STA304 Assignment 1 Solution

Instructions
Please do not share your code or your written text with your peers. It is expected that you write all your code and written work (unless they are taken from the materials provided in this course or are from a credible source which you have cited).
There is a starter Rmd file (called Assignment1.Rmd) available for you to use to start your code.
Your complete .Rmd file AND the resulting pdf (i.e., the one you ‘Knit to PDF’ from your .Rmd file) must be uploaded into a Quercus assignment (link: https://q.utoronto.ca/courses/278551/assignments/934458). Please consult the course syllabus for other inquiries. If you do NOT submit the pdf in your submission you will receive a grade of 0.
Assignment grading
There are two parts to this assignment. One is theory-based and the other is data analysis and communication/writing focused. We recommend you spellcheck and proofread your written work.
We will be directly marking the pdf files, so please ensure that your final submission looks as you want it to look before submitting it.
Part 1
Description
In this question you will create a survey and describe and critique aspects of your survey. Create a survey about any topic with at least 6 questions, using any of the following platforms: SurveyMonkey, Google Forms, Microsoft Forms, Typeform, Qualtrics, etc.
You should touch on the following points (I suggest at least one paragraph for each of the following):
Goal
Explain the goal/topic of your survey. Why is this topic relevant? (You will likely need citations for this) Be sure to explicitly describe how the survey will contribute to the overall goal/topic.
Procedure
Propose how you would implement the survey (ie. provide a procedural outline of how you will collect data - be realistic). Here you should identify your target population, frame population, and sample population. Identify any drawbacks in your procedure. Justify the strengths of your proposed sampling procedure.
Showcasing the survey. Provide a link to your survey.
Choose 3 questions in your survey to showcase in this submission. Copy and paste them (and make sure they are formatted nicely) into this part of the document. Explain why you chose these three questions and the benefits and drawbacks of each question.
General Notes (for Part 1):
• You should have a bibliography and you should use inline citations. If it is clear that you (or the reader) looked up something that is not common knowledge, then you will lose points if it is not cited.
• Please have a look at our course Resources page if you need help with Writing, LaTex, Tidyverse, etc.
• Grammar is not the main focus of the assessment, but it is important that you communicate in a clear and professional manner. I.e., no slang or emojis should appear.
Part 2
Description:
In this question you will write up a “Data” section, a “Methods” section, a “Results” section and an “Appendix” of a report, based on data collected (or simulated) from the survey in Part 1. Your data analysis will consist of a hypothesis test and a confidence interval.
Here you have two options: (i) You can implement your survey to collect data; or (ii) you can simulate your data.
Minimum requirements:
• Data needs to have a sample size of at least 20 (but the more the better - if you are simulating you should have much larger n).
• Data section should include at least one plot/figure.
• Data section should include at least one summary table.
• Your analysis must include: (i) at least one hypothesis test on some parameter of interest; and (ii) at least one confidence interval on a different parameter of interest. Thus, your “Methods” section will describe one hypothesis test and confidence interval to be calculated, and your “Results” section will showcase the output of the hypothesis test and confidence interval.
Data
The goal of the Data section is to introduce the reader to the data, showcase some meaningful aspects of the data, and get them thinking about potential hypotheses/findings. Your Data section should include the following:
• A detailed description of the data collection/simulation process.
• If you simulated the data you should explain the entire simulation process so the reader can reproduce it (based solely on the writing).
• A summary of the cleaning process (if you cleaned the data). Again, one (who is NOT necessarily familiar with Tidyverse functions) should be able to read this section and reproduce your cleaning process based off reading your description.
• A description of the important variables.
• At least 1 aesthetically pleasing plot/graph/figure (No more than 4 plots - if you have more than 4 then create an Appendix section at the end of the report).
• Text explaining each table or figure.
• Some text (and perhaps graphical summaries) of the variables you will perform the hypothesis test and/or confidence interval on. This should help prep the reader in understanding why the test or interval is important and whether it is appropriate.
• In line referencing if needed.
• Reference the programming language/software used to complete this section.
Methods
The goal of the Methods section is to introduce the reader to the statistical methods that you will be using to analyze the data.
Your Methods section should include the following:
• A complete explanation of what the methodologies: an explanation of the hypothesis test and confidence interval.
• Explain and justify any assumptions.
• An explanation of the parameters of interest (i.e., mean/variance/percentile/etc.).
• An explanation are for a general science reader (i.e., not a statistician).
• A description of why the method is appropriate based on assumptions, variable types and practical rationale.
• In-line referencing.
• Note: if you want to show derivations of your hypothesis test statistic and/or confidence interval, your derivations should be placed in an Appendix.
Results
The goal of the Results section is to present the results of the statistical analyses to the reader. Your Results section should include the following:
• The results of the methodologies (hypothesis test and confidence interval) included in the report.
• An explanation and interpretation of the results.
• Some commentary on whether or not the results seem reasonable.
• Text explaining any tables or figures.
• In-line referencing.
• In-line R code to produce output in text (E.g. The mean is `r mean(x)`.).
Bibliography
Your Bibliography section should include a list of well-formatted citations. No specific reference style is required, but you must use some formal reference style in order to ensure that the references are accessible.
Appendix
The goal of the Appendix is to include any secondary information to the reader. Your Appendix section should include the following:
• A glimpse() of the data (for us to check the variables match that of the survey and the sample size is sufficient).
• Any additional plots or calculations that are not of primary necessity to the report, but should be included for completion-sake.
General Notes (for Part 2):
• It is expected that your methods be a hypothesis test and a confidence interval. It is recommended that you use standard approaches, but this is not required.
• All tables/figures should be well-labelled and clean.
• With the exception of the glimpse output in the Appendix, there should be no evidence that Part 2 is an assignment, I should be able to take a screenshot of this section and paste it into a newspaper/blog. • There should be no raw code. Any output should be nicely formatted.
• You should reference the data, any outside code/documentation and any ideas/concepts that are taken outside of the course.
• Note, we are not marking grammar, but we are looking for clarity. If you need help with writing there are resources posted on the Course Info>Resources page of Quercus.
• Use full sentences.
• Remember to end each section with a concluding sentence. This means summarizing the key points from your writing.