Reference no: EM132319350

Sample Topics of Term Projects: .

1. Go to a local grocery store and collect these data for at least 75 breakfast cereals: cereal name; grams of sugar per serving; and the shelf location (bottom, middle, or top). Group the data by shelf location and use histograms to compare the sugar content by shelf location. [Observational  data; using histograms to summarize data, high-sugar cereals are often at  child-eye height.](Chapter 2 and 3)

2. Use computer software to simulate 1,000 flips of a fair coin. Record the fraction of the flips that were heads after 10, 100, and 1,000 flips. Repeat this experiment 100 times and then use three histograms to summarize your results [Simulation data; using histograms to summarize data; demonstrates central limit theorem and effect of sample size on standard deviation.] (Chapter 2,6,7),

3. 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? [Observational data ; simple linear regression; good fit with reasonable coefficients and interesting outliers.] (Chapter 4).

4. Estimate the average number of hours that students at this school sleep each day, including both nighttime sleep and daytime naps. Also estimate the percentage who have been up all night without sleeping at least once during the current semester [Survey data; confidence intervals for quantitative and qualitative data; students sleep less than 8 hours and many have all-nighters, if done at the beginning and end of the term, the differences are as expected.] (Chapter 9)-,

5. Estimate and compare the average words per sentence in People, Time, and New Republic. [Observational data; confidence interval with quantitative data; the order given is from fewest words to most; New Republic has some outlier sentences with close to 100 words.] (Chapter 9).

6. 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 100 randomly selected students how much weight they gained or lost during their first year at college Determine the two-sided p-value for testing the null hypothesis that the population mean is a 15-pound gain, and also determine a 95 percent confidence interva l for the population mean_ [Survey data; hypothesis test using t distribution; strongly rejected (is it a myth or do students misreport?).] (Chapter 9).

7.  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 a survey procedure that will ensure candid answers. For each gender and each question, test the null hypothesis that p = 0.5. [Survey data; hypothesis test using binomial model; most males think that they are above average.] Chapter 10),