For this project you are asked to identify both topic and data by yourself.
The topic should be within the realm of general knowledge and interest. You may revisit one of the topics of earlier projects, but take care to try to explore VERY different aspects of the topic and make sure to also get additional/other sources for your data.
There are several parts to this project: In the first, you'll need to identify a suitable topic for your project. In the second step, work out how and which data you will use. These two steps are linked - you might have great ideas for topics, but if you cannot find suitable data, it might not be advisable to proceed. Next, discuss questions you aim to answer, and download/incorporate the data necessary to answer them. In the last part, you'll try and answer your questions using the techniques discussed in class.
Some questions to think about:
10 Apr. Topic and data sources. Identify your topic and data sources that you will use. Sketch out some initial questions you will explore. Hand in one page (doesn't need to be polished).
17 Apr. Initial questions and drafts of graphics and tables. This should be a rough draft (the writing doesn't need to be polished or complete), but the basic structure should be there.
24 Apr. An 8-10 page report organised as described below, and csv files of all the data that you're using, and the complete R script necessary to reproduce all of your findings.
And an individual, one page report on how well your group worked together. What worked well? What didn't work? What will you do differently next time? Include an estimate of how much work each group member did (including yourself).
Dead Week and Finals (Apr 29, May 1, May 8). Oral presentation. Every group will get a session of 5 min per team member and an additional 5-10 min for questions. Every team member will have to present a part of the project.
Overall grade breakdown:
The grading rubric that I'll use for the written project is available as a pdf.
More details later.
To give you some idea of what a great report looks like, here are some examples from previous classes.