ECON 2210/ MATH 2050

Description of Assignments

Your syllabus includes a section labeled Quizzes/Assignments which indicates that you will have two assignments involving data collection and analysis.  Your score for each assignment counts as two quiz scores.  This web page will include a description of those assignments.  Below is the description of the first assignment.

Assignment 1 - Comparing Two Characteristics

Develop a study in which you compare two or more quantities. 

Possible Ideas:

You might compare the prices of goods at one store with the prices of the same goods at another store.
The number of hits for two baseball players over the last 10 years.
The annual revenues of two companies over the past 10 years.
You might survey students regarding characteristics of interest to you.
The growth after one month of 10 plots of one type of grass compared to the growth of 10 plots of a different type of grass.
 

Requirements:

*You must get your research idea approved by me before you conduct your study.  Bring your idea to me in writing.  I will initial the paper if I approve the idea.  Attach this paper to your report.
*Each data set must have at least 10 entries.

Your Typed Report (paper - no electronic submissions) Will Include:

1.  Introduction:  A description of what you are comparing and the relevance/importance of the specific characteristics being studied.  Describe the context in which this study is being conducted.  Your introduction will  include a statement of the research question.  Click here for further description of this section.

2.  Your data set and a description of where/how you obtained the data.

3.  Either frequency tables or graph depicting each data set.  Determine the mean, standard deviation, and any other relevant statistics.  (You don't have to show the actual calculations of these quantities, just show the numbers.

4.  Conclusions:  Compare the charts, tables and statistics.  Use this information to draw conclusions and answer the research question you gave in the introduction.  Include your background and knowledge to enhance this analysis.

5.  Include the paper with your project proposal that I initialed.

Due Date:  October 24th.  Any assignment submitted after this date will have 50% deducted from its percent score.

Scoring

Neatness/Spelling/Composition (5 points):  The report should be professional looking.  There should be no spelling errors or serious grammatical errors.

Accurate (5 points):  Your calculations should be accurate.  Your statements in the conclusion should also be accurate.

Thorough/Completeness (10 points):  Your report should include all required information.  Your introduction and conclusion should include discussion of all relevant topics.  (If I judge that you have done an outstanding job on your introduction, I will award you 1 or 2 bonus points.)

Your score for this assignment will be expressed as a percent and will equal the number of points earned divided by 20.