Homework for this course will revolve around completing projects related to statistics.
In general, take all of the project descriptions as recommendations rather than rules. You can combine different projects, add your own ideas, and change plans at any point. If you have an idea that seems like it could work, it probably will.
There are two main types of projects, ones you can do on your own, and ones that you’ll do with others. For projects you can do on your own, you’ll be able to do the project without needing to coordinate with other people. You can choose to do these projects with partners as well, but it’s not necessary. For projects that you’ll do with others, working with other people will be a big part of the project.
While you’ll do research and activities for all of the projects, some of them involve more research, and some involve more activities. Research involves things like reading papers, watching videos, organizing notes, and analyzing data. Activities include things like interviewing people, making art, and collecting data.
On Your Own
More Research
Educational Resource
If you want to become a teacher, or if you’re interested in content production (like video editing, graphic design, etc.), then this is a great project for you.
Description
For this project, you’ll learn about a statistics topic of your choice, look at the resources that teach the topic, and create your own educational resource (or series of educational resources). This resource could be a video, textbook chapter, quiz, etc.
Your educational resource should improve on existing resources in some way, because if you just make a worse version of something that already exists, that’s not helpful to anyone. Fortunately, there are many ways to improve on existing resources. For example, many statistics resources are somewhat boring and technical, so you could make something more entertaining. Other resources are very detailed, so you could make something more approachable.
You’ll also need to make sure that the materials you make don't violate copyright law, or else they could be taken down. In general, this will mean making your own materials, or using open-license materials, and giving credit to your sources.
Expectations
To complete this project, you’ll need to:
1. Find educational statistics resources
2. Understand the concepts they’re teaching so that you can explain them
3. Plan how to improve on the resources you’ve found
4. Create, edit and complete your new educational resource(s)
5. Publish your work on Manifold.
You’ll document each stage of the process, so you can keep your progress organized, and so I can give you credit for your work.
Research
The first steps of the project will mostly be like doing normal schoolwork, as you’ll be learning from educational statistics resources. After all, before you can teach a subject, you need to understand it yourself! However, you’ll also pay attention to what you like and don’t like about the way the information is being taught.
You should look at several sources which cover the same statistics topic, to see what they do differently. You should think about what angle you could bring to the same topics.
You should also look into advice about creating educational materials- how can you make them engaging and effective?
To document your work, you can:
-Copy-paste the links to your sources
-Write or record summaries and reactions to the sources, including the topics they covered, questions you still have, and what you liked and didn’t like about them
-Write or record ideas you had in reaction to the sources, including how to use them, and ways to improve them
Planning
The most important thing to figure out is what angle or perspective to take to fill a gap in what’s currently available. Here are some gaps that I’ve noticed to give you some ideas:
-Many statistics resources that are “for kids” or “for teens” still feel very formal. You could make something more entertaining.
-Many statistics resources rely on the same age-old examples to make points. You could come up with more relevant, modern, or interesting examples.
-Many statistics resources are “uncritical”- they assume that statistics is a good thing, and that it makes sense. You could make something from the perspective of the bad aspects of statistics.
You’ll also need to decide what kind of material to make. You can make a few high-effort materials (like videos or textbook chapters), or many low-effort materials (like flashcards and practice quizzes).
To document your work, you can:
-Share your notes and drafts with me (by adding me to the document(s) or emailing me)
Production
Once you have your idea, you can start working on it. This will look different depending on what kind of materials you decide to make. In any case, you should plan to make drafts and revisions as you improve your work. It’s a good idea to write down your ideas, changes, and the reasons for your decisions- rather than just working on the materials themselves.
The most important thing is to focus on making what you have really good, instead of just making more stuff. There’s plenty of statistics materials out there, but far fewer really good ones.
Note that if you want to make a video or video series specifically, let me know and I can help you set up the tech.
To document your work, you can:
-Share your material drafts with me (by adding me to the document(s) or emailing me)
-Share your notes about ideas, changes, and issues with me
Resources
There are a lot of free statistics education resources- more than I can fit here. The following resources are meant to give you a sense of this field, but you should find more examples once you know what you want to focus on. There are also resources about how to design effective educational materials.
