Assignment: Design and conduct a Survey
Note: Since we do not have Human Subjects approval to actually carry out the survey, this portion of the assignment will be completed by simulation. Any violation of Human Subjects rules will result in an "F" for the course.
You will design a survey consisting of ONE yes/no question. The project will be completed and written up in the form described below. The write up will be in a Word document readable by Word 2004. The document will be sent to the instructor as an attachment to an e-mail. The name on the document will be StudentLastNameSurvey.doc. If Eino Maki created the document it would be named MakiSurvey.doc. The subject line of the e-mail will be MA251 LastName Survey - so E. Maki would have the subject: MA251 Maki Survey. The e-mail will be sent to L@Ellerbruch.nmu.edu.
The document will consist of the following parts:Description of the project including the evolution of or motivation for the question.
Relevant research, literature or background if applicable.
Design of the "study" which will include:Description of the population - which must be a substantial subset of the student body at NMU.Actual data collection will be done through a simulation which you need to explain in detail. The steps must include a method for getting a first estimate of the population percentage of "yeses" and the method for using this value to generate simulated data. Any possible biases or non-representative issues should be addressed. Programs for use in the project/simulation will be described and made available in class.
Method for piloting, improving and finalizing the "question."
Method for acquiring a random sample.
Details on the methods for conducting the survey and collecting data as if it were actually going to be completed.
Presentation and analysis of the data. The analysis must include determination of both the 90% confidence interval and the 95% confidence interval. If the assumptions for the computation of the 95% confidence interval are not met, this must be explained and the computation demonstrated anyway.
Summary, conclusions and inferences. Any suggestions for further research may be appropriate here.
Disclaimer regarding the application of the results to the original population because of the simulation and the unlikelihood that the results apply.
L. W. Ellerbruch: LELLERBR@nmu.edu.