Book Preface

To the student

Welcome to Research Projects in Statistics! This booklet is designed to help you understand and accomplish the objectives and requirements of the research project in the course. Actual student examples are used in many places. Read the examples carefully and take careful note of the comments made about each. Not every comment will apply to your particular research project, but many of them will.

To the instructor

Admittedly, when I started assigning research projects in my statistics courses, I was stumbling around not knowing the best way to guide students and explain what I wanted them to do. Through an arduous process of trial and error, vision and revision, I refined my explanations in to the guidelines presented in this booklet. In addition to guidelines for the student, I also developed guidelines for myself. These are presented as instructor's resources on the McGraw-Hill website. Naturally you will need to apply these practices in the context of your own class and your own situation. I hope you will find all of these guidelines to be flexible enough to fit your style while still being rigid enough to support the students in their work.

About the student examples

Student examples in this booklet are used with permission, although names are omitted to respect students' privacy. Comments on the examples are provided at the end of the booklet to encourage future students to improve on these examples and should not be interpreted as criticism of the students who did the work shown. Keep in mind that the work provided in this booklet was done by students without the benefit of this booklet and other examples to help guide their efforts.

About the author

During the 10 years I taught college statistics in Nebraska, I became increasingly convinced that real data needed to be the foundation of my courses. I started requiring that the students work in groups on research projects after attending a workshop on student projects at Colorado State University.

For several semesters, I tried many ways to describe to the students what needed to be done for their projects. After attempting to put the information in the syllabus, on the school's website, and in handouts, I decided that the best way to guide the students through the projects was with a booklet like the one you hold in your hands. This booklet was developed and used for many semesters in my own classes. Feedback from many students was incorporated into the text.

I am now on the other side of the education-industry fence working as an actuary. My new position has not only given me invaluable experience in data collection and analysis, but it has solidified my conviction that students need these kinds of experiences to be fully prepared to work with real data in real situations.

I hope you find this booklet helpful in your project and I invite any comments or criticisms that will help me improve it in the future.

Acknowledgments

I have to start by thanking my wife, Christy, without whose patience and understanding I would not have had the time or energy to create this booklet.

This booklet would not have been possible without the many students who taught me how to guide research projects at the same time I was teaching them how to work with data. I am especially grateful to those students who granted permission for me to use their projects as case studies and those who proofread early versions of the book for readability and clarity.

I would also like to acknowledge the support and encouragement I received from Paul Hinrichs, a true friend as well as the best colleague anyone could ask for. As another user of the preliminary versions of the book, Paul made many suggestions that helped to move the development of the book along.

Many important suggestions came from the reviewers of this booklet. Their comments and tips are greatly appreciated. They are:

James A. Condor, Manatee Community College
Diane P. Cope, Washington and Jefferson College
Abdulaziz Elfessi, University of Wisconsin - La Crosse
Shahryar Heydari, Piedmont College
Patricia B. Humphrey, Georgia Southern University
Benny Lo, DeVry University - Fremont Campus
Lynette Meslinsky, Erie Community College - City Campus
Lindsay Packer, College of Charleston
Fernando Rincon, Piedmont Technical College
Salvatore Sciandra, Jr., Niagara County Community College
J. Sriskandarajah, Madison Area Technical College
David C. Wallach, University of Findlay

2004 McGraw-Hill Higher Education
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