Textbooks
https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/statistics
https://openstax.org/details/books/introductory-statistics-2e
https://medium.com/@vespinozag/10-statistics-books-that-you-should-download-open-access-1655780a73fc
Videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zouPoc49xbk&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtNM_Y-bUAhblSAdWRnmBUcr
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBigTkBLU6g&list=PLblh5JKOoLUK0FLuzwntyYI10UQFUhsY9
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxYrzzy3cq8
Articles
https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/statistics/
https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/statistics/399866
Activities
https://quizlet.com/4205963/introduction-to-statistics-flash-cards/
https://www.varsitytutors.com/practice/subjects/statistics/practice
Educational Design
https://www.digitallearninginstitute.com/blog/a-beginners-guide-to-instructional-design-tools
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10494820.2025.2523390
Literature Review
If you have a topic that you want to become an expert in for college or your job, this is a good project for you. This is especially true if you want to go into a field which requires a graduate degree (such as medicine, law, scientific research, etc.).
Description
For this project, you will find, keep track of, and read research about a topic of your choice. You’ll take notes about what you find, and put your findings together into a report. In general, you’ll find that professional research in every field involves statistics, and often fairly complex statistics. Therefore, you’ll learn about statistics as you learn about the field you’re interested in.
You can choose to write the report in a personal or professional style. A personal style will be more like a journal entry or blog post, while the professional style will be like an academic research paper. The personal style will give more opportunities for self-reflection, while the professional style will directly prepare you to read and write academic research.
Expectations
To complete this project, you’ll need to:
1. Pick a research topic
2. Learn to use research tools
3. Create a system for keeping track of what you’ve learned.
4. Find and read research, and take notes
5. Write an article or articles based on your findings
6. Publish your work on Manifold.
You’ll document each stage of the process, so you can keep your progress organized, and so I can give you credit for your work.
Preparation
The first step in this project is picking a topic that you want to learn about. The good news is that essentially every professional field involves a lot of research and statistics, so whatever you’re interested in should work.
It’s likely that you’ll start with a general idea, and then narrow it down as you go. For example, you may want to become a doctor, but you may not be sure what specific kind of medicine you want to practice. That’s something you can work out as you start reading.
To document your work, you can:
-Share your notes and plans with me (by adding me to the document(s) or emailing me)
Research
There’s not a huge difference between doing readings for classes and doing professional research. The main difference is that you’ll have to find them yourself, and deal with a lot of big academic words like “neuroplasticity” and “dialectical.”
To find professional research, I recommend searching with Google Scholar (Google’s dedicated research search engine). There are other search tools, but Google Scholar is free and you don’t need to sign up for it.
You can start with a search as simple as “name of the topic” + “statistics” + “review,” see what you get, and go from there. For example, I might search “education statistics review” and see if I can access any of the results. As you read research and learn keywords, you’ll be able to find more specific articles.
You should also have a way of tracking the articles you’ve read, and your thoughts and reactions to these articles. This will be important for your final project, and your future projects. I recommend Zotero, because it has a browser plug-in that lets you save sources easily (among other features). But you can use Google Docs or Google Spreadsheet as well.
To document your work, you can:
-Copy-paste the links to your sources and citations
-Write or record summaries and reactions to the sources, including the topics they covered, questions you still have, and what you liked and didn’t like about them
-Write or record ideas you had in reaction to the sources, including how to use them, and ways to improve them
Production
For this project, you’ll write a literature review, which is a kind of research paper that summarizes the results of other research papers.
It will be like final papers you’ve likely written for other classes, but possibly a bit fancier. The goal is the same- to put information and ideas together clearly in a way that makes a greater point. As long as your paper does that, I’ll be cool with it. The process will also be similar- make an outline, then make and edit drafts until the paper is ready.
Professional literature reviews have all kinds of rules to follow. I’m not going to demand that you follow any of them, but if you want to practice being professional, this is a good chance to do so. The only thing you need to make sure you do is cite your sources- having both a references section, and in-text citations.
