Stats 110

Projects

Project 1: Designing and Analyzing a Random Sample

In this project, you will investigate a research question that can be answered by taking a random sample from a well-defined population and analyzing one variable from the collected data using methods we have learned.

Here are some examples of projects that past students have done:

  • Does the frequency of the letter Z on Wikipedia exceed its frequency in the English language? [report]
  • Are there fewer Subarus at Stanford than nationwide?
  • On average, is Trader Joe's cheaper than Safeway?
  • Are more than 90% of recipes in a vegetarian cookbook are actually vegetarian?

You are required to work with one partner for this project.

Data Collection: Both you and your partner should collect the data. Be sure to take lots of photos to include in your report and your poster. If you work in a research lab that collects data, I encourage you to see if any of the data from your lab would be appropriate for this project.

Presentation: Projects will be presented in section on Thursday, October 22 and Friday, October 23. Each presentation should be 4 minutes; presentations that run longer will be penalized. Make your slides using this template, and submit your presentation using this form. The best projects will show up as questions on the midterm!

Report: Write your report using this template, which describes what each section should cover. To submit, render it to HTML, print the page to PDF from your browser, and upload both the PDF and your .qmd file to the report submission portal. One of you submits for your whole team. You will get feedback on each section within a few minutes, and you can revise and resubmit until the deadline. Your report is due Tuesday, October 27 at 11:59 PM.

Project 2: Designing and Analyzing a Randomized Experiment

In this project, you will investigate a research question that can be answered by randomly assigning units to one of two groups and comparing the two groups using the methods we have learned. Here are some examples of projects that past students have done:

  • Does waxing skis increase speed? [report]
  • Does soaking popcorn kernels in water first reduce number of duds?
  • Does a high-carb meal before an athletic event improve performance?
  • Is recall affected by whether or not you take notes on a computer or by hand?

You are required to work with one partner for this project, who cannot be the partner that you worked with on Project 1.

Data Collection: As you collect the data, be sure to take lots of photos to include in your report and your poster. You will need to submit your data with your project. I recommend using Google Sheets and downloading the file as CSV.

Poster Presentation

You will turn one of your two projects into a poster and present it at the poster session, which will take place in class on Friday, December 4. You are encouraged to present the poster with your project partner, if possible.