Project Description: In order for you to apply what you’ve learned in class and demonstrate that knowledge, our final project will be an individual research project. You will produce an analysis that could appear in a journalistic outlet or be presented to a politician or other principal to guide their decision-making and communication on a topic of interest. The project can take many forms, just as journalism does, but must meet a few basic criteria:
· The project must thoroughly answer a well-defined research question of your choosing
· The project must be based on original data analysis you do from a dataset(s) of your choosing, with the dataset containing at least 1,000 observations (you must get instructor permission to work with a smaller dataset – will only be granted if there is truly no other comparable data)
· The project must include at least 2 regressions as part of the analysis.
· The project should discuss what omitted variables you are missing, and how they could affect the results.
· The final product must include at least 3 production quality tables or graphs, with at least one of each included. Production quality means a formatted table that would appear in a report or paper, and not copy and pasted Stata output.
· The project must be clearly communicated for an educated audience who may or may not be acquainted with statistical inference. The intended audience must be clear.
· The project must clearly present the uncertainty around the results it finds
· The project should be well-written and not contain any typos, spelling, or grammatical errors
· The project must also include a replication packet, which will include all raw data used for the project, a well-commented .do file that produces the results in your final product, and a .log file that shows the raw results that are produced using the code on your computer
ATTACHED YOU CAN SEE THE WORD DOC WITH ALL THE ASSIGNMENT DETAILS
THIS PROJECT IS DIVIDED IN 3 PARTS:
Final project proposal (2 pts) – Due 3/31 at the start of class (on Blackboard). One to two paragraphs on your proposed topic. This should include:
· Your proposed research question(s)
· Your proposed audience (who is this analysis for)
· The data you are planning on using (it can be multiple data sets that you are still deciding between).
· Any questions you have for the professor
Unconference blurb (2 pts) – one paragraph or less on your unconference topic, due Wednesday, April 20th at 5 pm (on Blackboard)
Unconference presentation (4 pts) – Thursday, April 21st in class
Final product (20 pts) – due Wednesday, May 10th at 5 pm (on Blackboard)