To document your work, you can:
-Share your paper drafts with me (by adding me to the document(s) or emailing me)
-Share your notes about ideas, changes, and issues with me
Resources
Google Scholar
https://paperpile.com/g/google-scholar-guide/
Zotero
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnbwKj6-pD8
How to Read a Research Paper
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3687192/
https://libguides.brown.edu/evaluate/Read
Research Paper Style
https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations
Pre-existing Data
If you’re interested in programming and computer science, then this is a good project for you.
Description
For this project, you will find an openly-available dataset, learn about analysis with statistics software, and then analyze the data you found. This will require you to learn about both the statistical approaches you’ll be using, and the computer systems you’ll be interacting with. While you can analyze any publicly-available data, it makes sense to analyze data about a topic that you’re interested in, in a way that will answer an important question. For example, you might look at NYC traffic data to see what kinds of vehicles are involved in the most accidents.
Expectations
To complete this project, you’ll need to:
1. Pick a topic that you want to research
2. Find an open dataset with information related to that topic
3. Develop a specific research question you can answer with that data
4. Set up and learn to use the relevant statistics software
5. Analyze the data and interpret the results
6. Create tables, graphs, and a report which summarizes your findings
7. Publish your work on Manifold
You’ll document each stage of the process, so you can keep your progress organized, and so I can give you credit for your work.
Research
Practice
To do this project, you’ll need to learn how to use at least one statistics analysis software.
Production
Resources
Open Data
JASP
R
Python
GitHub
More Activities
Observational Study
If you like learning by going outside and observing the environment, then this is a good project for you.
Description
For this project, you’ll pick some aspects of the environment to count or measure, then collect data, and analyze the results. You could pick an aspect of people’s behavior, or aspects of the physical environment. For example, you could go to a park and count the number of people who are reading books, and the number who are on their phones. Or, you could go to a neighborhood and count the number of streets with and without a bike lane. While you can observe any aspect of the environment, it makes sense to observe something that you find interesting, or that you think could answer an important question.
You should make your observations in a public space like a park or street corner, so that you avoid intruding on people’s privacy. If you do go into a private space like a store or a home, you’ll need to get permission before making observations there.
Expectations
To complete this project, you’ll need to:
1. Pick a topic that you want to research
2. Develop a specific research question that you can answer with observed data
3. Make a plan for where, when, and how you’ll make observations
4. Make a plan for how you’ll keep track of, and analyze your data
5. Make observations and collect data
6. Analyze and interpret your data
7. Create tables, graphs, and a report which summarizes your findings
8. Publish your work on Manifold
You’ll document each stage of the process, so you can keep your progress organized, and so I can give you credit for your work.
Planning
Making a good plan will be particularly important for this project, as you need to think about what data will be interesting to get, where you can get that data, how to keep track of that data, and how to not get in trouble for creeping on people.
The first part of the plan is coming up with a topic that’s interesting to you that you could collect data on. Then, you’ll need to figure out how to collect data that will help you learn about this topic. For example, if you’re interested in environmentalism, what kind of data could you collect that would be relevant to that? Maybe you could count how many trees are planted on different streets. You could count how many people have gardens on their balconies. You could count how many pins with environmental slogans you see on people’s bags. And so on like this. The main way to decide on what data to collect is to think about what would be the most interesting to know about- what would give the most insight into the topic.
Another important concept to learn about is a coding scheme. A coding scheme is basically a list of things that you’re going to be tracking, with clear definitions of what will count. For example, let’s say you want to count how many times someone checks their phone during a conversation. What exactly will count as checking their phone? Does checking the time count? Should long checks count differently from short checks? These are questions you’ll need to consider as you make your plan.
Finally, you’ll need to pick locations to collect data from. Make sure they’re accessible and safe to hang around in. In general, you’ll be good to collect data from public spaces that anyone is allowed to be in and record in. You’ll also probably be fine to collect data in your own home, or in this class.
If you want to collect data in a private space, you’ll need to get permission to set up there. Speak to me if you’re thinking about doing this! That way we can make sure no one gets in trouble (especially me).
