32 Final project

The purpose of this project is for you to gain applied experience using Bayesian models. The final project will include: 1) a written report; 2) a tutorial with reproducible results; and 3) a professional presentation.

You may work alone or with another person. If you choose to work with another person, include a few short paragraphs that details your contribution to the work and person’s contributions to the work.

  1. Decide on a topic to research. The topic could be a questions of scientific or social interest or related to the theory of Bayesian statistical models. For applied questions, you will most likely have to find a relevant data set. For theoretical questions you might use data, conduct a simulation study, or use mathematical tools (e.g., proofs).

  2. Submit a proposal by 11:59 pm Friday, February 17. The proposal should answer the questions below in 1 page or less.

    • What topic do you plan to research?
    • What data are available or what methods do you plan to use for a more theoretical question?
    • Why does your project require the use of Bayesian models?
    • Why does your topic warrant further research?
    • Find an appropriate scientific journal that you would consider submitting your report to. If you are not interested in a scientific audience, propose another audience. For example, many sports teams hire data scientists to analyze sports data. For this example, you could analyze sports data and write a report to the managers and coach of the sports team. Please explain what journal (or audience) you choose and why do you think your report is appropriate for that journal (or audience). The journal you choose will be your target audience for the written report.
  3. Prepare a written report. Format your paper so that it is appropriate for the journal that you mentioned in your proposal. I have provided some guidelines below, but the exact format and length of your report will be specific to the journal you chose.

    • Abstract (100-300 word summary of your report)
    • Introduction (500-1000 words)
    • Methods (500-1000 words)
    • Results (500-1000 words)
    • Discussion (500-1000 words; The discussion should place your results into the context of existing work and explore what additional research still needs to be done.).
    • Literature cited (Please use a professional citation format).
  4. Prepare a tutorial that includes all relevant statistical code and important results in a manner that is fully reproducible.

  5. Prepare a professional presentation.

    • Presentations should be about 10 min in length
    • More information will be given later in the semester about this
  6. Arrange for your written report and tutorial to be peer reviewed by another person/group. Reviewer(s) will submit a review to the author(s) and also upload it to Canvas by 11:59 pm on Friday May 5.

  7. On or before 11:59 pm on Friday May 10 upload to Canvas

    • A single file that contains your written report (#3)
    • A single file that contains your tutorial (#4)
    • A single file that contains your presentation (#5)
    • If you choose to work with a partner, include a few short paragraphs that details each persons contributions to the final project

32.1 Grading Rubric

Category Points
Proposal (Due February 17) 10
Peer review (Due May 5) 15
Report (Due May 10) 40
Tutorial/Reproducible analysis (Due May 10) 15
Presentation (May 2 - May 9) 20