Module: Statistics for the Social Sciences

Module: Statistics for the Social Sciences

Title: Statistical Research Project
Task: Investigate a social, legal, business or scientific issue by gathering, analysing and interpreting data.
• This Assessment is worth 50% of the overall mark for this module. Your work will be marked out of 100.
• Your work should 1000 words (+/-10%) in length.
• The aim of this assessment is to enable you to demonstrate your ability to investigate a social or business issue, of your choice, using statistical techniques, analysis and interpretation.
• The deadline for this piece of work is stated above
• Your work must be formally submitted in class by the deadline given above.
• Work submitted after this date will receive a reduced mark in line with college policy

Learning Outcomes – The learning outcomes being assessed in this research project are:
• Understand the principles of collection, summary and organisation of data.
• Present and interpret collected data.
• Calculate, interpret and use summary measures.
Note that this is an individual investigation! It must be your own individual and original work.

DO NOT SHOW OTHERS STUDENTS WHAT YOU HAVE WRITTEN – this is collusion and is a serious academic offence.

DO NOT COPY ANOTHER STUDENT’S WORK OR FROM ANY OTHER SOURCE – this is plagiarism and is a serious academic offence.

Remember, when you submit your work, you sign a declaration confirming that it does not contravene the College’s Regulations on Academic Misconduct.

You must ensure that all assignments you submit are your own work.
Any ideas or theories based on the work of other writers must be fully acknowledged and correctly referenced both within the text and the bibliography/reference list.
It is unacceptable to quote major sections of text, even if this has been fully referenced.
To complete your Research Project you will need to complete all of the following tasks:

1. Decide upon the issue you wish to research. It may be related to business, law, science or the social sciences. (i.e. the changes in unemployment statistics over time, the fluctuations in GDP in developing countries, exam success rates in single sex schools compared to mixed schools, etc.)
• You should aim to set yourself a research question for this part
2. You are required to collect some secondary data, from academic sources, relating to your subject area. (You must include a copy of the data you use at the end of the report.) The data you select is up to you, but you must collect sufficient data to allow you to research your subject in enough depth.
3. Use a range of appropriate statistical techniques to display and process this data. (i.e. scatter diagrams, histograms, pie charts, cumulative frequency curves, measures of average, etc.)
4. Analyse what your data shows, and wherever possible, consider the impact of any outside variables. You may also wish to consider any criticisms of the data you have used at this point.
• This part might involve answering the question you set yourself in part 1 (above)
5. Outline and discuss any issues you think might relate to the original collection of the data you have used in your report. Your discussion should include the following points;
• An outline of how the data were (or might have been) collected.
• A discussion of some of the problems that might have been experienced by the researchers in collecting this data.
• Your ideas about how to improve on this data collection technique and why you think your method would be better

Marking Criteria – Marks for this research project are awarded according to the following criteria:
a) the extent to which your calculations, presentation of data, and what you write, are accurate and appropriate;
b) the quality and depth of critical analysis (not just description!);
c) how fully you investigate and critically analyse the data collection technique;
d) the extent to which your work is coherently structured;
e) the accurate referencing of the texts and data sources used in your analysis.

Hints and Tips
1. The most important thing you must do in completing this assessment is to make sure that you complete the task that has been set and that means completing all of the tasks outlined in the box above.

2. Make sure that you understand all of the information that is given on this brief. If there is anything that you are not clear about then get some support from your tutor.

3. Make sure that you give yourself plenty of time to work on this assignment. By starting early you give yourself the best possible chance of being awarded a high mark. If you leave this assignment until the ‘last minute’ it is very likely that you will make mistakes and/or find it very difficult to get (and act on) any guidance from your tutors.

4. In presenting your answer, it is a good idea to use sub-headings and present your work in relevant sections. It is also a good idea to include a short introductory paragraph, which explains the structure of your work, and use appropriate ‘signpost’ sentences at the beginning and end of sections. These can guide the reader – and, indeed, can help you (the writer) construct a more coherent piece of work.

5. You should think very carefully about the resources you use for this essay. Make sure that all the research you do is from academic sources. Academic sources are things like textbooks, journals and e-journals. Everything you read in an academic source will have been peer-reviewed which means that experts in the field will have seen it and agree that the ideas are reasonable and accurate. Web sites such as Wikipedia are not peer reviewed and therefore do not count as academic sources.

6. At the end of your project, you should list out all books to which you have referred in your essay using the methods discussed during your Skills for Study sessions.

7. Your work must be word-processed, using 1.5 or double spacing and a 12 or 14 font size. Your graphs and / or charts should either be drawn on graph paper or you may wish to use Microsoft Excel for this purpose. Always leave a margin so that I have space to insert any comments I would like to make as I am reading your work.

8. You should submit two identical copies of your work. Please ensure that all the pages are stapled together and that pages are numbered. Each page should include a header or footer which includes – your student id number and the module code (eg FC040) and the page number.

9. Your work will be awarded a mark out of 100. The pass mark for this assignment is 40%. This means that you have just succeeded in meeting the criteria set out earlier in this hand out. An ‘average’ mark is equivalent to 50-59%. A good mark is equivalent to 60% and above, with marks equivalent to over 70% being deemed to be of excellent quality.
FC040 Individual Research Project
Additional guidance notes – Here are some ideas on report layout and content points.
1.
Introduction
• Describe what your topic area is and identify your report question
o Why have you decided to study this area and answer this question?
• Briefly outline how you are going to answer the question;
o What data are you going to gather?
o What will you do with it and how will this enable you to answer the question?

(Suggested word count; 150 to 200)
2.
Data tables
• This section is used to share the data that you plan to use to help answer your questions
• It should consist of a table (or a series of tables) with the data that you are using to help answer the question.
• The tables might be copied directly from a source or if the original data were not presented in a table you might have to create one
• In this section you should also provide clear information on your data sources;
o Publication name and date or clear web addresses
o Some brief comments on how you have ensured that the data are of a high enough quality to use.

(Suggested word count; up to 50)
3.
Diagrams and Calculations
• This section should contain graphs and diagrams
o Each graph or diagram should be accompanied by a brief description (e.g. “The graph above shows how prices for mobile phone contracts have changed over the past 15 years”)
• You should also include any calculations you have chosen to conduct
o Be sure to include all workings with your calculations and results

(Suggested word count; up to 50)
4. Commentary and Analysis
• Use this section to discuss all points of interest relating to your data.
• It should also be used to comment in detail on the diagrams and calculations contained in section 3
o What patterns can be seen in the diagrams?
o What information do the results of your calculations provide?

(Suggested word count; 300 to 400)
5.
Data collection process and issues
• How were the data gathered by the original researcher’s?
o This requires you to investigate how the data were actually gathered or to imagine how you might have collected the data if you had been given the task.
o You may need to speculate.
• What issues or problems did they experience or could they have experienced?

(Suggested word count; 150 to 200)
6.
Conclusion
• Summarize briefly the main points from section 4.
• Provide an answer to your report question.
o The answer may be clear or ambiguous. Complete or only partial.
o Is further research required
• Are any other questions raised by your work?
• What research could be done to follow on from your work?

(Suggested word count; 100 to 150)