To document your work, you can:
-Save links to sources you use to help plan
-Share your notes and plans with me (by adding me to the document(s) or emailing me)
Data Collection
It can be tricky to both watch what’s happening, and take notes on it at the same time. Therefore, it’s common for researchers to take pictures, audio recordings, or video recordings, and then review them later.
Production
Because a lot of this project’s effort will go into planning and observing, the final product can be more casual. I recommend making an article with pictures and reflections about the process, and your main takeaways. Your statistical analysis can be straightforward, just focusing on some key graphs and trends.
Resources
Coding Schemes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK6DaLCL_TA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6DkPanv76Q
Video Demonstration
Examples
Own Goals
If you have something that you’ve been meaning to work on, but have been putting off, or if you like to learn through self-reflection, then this is the project for you.
Description
For this project, you will set a goal, and figure out how to measure your progress. Then, you’ll track your progress using statistics. For example, you might want to read more. You could set a goal to read a book you’ve been meaning to get to, and record how many pages you read every day. Or, maybe you want to reduce your social media usage. You could track the app-usage information on your phone at the end of every day, and try to get the minutes down day-to-day. While you can set just about any goal you want for this project, it makes sense to focus on a goal that you really care about.
You can combine this project with any other project by setting measurable goals related to the other project. For example, if you do a literature review, you could set a goal to read a certain number of research papers every week, and track your progress towards that goal. This is a great way to keep yourself on top of things, while also earning more credit.
Expectations
To complete this project, you’ll need to:
1. Pick a specific goal that you want to work towards
2. Make a plan for when, where and how you’ll measure progress towards your goal
3. Make a plan for how you’ll keep track of, and analyze your data
4. Work towards your goal and collect data
5. Analyze and interpret your data
6. Create tables, graphs, and a report which summarizes your findings
7. Publish your work on Manifold
You’ll document each stage of the process, so you can keep your progress organized, and so I can give you credit for your work.
Planning
Data Collection
Data collection will look different depending on what goal you pursue, but in general the best way to approach it is to record whatever you’re tracking as soon as you can, so you don’t lose track of things.
This can look something like this:
8/22 | 30 pages read
8/23 | 0 pages read
8/24 | 44 pages read
Plan to enter this data in a Google Spreadsheet, as this will make it easier to analyze later.
Production
Analysis of your data will likely involve a time-series graph and analysis, which shows trends in how things change over time.
Resources
Goal Setting
Examples
Textual Analysis
If you like reading, writing, and thinking about literary themes and implications, then this will be a good project for you.
Description
To perform textual analysis, you choose aspects of a text, and then count the number of times those aspects occur. While you can count any aspect of the text, it usually makes sense to count something that could tell you something interesting about it. For example, you could count how many times the word “the” appears in the text, but the result probably wouldn’t be very interesting. On the other hand, you could count the number of times a female character does something impactful, and the number of times a male character does something impactful, which could tell you about the biases of the author.
You can apply textual analysis to any writing, including fiction, non-fiction, interview transcripts, and personal notes. Doing a textual analysis of your own writing can be interesting, as you can get a new perspective on your own habits, thought processes, and biases. You can also do a quick look at a large amount of text, or an in-depth look at a small amount of text.
You can also use textual analysis as a way to expand on any other project you work on that involves text. For example, if you do an interview or podcast, you could do a textual analysis of the transcript.
Expectations
To complete this project, you’ll need to:
1. Pick a text that you want to analyze
2. Develop a specific research question that you can answer with information from the text
3. Make a plan for how you’ll keep track of, and analyze your data
5. Parse through the text and collect data
6. Analyze and interpret your data
7. Create tables, graphs, and a report which summarizes your findings
8. Publish your work on Manifold
You’ll document each stage of the process, so you can keep your progress organized, and so I can give you credit for your work.
Planning
Data Collection
Data collection will involve carefully reading the text you choose, and noting instances of
Production
Resources
Coding Schemes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6DkPanv76Q
Examples
Art
If you enjoy art, music or creative writing, then this is the project for you.
Description
For this project, you will make a creative art piece (or a series of pieces) inspired by statistics, data analysis, and/or probability. You can work in any medium- you could make paintings, drawings, short stories, poems, songs, sculptures, comics, animations, games, or any combination of these and other options.
