Biol 3711 SP24 Rubric for Semester Project (100 pts total)
During the second half of the semester, you will complete a project demonstrating your understanding of experimental design and statistics (both descriptive and inferential). Based on your interests, you will design an experiment that will test a statistical hypothesis. You will be responsible for gathering a data set, performing a set of statistical analyses on your data set, and writing an abbreviated research report (introduction, method, results, and discussion sections). If you are currently conducting independent research, you are welcome to use your hypothesis and some of the raw data that may have already gathered. If you are not currently working on a project, you may choose a research topic of interest and collect data and develop a hypothesis using an online data bank, public records, or data associated with previously published manuscripts.
Your project will be assessed based on the following:
1) ExperimentalDesign…………………………………………………………………………25pts
* a) Chooseanareaofstudyandatopicofinterest.
* b) Read primary literature about your research interests. Please cite at least 3 primary research articles in your written report. Identify a gap in the literature that you can test with a statistical hypothesis.
* c) Gatheradataset.Youarewelcometoexplorepubliclyavailable,onlinedatabasesor supplemental data files published with online manuscripts. You may also collect the data experimentally or use data that you may have collected previously. I also have several data sets that you are welcome to use if you have trouble finding something to work with. This website is a nice place to start if you’re looking for databanks: https://libguides.brown.edu/c.php?g=545426&p=3741199
* d) Design a statistical hypothesis.
* e) Identifythefollowing:nullandalternativehypotheses,individualsofinterest,variables to be measured, sample size and/or sampling technique, test statistic(s), distribution(s) of test statistic(s), etc…
* f) If applicable, address any ethical concerns regarding your study.
* g) Addresslimitationsinyourstudy.
2) StatisticalAnalyses…………………………………………………………………………..25pts
Over the course of the semester, we have discussed unique ways to organize and display (descriptive statistics) and analyze (inferential statistics) data. Please use descriptive and inferential statistics to test your hypothesis. The following questions/comments may help guide your analyses:
Biol 3711 SP24 Rubric for Semester Project (100 pts total)
a)
b) c) d) e) f)
g)
a)
What are the best ways to display my data so that my testable hypothesis is outlined for the reader?
AmIinterestedinprobability?
HowshouldImodelmydata?
Should I use a z-test? t-test? ANOVA? other?
ShouldIuseaone-tailortwo-tailedtest?
Is my null hypothesis supported by the data or not? Are my findings significant? How can I tell?
Foranygraphsandtablesthatyoucreate,pleasebesureallaxesarelabelledand that you include figure legends.
Asweprogressthroughthecourseandlearnmoreaboutstatisticaltests,youmaybe interested in analyzing data using regressions, ANOVAs, Chi-square, etc…
3) WrittenReport………………………………………………………………………………50pts
We will be looking at primary literature throughout the semester. You should use these examples as a guide for writing your results, methods, and discussion sections. You are also encouraged to look at primary literature in your field of study. We will discuss this in more detail during class, but the general guidelines are:
* a) Introduction: Provide background information on your research question. Identify gaps in the field and how your study fills those gaps. Reference your citations. State your hypothesis.
* b) Methods: Describe how you selected your sample and how you performed statistical tests. Define your level of significance and confidence intervals.
* c) Results:Includegraphsandonlytheresultsofyourstudy.Thisistheplaceforyou to report whether your findings were significant or not. No inferences are made about the results in this section.
* d) Discussion: This section is the place for you to make interpretations about your results. Here, you should frame your findings in the context of the literature that is available in the field. Address limitations of your study.
Disclaimer on use of generative artificial intelligence (AI): AI is a tool that may be tempting to use for components of this project. If you choose to utilize this tool, you must acknowledge that you used it in your written report, and you must detail how you used it (please include screenshots, transcripts, and other logs documenting the exchange). You may NOT submit the
Biol 3711 SP24 Rubric for Semester Project (100 pts total)
raw work produced by AI as your own – this is cheating. AI should be utilized as if it were a source that you would interview, but one that often lies to you, hallucinates, and does not cite its sources.
This project is due on the final day of class: Friday, May 3, 2024 !! No late projects will be accepted. If I do not receive a project by the final meeting of our class, you will earn an F. You must submit your final report in two ways: 1) as a hard copy in class, and 2) on Blackboard with all raw data, graphs, transcripts, etc.. included.
