10-projects

Author

Professor Shannon Ellis

Published

November 2, 2023

Case Studies & Final Projects

Q&A

Coming Soon

Course Announcements

Coming Soon

Agenda

  • Case Studies
  • Final Project

Case Studies

Biomarkers of Recent Use

  • We’ll use data from this paper:

Hubbard et al. Biomarkers of Recent Cannabis Use in Blood, Oral Fluid and Breath. Journal of Analytical Toxicology. 2021. Link to paper.

OpenCaseStudies

  • OpenCaseStudies
  • Uses R/the tidyverse
  • asks public health-centric questions
  • goal: to teach statistical analysis/data science through case studies

What We’ll Do

For each case study (2), during lecture:

  • Stats: (1-2d)
  • Background, Data & Wrangling (1-2d)
  • EDA & Analysis (1-2d)

. . .

For each case study:

  • you’ll also work with case study data in lab.
  • you’ll work in assigned groups of ~3 students to complete a data science report

. . .

I will share previous student examples and we’ll discuss pros and cons in coming lectures.

Data Science Reports

With your group, you will:

  • carry out all steps of the analysis
    • some code will be taken directly from lecture
  • add text/organize into a report

. . .

  • have to extend the case study

. . .

This should be written at the level of a data science-knowledgeable undergrad.

General Communication Submission

This is (intentionally) very open-ended.

You need to communicate the most important aspect/finding/part(s) of your case study to a general audience (any undergrad).

. . .

What might this look like?

  • short TikTok like video
  • brief Youtube video
  • slides for an Instagram post
  • X (Twitter) thread
  • poster to be displayed next to an elevator
  • poster to be put on public bulletin boards
  • effective email communication

What does extend the case study mean?

You’ll need to do something more on the topic beyond what is presented in class.

. . .

Examples:

  1. Asking an additional question and answering it from the data provided
  2. Finding an additional dataset and using it to add to the case study
  3. Generating a handful of additional and very informative visualizations (beyond what’s presented in class)

Grading

Graded on:

  • content (code, text, viz)
  • report: effective written communication (clarity/content > grammar/spelling)
    • extension carried out
  • effective general communication (effectively conveys message to a general audience)

Final Project

Final Project Logistics

  • will be completed in groups of 3-4 students
  • you get to choose the group
  • I will ask Monday week 7 for your final project groups (If you are not in one, I will help)
  • You will submit a proposal week 8.
  • Final projects are due during Finals week

What is the final project proposal?

  • A short Google Form
  • you’ll submit your topic and a few details about that topic (depending upon which option you choose)
  • Your idea can change after you submit your proposal
  • This has been added to help you start your project before finals week.

Final Project Details

Two possible paths:

  1. Create a technical presentation on a statistics topic and/or an R package.
  2. Carry out a data analysis

Option 1: Technical Presentation

  • .Rmd document used to make slides
  • “Teaches” the details of the R package/statistics topic
  • Demonstrates how to use the package and/or carry out the statistical analysis in R
  • Topic/Package must go beyond what was taught in this course or what you should have learned in an intro stats course
  • Presentation Length: 10-15min

Option 2: Data Analysis

  • .Rmd document used for data science report
  • Asks a question, finds data, analyzes data (basically: a mini case report, but you find the data and formulate the question)
  • Presentation Length: 3-5min (brief summary of the full report)

Where/when for this presentation?

  • Submit by Tues of finals week at 11:59 PM

Should I be working on my final project now?

…probably not

. . .

But, you should start thinking about/getting a group of 3-4 people together. You’ll need to submit who’s in your final project group Monday of week 7.

. . .

You’ll need to have a general plan for your final project around wk 8. You’ll submit a “proposal” Monday of week 8.

What is the “general audience” communication?

Consider who the audience would be -> design for them

. . .

For example, if you present on an R package, who would benefit from knowing about this package? How would you reach them? What can you design to inform them of what it is and get them to use it?

. . .

Or if you do a data analysis on a particular topic, what would you want others to know? How would you communicate that?