a way to display the data so that the display might give an incorrect

conclusion of what the data indicates.

(4) Calculate the mean, median and standard deviation (mode not required) for both the raw data and the

grouped data. If you use software, web sites, etc. use a footnote to cite what software, site, etc. was used. Be

careful that your statistical results are in line with the raw data.

(5) Based on what we did in class (and perhaps any ideas of your own that you might have) calculate other

statistics you think might be useful.

(6) In a “casual” narrative fashion (understandable to a non-statistics person) explain your steps in what you

are trying to accomplish in the above and the “mathematical” steps you used. Include tables, graphs and

results as appropriate in your narrative. DO NOT INCLUDE THE RAW DATA OR ANY CALCULATIONS BUT ONLY

THE FINAL RESULTS AS MENTIONED IN 2-5 ABOVE. For the table(s), histogram, and graph use EXCEL or any

other software/web site you are comfortable with. Cut and paste any results as necessary.

PART II. (3+ pages)

This part of the paper is a NARRATIVE and should have a “beginning”, a “middle” and an “end”; see

a,b,c below. Do not repeat any of the narrative from PART I. Again, it should be understandable to

a non-statistics person.

(1) By using the data as a guide, design an appropriate “experiment” that might yield the raw data as actual

sample of some (perhaps fictional) population. For example, you might be measuring the height of

Martians in Mars’ capital city, Trumpville. Or you might be trying to measure the average income of the

population of slithy toves in the country of Jabberwocky. These are only (weird) examples. Different people

might use the same raw data to design different experiments. Explain in detail how you “went” about

choosing/collecting the data to make it a truly random yet representative sample of your population.

Remember, the raw data represents only a small sample of your population data.

NOTE: (a)You are not conducting the survey just for the purpose of collecting data. You need the data

to answer some question concerning the population.

(b) The data should not be used as a comparison to other data. You only have one set of data. You are

NOT comparing before/after or one group to another.

(2) You must:

(a) Describe exactly what it is you are trying to find out. E.g. if temperature is an indication of a fever

then the data can be used to analyze illness in the group; or income of toves might be used to indicate if toves

in the wabe are below the poverty line.

(b) Describe in detail how you [might have] conducted the experiment so as to get a random,

representative sample. That is, the data in the EXCEL spreadsheet you are using represents only a small

portion of the population that you will be “analyzing.”

(c) Using your statistical results from part I give a simple descriptive analysis (again to a non-statistics

person) of what the results of your experiment show and how that information would be useful. Do not

describe what the mathematical steps (formulas) were to get these results!

III. Now that you have read the entire instruction sheet go back to the beginning. Reread it and

make up a list of bullet points of what you should and should not include in the paper! YOUR

BULLET POINT SHEET MUST BE A PART OF YOUR SUBMISSION!!

➔ Two weeks before the due date (to be announced in class) of this paper you must submit a 2+ page detailed description of what you have chosen your data to represent and the

bullet points you have gleaned from these informational pages. This will be returned to

you with suggestions which will be useful in your final submission.

You must email a copy ([email protected]) and hand in a hard copy of

every submission!!

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