Your report should be no more than 3 pages (single-spaced, 1 inch margins, at least 11 point font) including tables, graphs, and photos. Your report will follow the basic outline below.
1. Introduction (approximately 0.33 to 0.5 page)
a. Outline the principle questions of interest, making reference to main effects and interactions (if interactions are included in your model).
2. Design and Data Collection (approximately 1 to 1.25 pages)
a. Describe the experimental design you are using, including a statistical model for your observations. A graphical representation of your design may be a big plus.
b. Power analysis to decide how many subjects you would need to detect differences of interest with specified power. Or if an observational study or sample size is limited, construct a power curve showing that differences are possible to detect.
c. Describe in detail how you gathered your data. You should give enough detail to make it possible for me to reproduce your experimental procedures using your report. Emphasize how you used randomization in assigning treatments and carrying out the experiment. Instructive photos or diagrams are a big plus in illustrating your project.
3. Data Analysis (approx 1 to 1.25 pages)
a. Give a well-formatted ANOVA table for your analysis. (Don’t just paste in raw SAS or R output, which has an ugly font and ugly formatting.)
b. Interpret the effects in your model.
c. Give a nicely-formatted interaction plot for at least one interaction, even if it is non-significant. (If you have multiple interactions, choose the most interesting one(s)). Put the others in the Appendix.
d. Choose which means to compare and interpret such comparisons using appropriate methods.
4. Conclusions (approx 0.33 page)
a. BRIEFLY summarize important findings.
b. Discuss ways in which your findings can be interpreted and generalized. Is there a cause-and-effect relationship? What populations can you reasonably draw inferences about?
c. How might a future study be refined and/or expanded with extra time or resources?
5. APPENDIX – includes only the following items (and does NOT count toward your 3 page limit)
a. Well-commented code used for all analyses
b. Data sheet (print out from Word, Excel, SAS, etc.)
c. Plots and figures that could not be put into main body of text.
** To turn in your project, submit the project on Learning Suite in pdf format. This includes the appendix if there is one, but not the slides used in the presentation. If you wish to have your slide presentation anonymous, then remove your names from the slides. DO NOT email me your report or your data file.
Project Grading. The project grading criteria will consider following factors:
• The report uses clear writing that is free of grammatical and formatting errors.
• Precise language is used when describing the design and the experimental procedures. (If it isn’t clear what you did, I have to assume that your approach was also sloppy.)
• The project report demonstrates that the students approached the data collection with sophistication and seriousness. This includes providing a discussion of sample size or a power analysis.
• The correct analyses are used, with a proper ANOVA table given. If space allows, include the histogram plot of the residuals and the interaction plot(s). If space is insufficient, put these in an Appendix but refer to them in the body of the report.
• Proper methods are used when comparing means.
• Conclusions and interpretations of experiment are thoughtfully summarized. The conclusions should not be overlooked. Identify any shortcomings.
Link to my project with all the information: will be available for the assigned writer
Message with any questions and I’ll try to get back fast!
