End of Unit Project and Oral Presentation: Analyzing Data to Evaluate Claims

Objective:

Students will apply their learning of the first unit in the curriculum by completing an End of Unit Project.

Materials:

IDS Unit 1—End of Unit Project (LMR_U1_End of Unit Project)

End of Unit 1 Project and Oral Presentation: Analyzing Data to Evaluate Claims

Congratulations! You are on your way to becoming a Data Scientist. You have now learned some basic statistics concepts - along with RStudio skills - to help you analyze and interpret data. It is time to apply what you have learned so far.

You will apply what you have learned by engaging in the following:

Use an article from the list provided below, or find an article, report, blog post, etc., in a magazine, newspaper, or other media related to the topic of nutrition or time use that makes a claim. Use an article we have not used in class.

a. How Americans Eat Today:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-americans-eat-today/

b. Why do we still eat this way?:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/08/04/why-do-we-still-eat-this-way

c. Americans Snack Differently Than Other Nations:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/09/29/snacking-consumer-eating-habits-nielsen/16263375/?siteID=je6NUbpObpQ-3jFHwYITZ99FE23ytK_q9g

d. The Surprising Amount of Time Kids Spend Looking at a Screen
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/01/the-surprising-amount-of-time-kidsspend-looking-at-screens/384737/

e. Youths Spend 7+ Hours/Day Consuming Media:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/youths-spend-7-plus-hours-day-consuming-media/
Analyze the article or report based on the following questions:

a. What claim(s) did the article make?

b. What statistical questions were they trying to answer?

c. Does the article cite data? If so:

    i. Who was observed and what were the variables observed?

    ii. Who collected the data?

    iii. How was the data collected?

    iv. What are some statistics that the article used to make the claim(s)?

d. If there was no data, how did the article justify its claim?
Determine whether the class’s Food Habits or Time Use campaign data supports, refutes, or is inconclusive of the claim(s) made in the article.
Use RStudio to do your analysis using either the Food Habits or Time Use campaign data, and create graphics/plots that support your reasoning.
Generate other statistical questions that you would like to investigate further after you reach your conclusion.
Write a summary of your analysis that is no more than 4 pages long. Include graphics/plots/tables that provide evidence to support your reasoning. Be sure to include everything in items 1-5.
Prepare a 2-minute presentation of your report. Make sure you refer to your graphics/plots/tables during your presentation.