Homework for this course will revolve around completing projects related to statistics. This document describes the various projects you could work on.
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.
How to read this document: You don’t have to read every project description. Instead, read the title and the brief description, and see if you’re interested. If you are interested, then you can read more. Also make sure to treat the Resources section as a guide, not a list of assignments. These are good places to get started, but ultimately I want you to find your own resources, so you can make a project that’s truly yours.
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, game 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
https://mathequalslove.net/statistics-activities/
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 in your review
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
You should start your project by finding a publicly-available dataset with information about a topic you’re interested in. You can do this by searching in various data repositories, see the Resources for recommendations (if you want to go to a site that isn’t listed in the resources, let me know so I can make sure you don’t download a virus).
Most public datasets have a lot of information, so once you have a dataset, you should consider what parts of the data you really need to look at, and what parts aren’t that important to the question you want to answer. For example, if you get a dataset about traffic accidents in NYC, it will contain information about what vehicles were involved, when the accident took place, where the accident took place, how serious the accident was, how many injuries were reported, and so on. However, you may only need to look at two of those variables to make an interesting comparison. You should come up with a clear idea of what question you want to answer, and what data will let you answer that question.
You’ll also need to make sure you have access to a computer that you can install statistics software on- for example, library computers will often have restrictions on downloading programs. If you don’t have access to such a computer, let me know and we can work something out.
To document your work, you can:
-Share links and citations for your data sources (including ones you only looked at)
-Share planning documents and notes (by adding me to the document or emailing me)
Practice
To do this project, you’ll need to learn how to use at least one statistics analysis software. There are three main choices that are free, open-source, and used professionally. They have advantages and disadvantages.
JASP: Visual-interface-based software for statistics and data analysis. Good if you want to do statistics without coding.
R: Specialized coding language for statistics and data analysis. Good if you want to go on to be a researcher or statistician.
Python: General-purpose coding language with statistics and data analysis functionality. Good if you want to go on to work as a programmer or computer scientist.
If you work with R or Python, you’ll also want to look into Github. Github is a site that programmers use to save and share their work with each other (among other things). You can use it to find example code and advice.
One of my former students has made a further guide about introductory resources for each of these programs. See the Resources section for details.
Note that various AI programs can be used to write code for R and Python, and are being used to do so professionally. I have mixed feelings about using them for this, since there are complex upsides and downsides. If you’re interested in this option, let me know and we can work out a plan.
Regardless of which option you choose, you’ll need to practice using the software to be able to analyze data in it. As you look into practice options, and learn about statistics in general, keep in mind the question you want to answer, and target the most important skills to answer it.
To document your work, you can:
-Share planning documents and notes about which software you’re learning, and your practice schedule for it
-Share links to sources you’re using to practice the software
-Share code and analysis results (by copy-pasting writing or sharing files)
Production
Once you’ve got a handle on using your analysis software and interpreting the results, you can analyze your intended data to answer questions about it. You can also make graphs and plots to summarize and display the results of the analysis.
If the dataset is very large (as it likely will be), it may be a good idea to cut out a part of the dataset to analyze (say, the first 200 rows of data) so you don’t fry your computer.
Once you’ve analyzed and interpreted the data, you’ll put your findings together into a report. Since the data analysis will take a lot of effort, I don’t expect the written portion to be that extensive- just to get the basic idea of what you’ve found across. It would also be good to include a reflective element about your learning process.
Note also that other students may want you to help them analyze your data, since you’ll have the skills to do so. You can also get credit for working on this, of course.
To document your work, you can:
-Share code, analysis results, and notes about interpretation of the results
-Share graphs and plots
-Share notes and reflections about your process
-Share drafts of your report
Resources
One of my former students (who’s interested in becoming a statistician) created this guide for open data and statistics software options. You can use this to direct you to the sources you’re interested in. If you’d like to ask her questions about it, let me know and I can reach out to her.
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
Once you have your coding scheme, you can go to the location you choose and start collecting data. In general, it’s a good idea to have a process prepared for how you’ll track information. Plan to have a spreadsheet or table ready on your phone, tablet, or notebook. You can always try out different systems and settle on one that works for you.
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. This can require more time and setup, but can be more accurate and less stressful.
It’s a good idea to track information in a way that will be easy to analyze later. This can be tricky to do, so make sure to reach out for advice.
