Math 227 Sample Project Project 1 Data Collection and Descriptive Statistics
In this project, you will demonstrate your understanding of data collection and descriptive statistics. You
will collect the data, organize, summarize, and describe the data the way it is explained in Chapter 1-
Chapter 3. You will, then, create a written report including all parts below and turn in by the stated due
date according to the guidelines provided in this paper.
Required components:
1. Research Questions about a Population
Question 1: Come up with a research question on making an estimate about a population
proportion.
(For example: What proportion of Los Angeles Mission College students are full time students?)
State your Question 1 (and your estimated prediction of the results):
Question 2: Come up with a research question on making an estimate about a population mean.
(For example: What is the average number of hours that Los Angeles Mission College students
work each week?)
State your Question 2 (and your estimated prediction of the results):
2. Collecting Data
a) Create a survey and collect the data for responses to your proposed questions above.
For question 1, your survey should have a qualitative variable with only two possible responses,
Write your variable and the question below (For example: full time student status. “Are you a
full-time student, Yes or No?”):
For question 2, your survey should have a quantitate variable. Write your variable and the
question below (For example: number of hours of work in a week. “How many hours do you
work each week?”):
b) Describe the data collecting process including the population of interest. For each question,
address if there was any of the following biases: Sampling bias, Non-response bias, and
Response bias.
c) Enter your raw data in Column 1 (categorical data) and in Column 2 (numerical data) in
StatCrunch. Name each column and save the data (Data>Save>Enter the File Name>Click Save).
To later open the saved data in StatCrunch, (Data> Load>My Data>Choose the file name.)
3. Organizing, Summarizing, and Describing Qualitative Data using StatCrunch
a) Open your saved survey data. Organize your data for your categorical variable in column 1,
into a frequency/relative frequency table. Save the distribution table. (To open the saved
results later in StatCrunch, go to statcrunch. com> MyStatCrunch> My Results>Choose the
name/notes.)
b) Construct a bar graph for a frequency distribution and for a relative frequency distribution for
your categorical variable. Choose to display the value above bar. Save the graphs.
c) Construct a pie chart for the categorical variable. Save the result.
d) Create a dotplot and a histogram for your survey’s numerical data in column 2. Make sure
that your histogram has an appropriate width for the bins. Explain why your choice for the width
makes sense for your specific data. Save your graphs.
4. Organizing, Summarizing, and Describing Quantitative Data using StatCrunch
a) Open your survey data and the dotplot and the histogram for your survey’s numerical
variable. Create a boxplot for the variable in column 2. Write a description of each graph (What
does each graph show you about your data, that you won’t be able to easily see in the other
graphs?). Save the boxplot.
b) Find the following sample statistics for the data set: Minimum value, Maximum value, Mean,
Median, Mode, Q1, Q3, Range, IQR, and Standard Deviation. For each of these values write a
sentence explaining what it tells you about the results in your survey. Please do not write about
how they are calculated. The purpose of this exercise is to make sure that you understand the
meaning for each of these statistics (not how you find it). So please don’t include steps for
finding each of these. You will be graded on your explanation of what each value tells us
specifically about your sample.
c) Describe and analyze the numerical data. What is the overall shape of the data set? Based on
your answer, determine which measure of center (mean, median or mode) you think is best and
why. Determine which measure of spread (IQR / standard deviation or range) you think is best
and why. Write a sentence explaining the real meaning of the center you found and a sentence
explaining the real meaning of the spread you have found for your data.
5. Create a written report including all your findings from the questions above. What did you learn
about the population of your interest from your data analysis? Please don’t forget to address
the answers to your initial research question 1 and question 2. Do you think your data
represented the population well? Did the result match your initial predictions? Why or why not?
You will be graded not only on your analysis and graphs, but also on the quality of your writing.
You should have an introduction paragraph discussing why this topic was important in the world
or important to you and a conclusion paragraph summarizing your findings.