MATH309 – Statistics

Portfolio Project Directions and Rubric

 

ThisPortfolio Project is worth 28% of your grade

Outcomes

Completing this Assessment will help you to meet the following:

 

Course Outcomes

• Organize data for analysis in the form of graphs, tables, and frequency distributions.
• Calculate statistical data for measures of central tendency and dispersion.
• Investigate dispersion through normal distributions using range, mean, standard deviation and z scores,
• Collect, organize, and interpret data to perform regression analysis.
• Measure location, variation, probabilities, distributions, and expectations.
• Formulate a hypothesis, test a hypothesis, and interpret the results.
• Draw conclusions and/or make decisions through the application and analysis of mathematical

models using Microsoft Excel.

Institutional Outcomes

• Quantitative and Scientific Reasoning – Follow established methods of inquiry and mathematical reasoning to form conclusions and make decisions.

 

 

Deadline
Deliverable items for the Portfolio Project will be required at different points during the course. Details for each submission are included below in the Deliverable Descriptions.

Directions
Your bottom line is to develop a five to eight-page research paper using statistical analysis in your research.  You have recently completed your degree at Bryant & Stratton College, and have secured an entry level professional position with an employer in your field of study.Your employer would like you to do research and will give you latitude to develop research and find data related to your field of study.  The research must follow the data requirements detailed in the project directions, with proper documentation for each section detailed in a Word document.

This is an opportunity for you to showcase to your employer your statistical analysis, analyzing, and synthesis skills using Excel and Word.The results of your research should provide evidence and persuasion for your employer to act on your research findings within your research paper.

Requirements and Formatting

Your Portfolio Project must be formatted as follows:

• APA formatting
• Title Page
• Times New Roman or Arial 12-point font
• 1-inch margins
• Page numbers in top right corner

Deliverable Descriptions

 

Week 6

• Due by the end of Week 6 at 11:59 pm, ET.

 

This week you will be completing the below sections of your research paper as a continuation of your research project.

Conclusion:  Based on your data, discuss the following in your Word document:

1. Whether your findings confirm or refute your hypothesis
2. The effect of these findings on your goal statement
3. The related answers this data provides to your research question
4. How your findings inform the statement of problem you provide at the beginning.
5. Also, synthesize, analyze, and evaluate your findings in the context of the literature review you performed.

Reflection: Finally, include a discussion of the project itself within your Word document.  Discuss the following in this reflection:

1. How this project illustrated the importance of statistics in your career and community
2. How these efforts connect to prior courses you have taken and could inform future courses in your program
3. The process you used to complete the project
4. How this process changed your perspective on some element of your learning
5. How this new approach could help you in future courses.

 

 

Below you will find an example of the research paper you can use as a template.   The example is based on a Criminal Justice topic.

 

 

Appendix A– Suggested Websites for Data Sets

 

Data.gov: http://data.gov

 

US Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/data.html

 

Open Data Network: https://www.opendatanetwork.com/

 

European Union Open Data Portal: http://open-data.europa.eu/en/data/

 

Data.gov.uk: http://data.gov.uk/

 

Canada Open Data: https://open.canada.ca/en

 

The CIA World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

 

Healthdata.gov: https://www.healthdata.gov/

 

UNICEF: https://www.unicef.org/reports

 

World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/en/

 

Amazon Web Services public datasets: http://aws.amazon.com/datasets

 

Google Public Data Explorer: https://www.google.com/publicdata/directory

 

Gapminder: http://www.gapminder.org/data/

 

National Climatic Data Center: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/quick-links#loc-clim

Dr. John Rasp’s Statistics Website:http://www2.stetson.edu/~jrasp/data.htm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MATH309 Portfolio Project Grading Rubric
Criteria	Level 4	Level 3	Level 2	Level 1	Points
Statement of Problem 10 points	10 points Problem is in students’ degree field, clearly stated, and relates to the topic.	8 points Problem is clearly stated and relates to the topic.	6 points Problem is clearly stated.	0 points Problem is not clearly stated.
Literature Review 20 points	10 points Student locates four or more sources and objectively discusses their findings and relationship to study.	8 points Student locates three sources for the literature review and discusses their findings and relationship to the study.	6 points Student locates two sources for and discusses their findings.	0 points Student fails to locate any sources.
Goal Statement 5 points	5 points Goal statement is interesting, clear, and relates to the topic.	4 points Goal statement is clear and relates to the topic.	3.5 points Goal statement is clear.	0 points Goal statement is not clear.
Research Questions 10 points	10 points Provides a series of interesting research questions and clearly identifies each of the variables and their potential influence on other variables.	8 points Provides a series of research questions and identifies some variables along with some of their potential influence on other variables.	6 points Provides some research questions and identifies a few variables.	0 points No research questions provided
Methodology 10 points	10 points Hypothesis is interesting, plan to test hypothesis is effective, data organization is efficient, plan to calculate statistical data is effective, plan to investigate associated dispersions is effective, regression analysis plan is effective, and/or the measurements are appropriate.	8 points Hypothesis is effective, plan to test hypothesis is provided, data organization is evident, plan to calculate statistical data is presented, plan to investigate associated dispersions is indicated, regression analysis plan is offered, and/or the measurements are provided.	6 points Hypothesis is ineffective, plan to test hypothesis is ineffective, data organization is ineffective, plan to calculate statistical data is ineffective, plan to investigate associated dispersions is ineffective, regression analysis plan is ineffective, and/or the measurements are inappropriate.	0 points No hypothesis is provided, there is no plan to test the hypothesis, data organization plan is not provided, statistical processes are not provided, and no measurements are offered.
Data Analysis 40 points	40 points Data analysis and Excel work is structured in column format, answers identified, and columns labeled, and very thorough, and appropriate to the topic.  Analysis justifies and support conclusions.	32 points Data analysis and Excel work is good and reasonably complete.  Conclusions are consistent with analysis.	28 points Analysis is rudimentary at best.  Conclusions are present but not well supported by the analysis.	0 points Analysis is inappropriate or missing.  Conclusions are invalid or missing.
Conclusion 10 points	10 points Conclusion and Reflection are interesting, clearly stated, related to the topic, and addresses all stated questions in the supplied assignment prompt.	8 points Conclusion and Reflection are clear, mostly relates to the topic, and addresses most stated questions in the supplied assignment prompt.	6 points Conclusion and Reflection are somewhat clear, somewhat relates to the topic, and addresses some of the stated questions in the supplied assignment prompt.	0 points Conclusion and Reflection are unclear, does not relate to the topic, and addresses few if any of the stated questions in the supplied assignment prompt.
Grammar, Mechanics, and Information Literacy 5 points	5 points Few, if any, grammatical or mechanical errors.  All supplied data and sources are appropriate and properly documented in APA format.	4 points Some grammatical and mechanical errors.  Some supplied data and sources are appropriate and properly documented in APA format.	3.5 points Many grammatical and mechanical errors.  Most supplied data is not appropriate and is not properly documented in APA format.	0 points Grammatical and mechanical errors seriously inhibit the project’s effectiveness.  Nearly all or all of the supplied data is inappropriate and and is not properly documented in APA format.
Instructor Comments:			Total Points:

 

 

• Style: Harvard
• Number of pages: 3 pages/double spaced (825 words)
• Number of source/references: 1