STA1507 2024 Project B

Research Report
STA1507 Project B
Assignment 5

Name: <add your name – first names and surname>

Student number: <add your student number>

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 STA1507 2024 Project B

1. RESEARCH QUESTION

This document contains additional information on your Project B – the research report. It
can also be used as a template for your own research project – replace all the text under
the headings with your own text, leaving just the headers; and add your name and student
number to the front page. Remember to convert to a PDF document before submitting!

In this section, write down your research question. Remember that each student will be randomly
generated a research question, please get yours by doing the online assessment called “Get your
Project B question here” and write the research question in this section exactly as it was given.

For example, Is there a difference in wall material used between households in the different types
of settlements (urban formal, traditional and farms)?

2. METHODOLOGY

Since your research here is based on an already existing data set, you do not need to describe
how the sampling was done.

You must include full descriptions of the following.

 List the variables from the data set which you will need to use to answer your research
question. Give just the relevant variables, not any additional ones – you will get penalized
for adding unnecessary variables.

 Describe the relevant variables: give their names, descriptions and their measurement
scales and coding of the values, if relevant. You can find this information by reading
through the Variables.docx document. Note again that you should not describe all the
variables, but rather only the ones you need to answer your research question.

 Important: although all values of all variables in the data set have been coded using
numbers, some variables are nominal or ordinal rather than quantitative.

 Data analysis methods: Explain which kinds of graphs, tables and/or numerical data
measures you will create or calculate to answer the research question. Everything you
mention under Results (next section) should be discussed here first. List all the graphs you
will create, and for which variables. List all the numerical measures you will calculate,
giving the formulas used to calculate them (even if you did the calculations by Excel), and
which variables they were calculated for.

 Important: Again, you must pay close attention to the type of the variables and data.
Remember that any graphs or numerical measures are only valid for certain types of data.
Thus, for instance, you will get penalised for calculating an average for a nominal variable.

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 STA1507 2024 Project B

3. RESULTS

Here you present the findings as graphs, tables and/or numerical summaries of the data set.

Please make sure to include all the relevant graphs which would assist you to answer the
research question. Show all the numerical measures and/or tables which will help you answer the
research question.

 Make sure you include all the necessary graphs or tables which will help you answer the
question. What needs to be included depends on the question and the variables. Most of
the research questions involve at least two variables, and it is usually not enough to just
show the tables and graphs for each variable separately. Typically, you may be asked if
there is a correlation between two variables X and Y, or to see if there is a difference in a
variable X for different values of variable Y. What kind of graphs or tables you should show
depends on the measuring scale of X and Y, and depending on the variables, you may use
e.g. contingency tables and clustered bar charts, you may use clustered box plots or
histograms, or creating scatter plots and calculating correlation coefficients or regression
lines. Please refer to the modules STA1505 and STA1507 for the relevant graphs and
numerical measures.

 The tables, numerical measures and graphs you use must be appropriate for the type of
variables and data you are working with, and must be correct and complete. You must
label all graphs and tables correctly.

 Make sure the tables and/or graphics you choose to use make it easy to see the answer to
the research question. For example, if you have two nominal variables, you should
compare percentages rather than counts in contingency tables and graphs. This is
because different sizes of groups make it difficult to compare just counts.

 Use contingency tables presented the correct way around. The groups you are comparing
across should be your rows, and the variable whose values we are comparing should be
columns. Then if you use row percentages they give the results needed directly.

4. DISCUSSION

Finally, you need to explain what the answer is to your research question based on the results
listed in the previous section. You must motivate your answer based on the results (tables and
graphs) given in the previous section. Remember that your answer to the research question must
be based on the results of the analysis conducted on the given data, not on something else. Also
you should answer your research question and that only, not any other questions. Remember to
be precise in what you state as your findings!

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Final points: Some of your marks for the project will come from the language and formatting of
your work. Therefore, do proofread carefully to fix any spelling or punctuation errors. Write in full
sentences instead of bullet points, and write coherently so that your work is easy to follow. Make
sure the formatting (fonts of the text, margins and so on) are uniform across the document.
Finally, have a last look at the rubrics used to mark your work to make sure you did indeed include
everything that should be there.