To document your work, you can:
-Share your notes and plans with me (by adding me to the document(s) or emailing me)
-Share updates about data collection, plans, and issues with me
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.
To document your work, you can:
-Share plans and drafts with me (by adding me to the document(s) or emailing me)
Resources
Note that in general, resources giving advice about observational data collection are relatively sparse. If you’d like to work on this issue, let me know.
Coding Schemes
https://us2.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/24614_01_Saldana_Ch_01.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK6DaLCL_TA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6DkPanv76Q
Video Demonstrations
Note that I couldn’t find examples where people used phones or tablets, but it is very common.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4uxDiqZeIs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZvJx_M03Hw
Examples
https://www.unh.edu/inquiryjournal/blog/2021/03/learning-code-human-behavior
Note that you don’t have to do something this extensive for your study. Keep the number of things you’re tracking manageable.
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
The most important step of this project is to set a goal that will work as the basis of the project. This means setting a goal that:
1. Is important to you
2. Can be done regularly
3. Can be measured
For example, you might want to save more money. This goal could be important to you because you want to have more independence from your parents. It’s something you can work on regularly by trying to reduce your spending every day. And it can be directly measured, by checking your expenses in your account at the end of every day and recording the number.
For some goals, working on them regularly and measuring them will be straightforward. For other goals, it might be harder to do so. For example, let’s say you wanted to be more polite to people. How would you work on this? How would you measure success? There would be ways to do this, but they would be a little trickier to figure out.
Another important component of this project is self reflection, where you think about how your progress is going, and in what ways you’re succeeding and falling short. You’ll need to think about the strategies you’re using to improve, and what’s working and not working about them. Importantly, I’ll want you to reflect on how treating your relationship with this goal statistically is changing your relationship with the goal. You may have intended to save money for a long time- how is the process of tracking your spending affecting how you work with that intention?
To document your work, you can:
-Share notes and planning documents with me (by adding me to the document(s) or emailing me)
-Share thoughts and reflections with me
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 forget things.
This can look something like this:
8/22 | 30 pages read
8/23 | 0 pages read
8/24 | 44 pages read
You’ll want to enter this data in a spreadsheet, as this will make it easier to analyze later. While all you need to record is the measurement of your goal, and the time of the measurement, you may want to track other data as well, like where you were, how you felt, etc. You can also take pictures, screenshots or videos of your process. You should also record your thoughts and reflections on how the process is going.
To document your work, you can:
-Share datasets with me
-Share reflections, plans and process documentation with me
Production
Your final project will involve summarizing the progress you’ve made towards your goal or goals. To do this, you’ll reflect on your process, and support your interpretation with the data you collected.
Your reflection on your process should involve written or spoken documentation of your thoughts, strategies, and changes in the pursuit of your goal. You can also include photographs, screenshots, and videos of your work.
Your data analysis doesn’t need to be too involved, since the focus of this project is on self-reflection. It will likely at least involve reporting descriptive statistics, and a time-series graph and analysis, which shows trends in how things change over time.
To document your work, you can:
-Share your reflections and notes with me
-Share your data and data analysis with me
Resources
Goal Setting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-SvuFIQjK8
https://jamesclear.com/goal-setting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goal_setting
Examples and Guides
In general, you can look up “thing you’re interested in + goal setting” and find guides/advice.
Textual Analysis
If you like reading, writing, and thinking about literary themes and implications, then this will be a good project for you.
Description
There are many approaches to more closely analyzing text, some of which involve statistics. To perform a statistical 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
You’ll start your project by figuring out which text you want to analyze. You should pick a text that is meaningful to you, and that you feel could give you interesting insights. This could be a favorite book, poem, short story, research paper, or your own writing. Keep in mind that a text could be a transcript of a recording, so song lyrics, movie scripts, and voice notes could all be analyzed as well. If the text is very long (a whole book, for example), you may want to start with one section of the text (such as one chapter), and go from there. Also keep in mind that if you’re using a copyrighted text, you’ll need to be sensitive about how you work with it- let me know if you’re interested in this, and we’ll come up with a plan. Also reach out to me if you’re going to analyze a private text, such as someone’s diary or confessional.
Next, you should come up with a question that you want to answer about the text, and a way to gain insight to that question. For example, you might want to know if an author portrays male and female characters differently. You could analyze if more long words (6+ letters) are spoken by male or female characters. Or you could analyze if male characters use more positive phrases than female characters.
