AP Statistics – Final Project Guidelines 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this project is for you to do statistics. You are to formulate a statistical question,
design a study to answer the question, conduct the study, collect the data, analyze the data, and use statistical
inference to answer the question. Projects may be done individually or with a partner.

NOTE: All topics, questionnaires, experimental designs etc. must be approved by me

Timeline:

Topic and outline of design: due Thursday May 18th

Topics: You may do your study on any topic, but you must be able to include all 6 steps listed above. Make it
interesting and note that degree of difficulty is part of the grade. Try to be creative and choose something
interesting that may not have been done.

Proposal: To get your project approved, you must be able to demonstrate how your study will meet the
requirements of the project. In other words, you need to clearly and completely communicate your statistical
question, the explanatory and response variables, your null and alternative hypothesis, the test you will use to
analyze the results, and how you will collect the data so the conditions for inference will be satisfied. Also,
make sure that your study will be safe and ethical if you are using human subjects (anonymous, able to quit at
any time, informed consent). If your proposal isn’t approved, you must resubmit the proposal for partial credit
until it is approved.

All work needs to be submitted in Office 365 classroom. The project proposal must be completed in the word
document I attached to the assignment

Data Collection Summaries and Rough draft due Wednesday, May 31

All data should be collected and summarized in tables/graphs.

Final Written Report and Presentations due Monday, June 5th

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Statistics Project Guidelines

Presentation
The key to a good statistical presentation is communication and organization. Make sure all components of the
project are focused on answering the question of interest and that statistical vocabulary is used correctly. The
presentation should include the following:
 Title (in the form of a question).
 Introduction. In the introduction, you should discuss what question you are trying to answer, why you
chose this topic, what your hypotheses are, and how you will analyze your data.
 Data Collection. In this section, you will describe how you obtained your data. Be specific.
 Graphs, Summary Statistics and the Raw Data (if numerical). Make sure the graphs are well labeled and
easy to compare. Use the graphs and summary statistics to describe the evidence (if any) for the
alternative hypothesis. Then, clearly give the “two explanations” for why the data seem to support the
alternative hypothesis.
 Analysis. In this section, identify the inference procedure you used and discuss the conditions for
inference. Give the test statistic and p-value (with interpretation), along with the corresponding
confidence interval (with interpretation).
 Conclusion. In this section, you will state your conclusion. You should also discuss any possible errors
(e.g., Type I or Type II) or limitations to your conclusion, what you could do to improve the study next
time, and any other critical reflections.
 Live action pictures of your data collection in progress.

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 PROJECT PROPOSAL 2017

Name(s) ___________________________________________________________________________________

_____ State the question you are trying to answer:

_____ Describe your population of interest:

_____ State your null and alternative hypotheses:

_____ Describe your experimental design/study. If applicable, justify that your experiment/survey is ethical for human
subjects:

_____ State the statistical test(s) you plan to use to analyze your data:

_____ State how you plan to collect your SRS or randomize your experiment:

Evaluation of Final Project

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All written reports are due on the day you present your project to the class. Both written reports and
presentations must be submitted in Office 365 Classroom.

Report (typed document) 70%

1. Introduction 10%
a. Statement of the question you are answering
b. Population
c. Parameter of interest
d. Hypotheses
e. Background information
2. Data Collection 20%
a. Type of sampling
b. Type of experiment
c. How was survey administered
d. Data collection if an observational study
e. Resources used
f. References of previously done work that is like your own.
3. Data Analysis 20%
a. Provide data in tabular form (or other)
b. Restatement of hypotheses in symbol form
c. Conditions for your significance test
d. Significance test calculations
e. Graphical displays
4. Conclusion 20%
a. Results in terms of the hypotheses
b. Limitations
c. Ways to improve your project

Presentation 30%
1. Medium 6%
a. Visual (of question, data, calculations, etc.)
2. Summative - Content 18%
a. Introduction
b. Data Collection
c. Data Analysis
d. Conclusion
3. Delivery 6%
a. Clear
b. Effective
c. Comprehendible
d. Time conscious

PREVIOUS RESEARCH TOPICS

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• Does music enhance memory?
• What factors effect healthy plant growth?
• Personal space… how close is too close?
• Do girls or boys use more tape when wrapping presents?
• Does a regular Frisbee travel farther than a golf Frisbee?
• Which golf ball travels the farthest?
• Do men prefer different colors than women?
• Are Double Stuff Oreos double stuffed?
• Who tips better at a restaurant- men or women?
• Does coaching improve SAT or ACT scores?
• Do teenage girls want to get married earlier in life than teenage boys?
• Do glasses make people look smart?
• How do people choose who they will become friends with in high school or college?
• Does it take more than 250 licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?
• Who takes longer to get ready for school- freshmen girls or senior girls?

Final Project: Rubric

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 Final Project 4 = Complete 3 = Substantial 2 = Developing 1 = Minimal
 Describes the context of the  Introduces the context of  Introduces the  Briefly describes
research the research and has a context of the the context of the
 Has a clearly stated question of specific question of research and has a research
interest interest specific question of
 Clearly defines the parameter of  Has correct parameter/ interest OR has
Introduction
interest and states correct hypotheses OR has question of interest
hypotheses appropriate difficulty and hypotheses
 Question of interest is of
appropriate difficulty

 Method of data collection is clearly  Method of data  Method of data  Some evidence of
described collection is clearly collection is data collection
 Includes appropriate randomization described described
 Describes efforts to reduce bias,  Some effort is made to  Some effort is
Data Collection variability, confounding incorporate principles of made to incorporate
 Quantity of data collected is good data collection principles of good
appropriate  Quantity of data is data collection
appropriate

 Appropriate graphs are included  Appropriate graphs and  Graphs and  Graphs or
 Graphs are neat, clearly labeled, and summary statistics are summary statistics summary statistics
easy to compare included are included are included
Graphs and  Appropriate summary statistics are  Graphs are neat, clearly
Summary included labeled, and easy to
Statistics  Preliminary answer with two compare or preliminary
explanations are provided answer provided and
discussed

 Correct inference procedure is  Correct inference  Correct inference  Inference

chosen procedure is chosen procedure is chosen procedure is
 Use of inference procedure is  Lacks justification, lacks  Some calculations attempted
justified interpretation, or makes or interpretations
Analysis  Test statistic, P-value and a calculation error are correct
confidence interval are calculated
correctly
 P-value and confidence interval is
interpreted correctly

 Uses P-value to correctly answer  Makes a correct  Makes a partially  Makes a

question of interest conclusion correct conclusion conclusion
 Discusses what inferences are  Discusses what (such as accepting
Conclusions appropriate based on study design inferences are null).
 Shows good evidence of critical appropriate  Shows some
reflection (discusses possible errors,  Shows some evidence of evidence of critical
limitations, etc.) critical reflection reflection

 Clear, holistic understanding of the  Clear, holistic  Poster is not well  Communication
project understanding of the done or and organization
Overall  Poster is well organized, easy to project communication is are very poor
Presentation/ read, and visually appealing  Statistical vocabulary is poor
Communication  Statistical vocabulary is used used correctly
correctly  Poster or oral is
 Oral presentation is organized unorganized or has other
problems