Final Assignment

April 18, 2014

Due Fri Apr 25

If you missed class Tuesday I described a final assignment. I will clarify here.

1. Select a topic of interest. This could be sports, politics, economics, business, stock market, current events, video games…anything that interests YOU. This should be related to a passion, hobby or something that you enjoy pursuing in your own time. One caveat is that the topic will need to offer some type of data for analysis.

2. Collect data that can be used for analysis. Search the web for relevant data. It won’t be perfect so don’t bother looking for the perfect data. Just find any data and we will do our best. More data is typically better but if there’s a mountain of data and you don’t know where to start I can help you take a random sample or otherwise limit the universe for analysis.

3. Analyze the data using appropriate methods learned in class this term. You could produce a simple descriptive analysis or you could conduct a hypothesis test, produce a confidence intervals or build a regression model. The key is to do something appropriate to gain a better understanding of the data or to make an argument about what the data is telling you. If you do the bare minimum your grade will be the bare minimum as well.

4. Write a blog post describing your analysis. Provide details regarding the data utilized and the analysis completed. If you considered other techniques but decided not to use them for some reason please explain your thought process. Use graphs, equations, tables, computer output etc as appropriate to present your analysis. What did you learn about your topic and the data collected?

For Tuesday please be prepared to tell me about your topic and to ask any questions.

Step #4 must be completed by 5pm Friday, April 25th.