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, if you want to track “positive phrases,” you’ll need to define what counts as a “positive phrase.” “I feel good” might be a positive phrase, but “I feel alright” is a little harder to judge. You can always create different categories as well, for example “clearly positive,” “clearly negative,” and “unclear if positive or negative.” See the Resources section for more advice.
To document your work, you can:
-Share your planning documents and notes (by adding me to the document(s) or emailing me)
-Document and cite the texts you’ll be analyzing
-Share your coding scheme and plans
Data Collection
Data collection will involve going through the text you choose while noting and categorizing instances of what you’re looking for.
There are two main approaches- you can either do this by hand, or use software to assist you. Doing it by hand will give you more control, but using software will let you look at much more text without taking forever to do so. You can also combine these approaches to get a variety of data.
You should work by hand if:
-The things you’re looking for are complex or subjective (positive phrases, references to nature, ironic statements, etc.)
-The text is not too long
-The text is physical, and not easy or safe to get a digital version of (private notes, banned books, family memoirs, etc.)
You should use software if:
-The things you’re looking for are simple or follow a strict rule (words with 6+ letters, total sentences spoken each character, what the most common word is)
-The text is very long
-The text is digital and public
The best free, available software for textual analysis is called Voyant. There is an online version, and a version you can download. You should download Voyant if you’re working with a copyrighted or private text so you don’t accidentally make it public on the internet.
To document your work, you can:
-Share your data and data analysis
-Share your reflections about your process and progress
-Document your changes in plans or methods
Production
Once your analysis is complete, you’ll put your results together into a report. Because the planning and data collection portion of this project is in-depth, the report can be relatively informal. It should include a summary of your results and how you’re interpreting them, ideally with graphs or plots included. It should also include a reflection on how the process went for you, and what you got out of it.
To document your work, you can:
-Share your tables, graphs, and analysis interpretation
-Share your drafts, notes and reflections
Resources
Software
https://voyant.lincsproject.ca/ | https://beta.voyant-tools.org/
(note that the main site https://voyant-tools.org/ is down for maintenance, so these are the the alternatives)
https://libguides.brooklyn.cuny.edu/digitaltoolbox/voyant
https://github.com/voyanttools/VoyantServer (this is where to download Voyant- ask me if you need help doing so)
Coding Schemes
https://us2.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/24614_01_Saldana_Ch_01.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6DkPanv76Q
Examples
https://womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2025-Its-a-Mans-World-Report.pdf
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26939169.2024.2410796
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, videos, 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, you’ll look at art projects that have been based on statistics and probability. You’ll reflect on these projects, your own ideas, the statistics concepts we’re discussing in class, and how to bring these elements together.
Since this project is open-ended, expect to rely on feedback from me to shape it as we go. In general, I’ll encourage you to push whatever your idea is further.
To document your work, you can:
-Share links with me to sources and projects you’re reviewing
-Share notes or voice recordings about your ideas
Production
Production will look different depending on the nature of your project. The only things that you should be sure to include is some connection to statistics or probability throughout the process. Again, I’ll give feedback as we go.
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. Both types are referenced below.
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
When creating your survey, you should pick a topic that you’re really interested in, so you can learn about that topic while you learn about statistics. You’ll need to come up with questions to ask people about that topic that people can respond to with numbers you can analyze.
You can ask people to report a number, like how many siblings they have, or how long they spend watching videos online every day. You can also ask them to rate their opinions about a topic, using a Likert scale. 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.
Another important concept is phrasing questions negatively or positively. For example, if you ask someone “On a scale of 1-5, how much do you like using social media?” and they respond with a 5, that means they really like social media. But if you ask “On a scale of 1-5, how much do you dislike using social media?” a 5 will mean that they really hate social media. Keep this in mind when you’re coming up with questions, and analyzing results.
You’ll also need to pick a form to make and distribute the survey in. You can make one online, print one out, or ask people questions and record their answers directly. Note that making an online form will make analyzing the results later easier. You can use Google Forms for this purpose.
You can also find and use a survey that was made by other researchers for the project. Now, 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. A lot of pre-existing surveys are long and technical, since they’ve been made for professional research. With that said, they’re also usually well designed, for the same reason. If you do use a pre-made survey, make sure to cite your source.
Finally, you’ll also need to think about the rights and privacy of the people you survey, especially if you’re asking questions about personal or sensitive topics. Avoid recording people’s names, or other personal information about them if you can. You should also make sure people understand what they’re getting into with the survey- how long it will be and what it will be about. You can do so with a consent form- see the Resources for details.