This project is hard to set guidelines for, since art is open-ended and subjective. The only thing I need to see from you is that you’re working on a genuine, original idea that you’re passionate about. If you choose this option, we’ll meet and work out the details of your idea and what I can expect from you once you get started.
Expectations
The artistic project you undertake should be original and interesting. It should make some kind of larger point. You should put genuine effort into making the project as good as it can be, based on its own terms.
You’ll document each stage of the process, so you can keep your progress organized, and so I can give you credit for your work.
Planning
To plan for your project,
To document your work, you can:
-
Production
To document your work, you can:
-Share pictures or videos with me showing your progress
-Share reflections about your process with me (as writing or voice notes)
Resources
Many artists have used probability, data analysis, and statistics as inspiration for their work. On the other hand, many researchers have brought artistic style to their work.
Examples
https://sparkmap.org/w-e-b-du-bois-data-visualization-history/
https://www.mandiberg.com/quantified-self-portrait-one-year-performance/
https://artofcollage.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/collage-according-to-the-laws-of-chance/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_8-B2rNw7s
https://www.biroco.com/yijing/cage.htm
Survey
If you like learning by going outside and interacting with people, then this is the project for you.
Description
For this project, you will find or create a survey, distribute it to people, collect their responses, and analyze the results. While you can ask people questions about anything, it makes sense to ask about topics that you find interesting or important.
There are two main methods you can use to set up your survey. You can either make your own survey, or you can find a survey that someone else made and use it. If you make your own survey, you’ll need to think about survey design and come up with questions. If you use someone else’s survey, you’ll need to make sure you have permission to use it, and that you understand how they set things up (the first option will usually be more straightforward).
There are also three main ways to distribute the survey, giving a hand out, interviewing people, or giving a link to an online survey. You’ll also need to think about respecting peoples’ privacy, and comfort with the questions you’re asking.
Expectations
To complete this project, you’ll need to:
1. Pick a topic that you want to research
2. Develop a specific research question you can answer with survey responses
3. Develop your survey questions and design
4. Make a plan for when, where, and how you’ll distribute your survey
5. Make a plan for how you’ll keep track of, and analyze your data
6. Recruit participants and collect data
7. Analyze and interpret your data
You’ll document each stage of the process, so you can keep your progress organized, and so I can give you credit for your work.
Planning
You should pick a topic that you’re really interested in,
One important term to know is “Likert scale,” which is the official name for asking someone to rate something from 1-5, or 1-10, 1-100, and so on. For example, you might ask someone to rate how much they value humor in a partner on a scale of 1-5, or how much they like going to parties on a scale of 1-10, and so on (you may have seen survey questions like this before). This is a great way of getting numbers that you can analyze for topics that would otherwise be hard to measure.
It might sound easier to use a pre-made survey, however this can actually be harder because you have to jump into someone else’s thought process and decisions to understand what the survey is supposed to do.
Privacy
Data Collection
Production
Resources
Survey Design
Consent Forms
Examples
With Others
More Research
Co-teaching
One of the best ways to learn about a topic is to teach it. If you’re interested in teaching, education, and public speaking/presenting, then this is a great project for you.
Description
For this project, you’ll work with me to plan a lesson, or series of lessons about statistics, which you’ll deliver to the class. These can be about a scheduled topic, or another topic of your choice.
To plan your lesson, you’ll review materials about effective education, and the statistics topic you’ll be covering. You’ll develop activities and materials for your classmates to interact with. If applicable, you can reuse materials you’ve made before, and/or ask me to share what I have with you. Then, you’ll coordinate with me to practice for, and lead the session(s).
This project can pair with any other project, as you can arrange to present what you’ve done for the other project to the class. For example, if you do a survey, you can present about the survey’s design and results. If you’re doing this project because you’re interested in teaching, you may also be interested in the student support project, and the educational resources project.
