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Statistics Project

For this project, you will work in pairs or individually. What you turn in will be a report on your topic. Your report should be typed and should use clear concise English. You may present graphs or charts in the body of your report but put your data in an appendix. Be sure to cite any sources you used, including stores for data collection. If you are surveying, describe your sampling method and target population as well as any biases inherent in your sample. There is no required length to the project, simply complete the assignment to the best of your ability. Feel free to discuss your progress with me or submit work early for feedback. Each pair will complete one of the project ideas listed below (no repeats). Please email me (tbusken@sdccd.edu):

(1) your class (i.e. Math 119)

(2) your name

(3) your partner's name if you have one

(4) the project number that you want to complete (#1, 2, etc.)

Projects will be assigned on a first-come, first-serve basis.

These project ideas came from Francois Bereaud of San Diego Miramar College and an article by Gary Smith of Ponoma College.

Date Assigned: September 17

Date Due: December 5

Late work or corrections are not accepted.

Project Ideas:

1. --- Hannah Curzon --- Matt Stempniak --- Go to a local grocery store and collect data for at least 20 different soups from each of two major soup makers: for example, Campbell's \& Progresso. For each of the soups, record the per-serving amounts of calories, fat, and sodium. Summarize your data using any descriptive means you see fit. Provide a written conclusion about the similarities and differences between the brands.

2. - - -- Miguel Aquino ----- Go to a large bookstore that has a prominent display of bestselling fiction and nonfiction hardcover books. For each of these two categories find at least 20 books, graph your data using a scatter plot, and use these data to calculate the regression line for that category with price the dependent variable and the number of pages the independent or explanatory variable. How good is your line? Are there any apparent outliers in your data?---Andrew Diaz

3. ---- Sherin Sonny --- Armando Velazquez ----- Go to the campus bookstore and select 30 new hardcover textbooks (be sure to describe how you choose your sample). For each book, record the number of pages and the price. Graph your data using a scatter plot, and use these data to calculate the regression line for that category with price the dependent variable and the number of pages the independent or explanatory variable. How good is your line? Are there any apparent outliers in your data?

4. Find a local real estate office that will let you browse the multiple listing service (MLS) for houses that are for sale in your neighborhood. Use a random sample of at least 50 houses and get the list price and square footage for each. Graph your data using a scatter plot, and use these data to calculate the regression line for that category with price the dependent variable and the square footage the independent or explanatory variable. How good is your line? Are there any apparent outliers in your data?

5. -- Lusye Smith -- Go to a local grocery store and collect these data for at least 75 breakfast cereals: name, grams of sugar per serving, and shelf location (bottom, middle, or top). Group the data by cereal location and use three box plots to compare sugar content by shelf location. Comment on your finding. -- - Samantha Almenanza

6. Anchoring effects: Research the "anchoring effect". Ask a random sample of people to estimate 8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1 vs 1x2x3x4x5x6x7x8 for another sample. Summarize your results including 5 number summaries and means. Does the anchoring effect seem to hold?

7. -- - Bryan Cabais - - - Choose two major grocery stores and try to determine which has the lower prices on a sample of 30 commonly purchased items. Explain your sampling procedure, display data appropriately, and write up conclusions.

8. --- Monique Breillatt---- Ask 50 randomly selected people the following question: "If you guess the next flip of a coin correctly you will win \$100. The last four flips have been heads. What would you choose?" Display your results and explain the difference between the false "Law of Averages" and regression to the mean.

9. ---Taylor Bui --- Dominique Houston---Who works more? Ask a random sample of 50 students the following question: "how many hours a week do you spend on school related work - for example going to class, doing HW, attending study sessions …?" Ask a random sample of at least 25 teachers, the same question (including teaching, preparing lectures, grading papers, going to meetings, office hours …). Prior to collecting the data, make a prediction. Summarize your results.

10. ---- Laura Gorial & Saadia Zahir----- Complete a statistical analysis of ice cream. Compare one premium brand (Ben \& Jerry's, Hagen-Daz …) to a generic brand. How much more is the customer paying? What, besides taste are they getting? Check all ingredients \& justify your conclusions with data.

11. ---- Alfonso Santiago ---- Complete an analysis of sodas. Choose at least 25 regular sodas (not diet) at a grocery and compare grams of sugar per serving as well as price per ounce and any other quantities you find interesting. Display data appropriately and draw conclusions.