If you want to investigate a sensitive topic or record people’s identities, let me know and we’ll work out a plan.
To document your work, you can:
-Share notes and planning documents (you can add me to the document or email me)
-Share your survey questions, drafts, and form
-Share your recruitment and consent documents and plans
Data Collection
Once your survey is ready, you’ll need to recruit people to fill it out. I recommend starting with people you know, so you can get some easy responses, and ask them about how they interpreted the survey. Then you can move on to other people.
It’s also worth noting that if you want to publish your results later, it’s much easier to do so if you collect data from adults (18+) than minors.
If you collect data on a digital survey tool (like Google Forms), then the tool will organize your data for you. If you collect it through another method, you’ll need to make sure to transfer your results into a spreadsheet in an organized manner.
I also recommend taking notes and pictures of your process, so you can share them later.
To document your work, you can:
-Share your survey results, plans and progress
Production
Once you have your results, you’ll analyze them and interpret your findings. If you use a digital survey tool (like Google Forms) they’ll have built-in tools to help you do so. In general, your analysis can be straightforward, using descriptive statistics and graphs to explain your results. The most important thing will be interpreting and communicating what your results mean. Note that surveys inherently limit the responses people can give, so interpreting the results can be tricky.
To document your work, you can:
-Share your drafts, notes, and reflections
-Share your graphs and analysis interpretations
Resources
Survey Design
https://psr.iq.harvard.edu/sites/g/files/omnuum11131/files/psr/files/PSRQuestionnaireTipSheet_0.pdf
https://ies.ed.gov/rel-west/2025/01/handout-creating-effective-surveys-best-practices-survey-design
https://www.pewresearch.org/writing-survey-questions/
Survey Software
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ_oPeb_YkU
https://support.google.com/docs/answer/6281888?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop
Examples
https://www.scribd.com/document/706498848/Sample-Survey-Report
https://www.scribd.com/document/343782538/Mini-Project
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
First, you’ll need to determine which topics you want to teach about, and when in the semester you’d like to teach about them. There are two main things to consider- your personal interest in the topic, and how much time to give yourself to prepare.
You can find topics by looking ahead in our class syllabus, quickly looking up the topics we’re going to cover, and seeing if any appeal to you. The earlier topics will tend to be more simple, while the later topics will be trickier, but will give you more time to prepare. If you have an idea for a subject we aren’t planning to cover, let me know and we’ll find a way to work it in.
We’ll meet to discuss when during the semester it would make sense for you to lead a session. I’ll also send you relevant resources for the topic, and my notes on how to cover it.
To document your work, you can:
-Share your notes and planning documents with me (either add me to the document or email me)
-Share your opinions, reactions and ideas about which topics to cover
-Meet with me and discuss plans
Research
Once you pick a topic, there are two things you’ll need to research to prepare your lesson. First, you’ll learn enough about your topic to explain it- otherwise you just won’t know what you’re talking about. You’ll also learn about effective teaching practices, so you can keep the class engaged when you present. As you learn about both topics, you should take notes on how to combine them into a good lesson.
To document your work, you can:
-Share links to sources and notes about your thoughts on them
-Share planning documents and ideas for lessons
Production
Once you understand the material you’re covering and have ideas on how to teach it, you’ll need to organize and create materials to use in the class. These can include slides, videos, articles, activities, worksheets, simulations, and so on. If you plan to re-use a material someone else has made, make sure you cite your source, and don’t violate copyright law. Make sure you keep time constraints in mind as you work on your lesson.
Once you have all of your materials, you should practice going through them. Time yourself going through slides and activity descriptions to get a sense of how long everything will take. When you’re ready, we’ll set up a time to meet and do a practice run-through of the lesson. I’ll give you feedback, and we’ll agree on a time for you to co-teach with me.
You’ll then lead the lesson in class. I’ll support you as a teaching assistant, which will mostly involve making sure chaos doesn’t overrun the classroom. After you lead a session, I’ll ask you to reflect on how it went and what you took away from it. If you lead more than one session, you can use this feedback to prepare for the next one.
For your final project, you can assemble the teaching materials, notes, and reflections you’ve worked on and publish them as an open curriculum.
