Description
Description
In this question you will create a survey and describe and critique aspects of your survey. Create a survey
about any topic with at least 6 questions, using any of the following platforms: SurveyMonkey, Google
Forms, Microsoft Forms, Typeform, Qualtrics, etc.
You should touch on the following points (I suggest at least one paragraph for each of the following):
Goal
Explain the goal/topic of your survey. Why is this topic relevant? (You will likely need citations for this)
Be sure to explicitly describe how the survey will contribute to the overall goal/topic.
Procedure
Propose how you would implement the survey (ie. provide a procedural outline of how you will collect data
– be realistic). Here you should identify your target population, frame population, and sample population.
Identify any drawbacks in your procedure. Justify the strengths of your proposed sampling procedure.
Showcasing the survey.
Provide a link to your survey.
Choose 3 questions in your survey to showcase in this submission. Copy and paste them (and make sure
they are formatted nicely) into this part of the document. Explain why you chose these three questions and
the benefits and drawbacks of each question.
General Notes (for Part 1):
• You should have a bibliography and you should use inline citations. If it is clear that you (or the
reader) looked up something that is not common knowledge, then you will lose points if it is not cited.
• Please have a look at our course Resources page if you need help with Writing, LaTex, Tidyverse, etc.
• Grammar is not the main focus of the assessment, but it is important that you communicate in a clear
and professional manner. I.e., no slang or emojis should appear.
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Part 2
Description:
In this question you will write up a “Data” section, a “Methods” section, a “Results” section and an “Appendix” of a report, based on data collected (or simulated) from the survey in Part 1. Your data analysis
will consist of a hypothesis test and a confidence interval.
Here you have two options: (i) You can implement your survey to collect data; or (ii) you can simulate your
data.
Minimum requirements:
• Data needs to have a sample size of at least 20 (but the more the better – if you are simulating you
should have much larger n).
• Data section should include at least one plot/figure.
• Data section should include at least one summary table.
• Your analysis must include: (i) at least one hypothesis test on some parameter of interest; and (ii) at
least one confidence interval on a different parameter of interest. Thus, your “Methods” section will
describe one hypothesis test and confidence interval to be calculated, and your “Results” section will
showcase the output of the hypothesis test and confidence interval.
Data
The goal of the Data section is to introduce the reader to the data, showcase some meaningful aspects of
the data, and get them thinking about potential hypotheses/findings.
Your Data section should include the following:
• A detailed description of the data collection/simulation process.
• If you simulated the data you should explain the entire simulation process so the reader can reproduce
it (based solely on the writing).
• If you collected data via the survey you must explain your collection process (again as one may wish
to reproduce it) and comment on any drawbacks/obstacles.
• A summary of the cleaning process (if you cleaned the data). Again, one (who is NOT necessarily
familiar with Tidyverse functions) should be able to read this section and reproduce your cleaning
process based off reading your description.
• A description of the important variables.
• Some appropriate numerical summaries (at minimum center and spread, but something else may be
more appropriate). Please put them in a well-formatted and labelled table.
• At least 1 aesthetically pleasing plot/graph/figure (No more than 4 plots – if you have more than 4
then create an Appendix section at the end of the report).
• Text explaining each table or figure.
• Some text (and perhaps graphical summaries) of the variables you will perform the hypothesis test
and/or confidence interval on. This should help prep the reader in understanding why the test or
interval is important and whether it is appropriate.
• In line referencing if needed.
• Reference the programming language/software used to complete this section.
Methods
The goal of the Methods section is to introduce the reader to the statistical methods that you will be using
to analyze the data.
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Your Methods section should include the following:
• A complete explanation of what the methodologies: an explanation of the hypothesis test and confidence interval.
• Explain and justify any assumptions.
• An explanation of the parameters of interest (i.e., mean/variance/percentile/etc.).
• An explanation are for a general science reader (i.e., not a statistician).
• A description of why the method is appropriate based on assumptions, variable types and practical
rationale.
• In-line referencing.
• Note: if you want to show derivations of your hypothesis test statistic and/or confidence interval, your
derivations should be placed in an Appendix.
Results
The goal of the Results section is to present the results of the statistical analyses to the reader.
Your Results section should include the following:
• The results of the methodologies (hypothesis test and confidence interval) included in the report.
• An explanation and interpretation of the results.
• Some commentary on whether or not the results seem reasonable.
• Text explaining any tables or figures.
• In-line referencing.
• In-line R code to produce output in text (E.g. The mean is ` r mean(x) `.).
Bibliography
Your Bibliography section should include a list of well-formatted citations. No specific reference style is
required, but you must use some formal reference style in order to ensure that the references are accessible.
Appendix
The goal of the Appendix is to include any secondary information to the reader.
Your Appendix section should include the following:
• A glimpse() of the data (for us to check the variables match that of the survey and the sample size
is sufficient).
• Any additional plots or calculations that are not of primary necessity to the report, but should be
included for completion-sake.
General Notes (for Part 2):
• It is expected that your methods be a hypothesis test and a confidence interval. It is recommended
that you use standard approaches, but this is not required.
• All tables/figures should be well-labelled and clean.
• With the exception of the glimpse output in the Appendix, there should be no evidence that Part 2 is
an assignment, I should be able to take a screenshot of this section and paste it into a newspaper/blog.
• There should be no raw code. Any output should be nicely formatted.
• You should reference the data, any outside code/documentation and any ideas/concepts that are taken
outside of the course.
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• Note, we are not marking grammar, but we are looking for clarity. If you need help with writing there
are resources posted on the Course Info>Resources page of Quercus.
• Use full sentences.
• Be specific. Remember, you are selecting this topic/data and the reader/marker may not be familiar
with it. A good principle is to assume that your audience is not aware of the subject matter.
• Remember to end each section with a concluding sentence. This means summarizing the key points
from your writing.
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