Project Schedule

Friday, July 7 If you wish to form a group for data collection with people you already know, you must either give me a note at the end of class or send me an email by 5:00 PM. Anyone not in a group at this time will be randomly assigned a group for data collection. Each group should consist of at most 3 or 4 people.

Monday, July 10 Mandatory first group meeting during the last few minutes of class. You must attend to meet and exchange contact information with your group. If you aren't in class, your group may assume you've dropped and will not include you.

Wednesday, July 12 One member from each group should hand in (or email) the Project Plan Form by 5:00 PM. This form does not count as part of your grade, but is nonetheless extremely important. It is critical that before you start collecting data you have a plan. The data you collect must be suitable for the analysis we will conduct later, otherwise you'll have to begin again.

Monday, July 17 All data should be collected by this date. You do not need to turn the raw data in to me. In collecting the data, it is very important to keep each individual's responses separated from the others. For example, you may wish to compare the average height of freshmen to the average height of sophomores. I suggest using Excel to print a blank grid and then write each observation on a separate row. Then you can enter the data into Excel directly from your grid and sort by each variable. Remember, if you are surveying people, you must have at least 100 responses (more is better); if they refuse to answer your questions, they don't count.

Thursday, July 20 Project Part I due by 5:00 PM. You may email the appropriate files, hand in a paper copy before class, or put a paper copy in my box. Be sure to keep a copy of all your raw data, Excel files, graphs, etc. You will need them for Part II.

Monday, July 31 The analysis for Part II should be completed by this date. You do not need to turn anything in until the completed project is due.

Thursday, August 3 Project Part II due by 5:00 PM.

A Few Ideas

	Age, height, weight, time measurements, money measurements, quantity measurements, GPA are all common quantitative variables. A few more interesting ones include: distance from home to campus, time to drive to campus, time to walk from parking place to class, amount spent on rent, amount spent on food, number of parking tickets received last semester, amount of financial aid received last semester, number of blades of grass in 4 square inches of grass on campus.
	Gender, race, sexual orientation, ethnic background, political affiliation are all common qualitative variables. A few more interesting ones include: do you park on campus, do you live on campus, questions about the war on terror, etc
	Another idea people have used before is the "man on the street" interview, as commonly done on certain TV and radio shows. You could ask a few general knowledge questions and study the percentage who knew the correct answer. If you also ask demographic data, you could compare the scores of males vs. females, young vs. old, etc.

	Friday, July 7 If you wish to form a group for data collection with people you already know, you must either give me a note at the end of class or send me an email by 5:00 PM. Anyone not in a group at this time will be randomly assigned a group for data collection. Each group should consist of at most 3 or 4 people.
	Monday, July 10 Mandatory first group meeting during the last few minutes of class. You must attend to meet and exchange contact information with your group. If you aren't in class, your group may assume you've dropped and will not include you.
	Wednesday, July 12 One member from each group should hand in (or email) the Project Plan Form by 5:00 PM. This form does not count as part of your grade, but is nonetheless extremely important. It is critical that before you start collecting data you have a plan. The data you collect must be suitable for the analysis we will conduct later, otherwise you'll have to begin again.
	Monday, July 17 All data should be collected by this date. You do not need to turn the raw data in to me. In collecting the data, it is very important to keep each individual's responses separated from the others. For example, you may wish to compare the average height of freshmen to the average height of sophomores. I suggest using Excel to print a blank grid and then write each observation on a separate row. Then you can enter the data into Excel directly from your grid and sort by each variable. Remember, if you are surveying people, you must have at least 100 responses (more is better); if they refuse to answer your questions, they don't count.
	Thursday, July 20 Project Part I due by 5:00 PM. You may email the appropriate files, hand in a paper copy before class, or put a paper copy in my box. Be sure to keep a copy of all your raw data, Excel files, graphs, etc. You will need them for Part II.
	Monday, July 31 The analysis for Part II should be completed by this date. You do not need to turn anything in until the completed project is due.
	Thursday, August 3 Project Part II due by 5:00 PM.