To document your work, you can:
-Share drafts of class materials and teaching notes
-Share notes and reflections about your progress and presentation comfort
Resources
Teaching and Education Advice
https://www.apa.org/ed/schools/teaching-learning/top-twenty-principles.pdf
https://www.teachertoolkit.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Budd-Rowe-1.pdf
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7808034/
Teaching Materials
https://mathequalslove.net/statistics-activities/
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10494820.2025.2523390
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
To plan for this project, you’ll first need to decide who you’re going to support. You can support any number of other students- as many as are willing to work with you. Note that the more people you support, the less support you’ll be able to give each person.
Once you know who you’re supporting, you’ll figure out the best ways to support them. This could involve organizing materials, keeping on task, giving feedback, asking good questions, and helping them communicate with me. It’s a good idea to ask the people you’re working with what they want, and make plans from there.
Since this project is open-ended, you should prioritize keeping track of your support plans as they develop, and organizing them into a schedule and workflow. For example, you might set up a weekly check-in with the people you’re supporting, or a submission-and-feedback schedule with them.
To document your work, you can:
-Share your notes and planning documents with me (by sharing them or emailing them to me)
-Share who you’re working with, and your scheduling and work plans with me
Research
Research for your project will look different depending on the project you’re supporting. In general, expect to review the same materials that the other people are reviewing, so you can keep up with what they’re doing (though you may not need to review them in as much detail).
You’ll also learn about feedback, project management, and goal-setting, so you can learn how to provide high-quality support to the people you’re working with.
To document your work, you can:
-Share links and citations for sources
-Share notes and planning documents
-Share notes and reflections about the sources you’re interacting with
Production
As mentioned, there are many ways to support other students, so the work of your project can look very different depending on the plan you establish. No matter what, I’ll want to check in with you around the mid-point of the semester to see how things are going, and if you need more support or clarity from me.
Since this project is primarily focused on consistently supporting other people, the final project can largely be a summary of what you’ve done. This can include screenshots of feedback, and a written or recorded reflection on how you helped people, what you learned, and what you took away from the process.
To document your work, you can:
-Share screenshots, notes and reflections about the support you’re giving
-Share reports, reflections, and updates on students’ progress
Resources
Tutoring
https://eduq.info/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11515/17945/125454e.pdf?sequence=l
https://tll.mit.edu/teaching-resources/assess-learning/how-to-give-feedback/
Project Management
https://projecttimes.com/articles/15-project-management-tips-for-beginners/
https://www.deltek.com/resources/articles/project-management-methodologies/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alZVNU9DEuE
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
To set up for your podcast, you’ll need to decide who you’re working with, make a meeting/recording schedule, decide which recording and editing technology to use, decide where to upload the recording, and find statistics-related materials to react to.
I recommend having between 2-4 people in the group- any more than that and it gets hard to coordinate. I also recommend meeting at least once a week to record.
There are many options for recording equipment and software. In general, your phone/computer will likely be good enough as long as you record in a quiet environment, but if you have nicer equipment, feel free to use it. For software, there are a number of good free programs, see the Resources for recommendations. You can either meet in-person or online, although I prefer in-person if possible. There are also a number of places to upload the recordings, see the Resources again.
Note that since finding new materials to react to and editing recordings will be reoccurring tasks, you’ll need to figure out who’s going to handle those responsibilities. It makes sense to either rotate who does them, or to assign them to specific people.
To document your work, you can:
-Share your notes and planning documents with me (by adding me to the documents or emailing them to me)
-Share links and citations for sources you’re going to react to
-Document your setup and practice with recording and editing softwares
Research
Once you have a schedule set and sources lined up, you’ll need to read or watch those sources independently, so you’re ready to discuss them for the recording. You can also use a setup where one person reads the article closely and leads the discussion, while others skim it.
It’s a good idea to look for sources that you’re interested in that involve statistics. For example, if you’re interested in politics, you might discuss an article which has the results of a recent poll.
It’s also a good idea to take some notes on what you want to discuss, especially if you’re expecting to lead the conversation, so you remember what you want to talk about. It’s also a good idea to look up a set of sources, instead of just one source, so you can compare and contrast them with each other.
To document your work, you can:
-Share links and citations to sources you’re discussing
-Share your notes and reflections about the sources (these can be written or voice notes)
Production
Once you’re prepared, production for this project will be pretty straightforward- just meet, record, edit and upload the episodes.
