Day 30 Semester Project

Semester projects may deal with any topic that interests you [the student], as long as it is approved by the instructor.

Broadly, projects are expected to identify a research problem and develop a designed experiment that is appropriate for solving that problem. Projects consist of a manuscript and a tutorial that describes the research problem, the experiment design and the treatment design.

30.1 Learning objectives

  • Be able to identify an experiment design that is appropriate for answering a given research question and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of that design for answering the question.
  • Be able to write the materials and methods section of a paper/thesis, including the statistical model that corresponds the experiment design.

30.2 Partial deadlines

30.2.1 Project proposal - Due Friday June 20 at 2pm CT

Write a page-long project proposal that states your research problem and the objective of your project. An example of an appropriate project proposal can be found here.

30.2.2 Written report - Due Wednesday July 23 at 2pm CT for peer review

Submit a manuscript including:

  • Introduction (background & justification of the problem)
  • Methods, including:
    • A complete ANOVA table describing the degrees of freedom associated to mean comparisons,
    • A clear and complete description of the statistical model,
    • R code that would be implemented to fit that model,
  • Expected results
  • Discussion of strengths and weaknesses of the experiment design (e.g., compare an RCBD with a split-plot design)

30.2.3 Oral presentation - Somewhere between July 21 - August 1

Prepare a 15 minute presentation of the core aspects of your project. Presentations should include at least:

  • Motivation
  • Methods, including a clear and complete description of the statistical model and code
  • Discussion of strengths and weaknesses

30.2.4 Practical reads