Expectations
To complete this project, you’ll need to:
1. Pick a statistics topic or topics that you would like to co-teach
2. Find resources which discuss the topic and learn it well enough to explain it
3. Find resources which discuss effective teaching practices and learn about them
4. Make a plan for when and how to teach the topic
5. Develop your lesson plan and materials
6. Practice teaching the topic
7. Co-teach the topic in class
8. Create a reflection about how the class went
9. Publish your lesson plan, materials, and reflection on Manifold
You’ll document each stage of the process, so you can keep your progress organized, and so I can give you credit for your work.
Planning
Research
Production
Resources
Student Support
If you like helping other people develop their ideas, then this is the project for you.
Description
For this project, you’ll provide guidance, assistance, and feedback for other students’ projects. You’ll learn about how to give effective feedback and manage a project. You’ll coordinate with one or more of your classmates to support their projects. Importantly, to succeed in this role, you’ll need to keep up with the topics the people you’re supporting are learning about, so you can give them informed advice.
If this project appeals to you because you want to be a teacher, counselor, or mentor, then you may also be interested in the educational resources and co-teaching projects.
Expectations
You’ll document each stage of the process, so you can keep your progress organized, and so I can give you credit for your work.
Planning
Research
Support
Production
Resources
Videos
Teaching Advice
More Activities
Podcast
If you like learning by talking to your friends and doing group-study sessions, or if you’re interested in content production, then this is a great project for you.
Description
For this project, you’ll record podcast episodes about topics related to statistics. You and the other students you’re working with will pick a source to react to, read/watch that source, and then get together to discuss it (you may have listened to podcasts or YouTube series that are like this). You’ll record these discussions (in audio or video form), and upload them as a series. Ideally, these episodes will start with a quick summary of the sources you’re reacting to, and then primarily focus on your feelings and opinions about them.
You can also do a podcast on your own, with the same setup, except speaking as if you’re talking to your listening audience. If you’re interested in this option, let me know.
This is also a good project to mix in with other projects, as you can get together to discuss anything else you’ve worked on. For example, if you do a survey project, you can talk about the results of the survey as an episode.
Expectations
To complete this project, you’ll need to:
1. Find a partner or partners to do the podcast with
2. Make a plan for when, where and how you’ll record the podcast
3. Look into and set up recording, editing and publishing options
4. Find statistics-related articles or resources to react to
5. Read or watch the sources independently
6. Discuss and record your reactions to the resources
7. Compile your recordings into episodes
8. Publish your episodes on Manifold
You’ll document each stage of the process, so you can keep your progress organized, and so I can give you credit for your work.
Planning
Research
Production
Resources
Statistics Podcasts
Audio and Recording Programs
Statistics Sources
Statistics Interviews
If you like to learn by talking to people and hearing about their experiences, then this is the project for you.
Description
For this project, you’ll interview people about their knowledge of, and use of statistics and data-analysis. You’ll learn about interviewing techniques, come up with a set of questions, identify people to talk to, and record interviews with them. Then you’ll go through the recordings and note major themes.
This project connects well with the textual analysis project, as the transcripts of your interviews will give interesting text to analyze. If this project appeals to you because you like talking to people, the podcast project might also be a good option.
Expectations
To complete this project, you’ll need to:
1. Learn about recording options and conducting interviews
2. Develop your interview questions
3. Plan where, when and how you’ll record your interviews
4. Set up and conduct interviews with people
5. Write or record reflections about your interview results
6. Compile your results into a report
7. Publish your work on Manifold
You’ll document each stage of the process, so you can keep your progress organized, and so I can give you credit for your work.
Planning
You’ll also need to figure out how to store and organize your recordings Make sure you add a date/time label to Google Drive and Dropbox can work well, as long as you don’t run out of space! If let me know and we can work something out.
Data Collection
Production
Resources
Interview Advice
Audio and Recording Programs
Other
If none of the listed projects appeal to you, or if you have an idea that you don’t see listed that you are passionate about, let me know. We’ll find a way to make your idea work for the course.
Other possible ideas:
-Inventing new statistics - good if you’re math-oriented
-Conduct an experimental study - good if you’re interested in science
-Online-only survey - good if you’re interested in digital design
-Formal critique of statistics - good if you’re interested in philosophy
-Deep meditation on statistics - good if you’re interested in meditation