SPRING 1998

CIV 245: Fundamentals of Engineering Statistics

Prof. Erik VanMarcke

ASSIGNMENT: HOMEWORK #10

SPECIAL PROJECT

Homework #10 -- Must be completed to pass the course
Issued on Monday, April 20 --- Due by noon on Monday, May 11 in the CIV-245 "in-box" (E-wing, E-Quad).

• Collect and analyze, using one or more statistical methods learned in this course, some data of interest to you. You have wide latitude in your choice of data, methods, and style of presentation, but the following guidelines may be helpful.
• You may do your project as a team project involving up to three people. If you do this, please include a written statement indicating what each person contributed and stating the percentage of their contribution to the total effort. This statement must be signed by all team members.
• Data you obtain or generate, or have first-hand knowledge about, is better than data of questionable or unknown origin. If you know how the data was collected, you have better grounds for making assumptions about, for instance, causality or probabilistic dependence.
• Do not collect data on human subjects unless you are prepared to investigate and follow the University's guidelines on human experimentation.
• It is a good idea to investigate a question that is important to you, because you are most likely to think seriously and carefully about such a question. In grading your paper, we will pay most attention to whether your conclusions and reasoning make good sense.
• Your report should be around five pages in length, double-spaced, not counting computer output (which may be added). Team papers might be a bit longer. Explain fully the practical problem that concerns you, the statistical model(s) you used, and the conclusions of your analysis. Clearly state probabilistic assumptions made. Do not append any pages of data or computer output that are not specifically referred to, and properly explained, in the text of your report.
• You should test at least one hypothesis or construct at least one confidence interval. Beyond that, you may want to fit data to a probability distribution or analyze it using regression analysis; any method is fine if it is appropriate to the data and problem you investigate.
• The projects will be returned at the time of the final exam.
• Do not make this too big a deal. Completion of the project is required in order to get a grade in the course, but the project will only count as much as two homework assignments.

Where/How/When to Contact the Teaching Assistants

• Julia Egorova: Rm. C-332; Phone: x4869; E-mail: egorova@princeton.edu; Office Hours: Wednesday, 3:30 - 4:30pm; also runs Tutorial Session on Wednesdays at 7pm in E-301.
• Leihai You: Rm E-420; Phone: x5339; E-mail: lyou@princeton.edu; Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:00 - 10:00am

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