12. --- Allen Daluz --- Loaded questions: pick a controversial question that is of interest to you. Write the question in three ways, survey at least 40 people for each question and summarize and comment on your results. Below is a sample. Describe your sampling process.

a. Given that most murderers will kill again, even in jail, do you support the death penalty?

b. Given that innocent people have been executed by the state, do you support the death penalty?

c. Do you support the death penalty?

13. Conduct a small survey outside a public place (supermarket, video store …). The survey doesn't matter here, but the catch is that you must do it twice. The first time, wear ordinary clothing (t-shirt, shorts, jeans). The second time dress up. Keep track of the percentage of people who are willing to respond to your survey and their characteristics. (One person can give the survey while the other can discretely take notes.)

14. --- Kelsey Lickert ---- Chris Carroll ---- Davis The Fall is probably the biggest time of the year for television. Many regular TV shows start their seasons as well football season. Along with news shows and sports comes advertising. Your job in this project is to try to determine the effect of television commercials upon viewers. Develop a survey which asks regular viewers about the commercials they see. Which do they remember? How many do they remember? Do they use those products?

15. --- Kyle Bautista --- Kevin Kim --- Estimate and compare the average words per sentence in the New York Times and in a local newspaper. Explain carefully how you got your data and display your results clearly.

16. Estimate the percentage of the students at this college who regularly read a daily newspaper, the percentage who can name the two U.S. senators from their home state, the percentage who are registered to vote, and the percentage who would almost certainly vote if a presidential election were held today. Draw conclusions.

17. --- Christopher Nguyen--- College students are said to experience the Frosh 15 -- an average weight gain of 15 pounds during their first year at college. Test this folklore by asking at least 80 randomly selected students how much weight they gained or lost during their first year at college. Do you think the Frosh 15 is true? Also survey to see if students identify changes eating in physical condition, eating habits and exercise habits during their first year in college.

18. --- Eric Towne -- Brian Bielasz--- Gender experiment: Have a woman ask 50 randomly selected people the following question: "Have you had a nightmare in the past 12 months?" Record both the response and the person's gender. Now have a man gather the same info. Compare results. Come up with a question of your choosing upon which you think the gender of the surveyor will have an impact. Repeat the procedure and report your results.

20. --- Jason Tan ---- Jerico Kagaoan --- Campus resources: Develop a survey which measures what students do on campus other than going to class (library, cafeteria, athletic facilities, tutoring center …). Survey at least 100 students.

21. People experiencing an earthquake often grossly overestimate how long the quake lasts; for example reporting that a 6-second quake lasted 30 seconds. Show a random sample of people some memorable event, such a snippet of loud music or you dancing, and then ask them how long this event lasted. Do your data indicate that people are more likely to underestimate or overestimate the how long the event lasted?

22. Ask 50 female students these four questions: Among female students at this college, is your height above average or below average? Is your weight above average or below average? Is your intelligence above average or below average? Is your physical attractiveness above average or below average? Ask 50 male students these same questions (in comparison to male students at this college). Try to design and explain a survey procedure that will ensure candid answers. Are the responses to the questions and gender dependent or independent?

23. Young children who play sports are often separated by age. In 1991, for example, children born in 1984 might have been placed in a 7-year-old league while children born in 1983 were placed in an 8-year-old league. Someone born in January 1984 is eleven months older than someone born in December 1984. Because coaches give more attention and playing time to better players, children with early birth dates may have an advantage when they are young that cumulates over the years. To test this theory, look at sample data from two professional sports and see how many players have birth dates during the first six months of the year. Explain your sampling methods clearly and comment on your results.

24. Pick a date and approximate time of day (for example, 10:00 in the morning on April 1) for scheduling nonstop flights from an airport near you to at least a dozen large U.S. cities. Determine the cost of a coach seat on each of these flights and the distance covered by each flight. Use your data to estimate a simple linear regression model with ticket cost the dependent variable and distance the explanatory variable. Are there any outliers?

25. --- Andrea Salagubang, Paige Roybal ---- Who sends more text messages, men or women? Come up with a population, sampling procedure, and display your results with conclusion. Sample at least 50 men and 50 women.

26. Gun Control http://www.amjmed.com/webfiles/images/journals/ajm/AJM12080.pdf