MATH 106 Statistics Project Instructions Version 2.1

MATH 106 Statistics Project Instructions Version 2.1 (Summer 2016)
1
MATH 106 Statistics Project Instructions (Revised May 2016)
For this assignment, you will implement a project involving statistical procedures. The topic may
be something that is related to your work, a hobby, or something you found interesting. If you choose, you may use the example described below.
The project is made of the following tasks. Each task must be addressed in the statistics project report in order to qualify for full credit:
 Task 1: identify:
o Yourself (student’s name)
o name of project
o purpose of project
 Task 2: Conduct Data Collection. Provide:
o Raw data used (sample size must be at least 10 individual raw scores)
o source of the data
 Task 3: Calculate Measures of Central Tendency and Variability:
o median, sample mean, range, sample variance, and sample standard deviation (show work)
 Task 4: Frequency Distribution. Provide
o Raw data in frequency table format (1st column of value “intervals”, and 2nd column shows “frequency”: number of scores falling within each interval)
 Task 5: Histogram:
o Create histogram using frequency table constructed in Task 4
o NOT a vertical bar chart!
o x – axis must show intervals, y – axis must show frequencies
 Task 6: Compare Raw Data Distribution to “Standard” Normal Distribution. Using your raw data gathered in Task 2 and the sample mean and sample standard deviation calculated in Task 3, calculate:
o percentage of your raw data falling within one standard deviation of the mean;
o percentage of your raw data falling within two standard deviations of the mean;
o percentage of your raw data falling within three standard deviations of the mean
 Task 7: Communicating Evaluation, Analysis, Results, and Conclusions. Provide two to three paragraphs that:
o interpret your statistics and graphs;
o answer whether your percentages calculated in Task 6 indicate that your data distribution (shown in the histogram created in Task 5) is the same as the 68/95/99.5% “standard” normal distribution? Be sure to explain why you think your data distribution does or does not match the “standard” normal distribution.
o relate to the purpose of the project
MATH 106 Statistics Project Instructions Version 2.1 (Summer 2016)
2
*****************************************************************************
If you choose, you may use the following example for your data.
 Purpose: Compare the amount of sugar in a standard serving size of different brands of
cereal. (You may instead choose to compare the amount of fat, protein, salt, or any other
category in cereal or some other food.)
 Procedure: Go to the grocery store (or your pantry) and pick at least 10 different brands
of cereal. (Instead of choosing a random sample, you might purposely pick from both the
“healthy” cereal types and the “sugary” ones.) From the cereal box, record the suggested
serving size and the amount of sugar per serving. The raw data is the serving size and
amount of sugar per serving for each of the 10 boxes of cereal. Before calculating the
statistics on the amount of sugar in each cereal