Reports on articles
You will
use the Reading Research template
to write a short (2 page) summary for two of the articles presented in
class. The summaries can be of any of
the empirical articles available prior to class time (those presented by me,
other students, or guest speakers) other than one that you will present
yourself. The summaries are due at the
beginning of the class in which the research will be presented. The purpose of this assignment is to gain
practice in focused and critical reading of research.
Data assignments
You will
complete three basic assignments using the 2010 Washington
State Population Survey data (or another data set of your choice). These assignments are designed to
facilitate understanding of the enterprise of simulation: predicting changes
in outcomes under various policy scenarios.
It will also jump start you for your final project by helping to
develop the basic skills required to run multivariate models, use models to
predict outcomes and changes in outcomes for differing sets of explanatory
characteristics (especially policy variation).
The data
and materials are available on the Data page.
Assignment 1 (due Oct 6th)
Assignment 2 (due Oct 18tj)
Assignment 3 (due Oct 25th)
Presentation of Methods and Articles
You will
work in a group to summarize and present one multivariate method and one or
two related articles to the class. At least
one week prior to class, your group should provide a short, focused “cheat
sheet” and links to your favorite web sites or other resources on the
method. The group will present a
discussion of why the multivariate method is used, the data requirements, and
an explanation of how the method works.
Then you all should present one or two interesting and policy relevant
articles that employ the method. For
these articles, you can use the “Reading Research” template as a guide to
your presentation. My hope is that
each presentation will add to our collective experience with different
methods and issues in multivariate analysis, so you should focus your
presentation to that end. The purpose
of this assignment is to practice using your statistics foundation to the
understanding of a new multivariate method and its application.
Research Project
You will
choose a major course project that will result in a professional quality
written product. You can work alone or
in a pair. Please consult with me
prior to deciding on a topic and approach.
For data
you have two options: you can use the Washington State Population Survey
data. These data provide a wide
variety of variables and will allow you to practice your new advanced
multivariate models without worrying about identifying and understanding a
new data set. Or, to work on your
ability to understand and use new data, you can find a data set appropriate
to a project with multivariate analysis.
All
projects will include manipulation of raw data, multivariate analysis of the
data using the methods covered in the course, and careful communication of
the results.
Project proposal: Define the project and main
research questions, identify the data source, and the research design. You will need a brief literature review of
the relevant empirical work. [3-4
pages.]
Interim report: Present
updated project definition and report on early results (e.g., initial
descriptive statistics, graphics, and models). [3-4 pages.]
Final report:
This is the final product that fully presents the results of the
project. Include an executive summary
(usually one page) and high quality graphics to summarize analysis. The report is likely to be about 10-12
pages, but the quality and richness of the analysis and the presentation are
more important than is the length of the written product.
Class participation: Students
are expected to come to class prepared for active participation. Active, constructive participation
includes: asking questions in order to better understand the material,
contributing insights to class discussion, listening to the contributions of
others, and furthering learning for other class members. Providing constructive feedback to other
students on their work is important.
Here are some examples
of past student papers:
§
Sarah Terry
§
Jason Adams and
Ryan Kinsella
§
Ryan
Bidwell
§
Joanne Eckrem
§ Nobuaki Iida