Be aware of the fact that you’ll be publishing the materials you record, so avoid talking about anything too personal. If the conversation does go that way, you can edit out those sections. Make sure to cite the articles/videos you reference in the podcasts.
For the final project, you can find highlights from the episodes, and reflect on major themes or takeaways from the discussion. If you want to include highlights, make sure to keep a record of them while editing each episode for reference later.
To document your work, you can:
-Share the unedited and edited episode recordings
-Share reflections on your contributions to the discussions, recording, and editing processes
-Share reflections on major themes, and key quotes
Resources
Statistics Podcasts
https://podcast.feedspot.com/statistics_podcasts/
https://effectivegov.uchicago.edu/initiatives/podcast
https://podcast.feedspot.com/science_news_podcasts/
Software and Setup
https://www.npr.org/2018/11/15/662070097/starting-your-podcast-a-guide-for-students
Note that there are a lot of options for recording, editing, and uploading audio. Make sure to look at different options and pick the best one for you.
Statistics Sources
https://paperpile.com/g/google-scholar-guide/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3687192/
https://libguides.brown.edu/evaluate/Read
Note that there are many places to find articles which involve statistics, so be sure to look around.
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
To start planning for your project, you’ll need to select the population you want to interview people from. For example, if you’re interested in becoming a stylist, you may want to reach out to someone who owns a salon to interview them. If you’re interested in engineering, you could find a training program and interview students and teachers.
Once you have an audience in mind, you’ll come up with interview questions. You should come up with questions you’re generally interested in, and at least a few that are related to statistics.
It's also important to respect the rights and privacy of the people you’re interviewing. For example, a person may end up complaining about their job or the people they work with in a way that they wouldn’t want getting out. You’ll need to make sure everyone you’re speaking to knows they’re being recorded, and that you’re going to protect their identity. You can do this by making a consent form, which tells people about the project and what to expect for it. You should also avoid recording the names or other personal information about the people you talk to. If you want to save people’s personal information, let me know and I’ll help make a plan to do so.
You’ll also need to decide on recording methods, equipment, and software. In general, your phone/computer will likely be good enough as long as you record in a quiet environment, but if you have nicer equipment, feel free to use it. For software, there are a number of good free programs, see the Resources for recommendations. You will likely need to plan to be able to record while talking online or on the phone, as it may be hard to meet with everyone in-person.
You’ll also need to figure out how to store and organize your recordings. You can do this in Google Drive, Dropbox, or another cloud storage service. You can also use a flash drive, if you want to keep them offline- just don’t lose it! If you run low on storage space, let me know and I’ll hook you up. Make sure you add a date/time label to each recording, so you can keep track of when they occurred.
Finally, you’ll need to find contact information for people, organizations, and businesses where you can find the people you want to talk to. It’s a good idea to write out a recruiting pitch, so you have something ready to email/call people with.
To document your work, you can:
-Share you notes and planning documents with me (you can add me to the document or email it to me)
-Share your interview questions, plans, and goals
-Document your set up and practice with recording and storage softwares
Data Collection
The hardest part of interviewing is usually getting started. I recommend starting with people you know well (myself, parents, siblings, etc.) to get used to the interviewing process. Then you can start reaching out to other people. This stage of the process can be intimidating, so let me know if you want help with it.
The most important skill in interviewing is giving people space to talk without interrupting them. You’ll want to practice patience and active listening. Also, if someone says something you don’t understand, don’t brush over it, ask them to explain what they mean further. This may especially apply to their answers to statistics-related questions.
Once you have the recordings, make sure to keep them organized, or you’ll have a big headache later.
To document your work, you can:
-Share your interview plans and schedule
-Share your interview recordings
Production
For your final project, you’ll go through the recordings you’ve done, and pick out key themes and quotes from them. This is often easier to do if you transcribe the recordings so you can skim through them, instead of listening all the way through every time. Fortunately, there are many auto-transcription softwares you can use, see the resources for recommendations. You’ll also note your personal reflections on the process, and your takeaways.
You may also want to include full interview recordings in your final project. If you do, let me know so we can make sure you get permission, and account for people’s privacy.
To document your work, you can:
-Share your selections for themes and key quotes
-Share your reflections and takeaways
Resources
Interview Advice
https://thomasmtaston.medium.com/the-art-of-interviewing-0ba5b656baa4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGQz8hZQ8fU
Software
https://www.gmrtranscription.com/blog/qualitative-research-data-management
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