Writing a Statistics Coursework Assignment
Roadmap for a Statistics Coursework Assignment
Statistics coursework assignments are a a component of GCSE Maths. The purpose of such assignments is to train students in data collection, presentation and analysis.
Depending on your choice or the teacher’s directives, pick the topic of the assignment. Then plan how you will go about the assignment. Consider the following steps:
1. Check if there is an established source of information, that you can use as a benchmark and as perhaps even as a source of additional data to supplement your findings.
2. You could put forth a hypothesis that you will try to prove statistically
3. Figure out what method of data collection you will use, such as questionnaire, observation, interview etc.
4. Decide which method of tabulation you will use, such as class marks, class labels, discrete versus continuous data etc.
5. Use the relevant statistical tool to draw certain conclusions in your statistics coursework assignment. For instance if you want to show that X and Y are associated then you use correlation but if you want to show that X and Y share a cause-effect relationship then you use regression. Similarly, when it comes to measures of central tendency, the median is widely regarded as a better measure than arithmetic mean. You will have noticed that MBA colleges often give the median salaries of their graduating students rather than the mean, since the median is more representative of the salaries of the majority of students.
6. Present information with the help of diagrams wherever appropriate.
7. Check that the tone is objective and neutral, your own views should not interfere with the analysis.
Consider this sample assignment. Let’s say you are studying the correlation between heart disease and smoking for men over 30 in your neighbourhood. You begin with a hypothesis, “Smoking is associated with heart disease” (Step 1). Its advised that you check the UK’s Department of Health website to get the official opinion on the relationship between two variables, “smoking” and “heart disease” for the statistics coursework assignment. You may also get additional information such as the percentage of smoking rates in England or the association of smoking with premature deaths (Step 2)
You can collect data on smoking habits and the prevalence of heart disease through observation or through a questionnaire. (Step 3)
When it comes to tabulation, here is there is a suggested approach: (Step 4)
Denote the class of non-smokers as “1” and smokers as “2”. Similarly, denote those without and those with heart disease as “1” and “2” respectively. Then make a joint frequency distribution table and calculate correlation coefficient. If its greater than 0.5 then your hypothesis is proved.
If you want to go one step further and hypothesize that “Smoking causes heart disease” then use regression. (Step 5)
Present the data, for instance the percentage of smokers and non-smokers can be shown with the help of a pie-chart. (Step 6)
Sum up the statistics coursework assignment, e.g. “As indicated by the correlation coefficient of 0.78, smoking is associated with heart disease.” (Step 7)
