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\begin{center}
\large\bf
Statistics 36-303: Sampling, Surveys and Society\\
Sample Survey Project Instructions and Rules
\end{center}

\begin{center}
\fbox{Outline of Groups Sample Survey Projects}
\end{center}

\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{lll}
\bf Milestone & \bf Due Date & \\
\hline
\hline
\bf Phase I\\
0. Team Requests & Fri Jan 15& (*)\\
0. Team Assignments & Tue Jan 19 & \\
1. Propose Two Topics & Tue Jan 26 & \\
2. Target Population, Frame, Mode of Data Collection & Tue Feb 2& (*)\\
3. Choose Topic \& Write Final Proposal, Begin IRB & Tue Feb 9 & (*)\\
\phantom{3. }Sign \& Turn in Team Working Agreement& \\
\bf Phase II\\
4. Sampling Scheme \& Question Design & Tue Feb 16& \\
5. Pretest \& Revise Questions & Tue Feb 23& \\
6. Final IRB \& Project Plan & Tue Mar 2 & (*)\\
\bf Phase III\\
7. Progress Report on Data Collection \& Analysis & Tue Mar 30& \\
\phantom{9. } (Meeting of the Minds Registration & Thu Apr 1)& \\
8. Rough Draft of Final Report & Tue Apr 6& \\
9. Final Report Due & Fri Apr 30 & (*)\\
\phantom{9. } Oral Presentations & Apr 20--Apr 29& \\
\phantom{9. } (Meeting of the Minds & Wed May 5)& \\
\hline
(*) = Major item(s) to be turned in on these dates.
\end{tabular}
\end{center}

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\section{Getting Started on a Project}

\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{ll}
\bf Milestone & \bf Due Date\\
\hline
\hline
\bf Phase I\\
0. Team Requests & Fri Jan 15\\
0. Team Assignments & Tue Jan 19\\
\end{tabular}
\end{center}

\subsection{Creating a Team}

Create a team of four individuals.  You had just until Friday January
15 to do this.  Over the weekend I made teams up out of all of the
people who didn't find teams yet.

Once you know what {\em names} are on your team, you still have the
task of forming those {\em names} into a {\em team}. How well one's
team works together is often one of the more satisfying or
dissatisfying aspects of the project.  Here are some ideas and
questions that some students in similar settings have found helpful in
clarifying their expectations of each other as they were forming their
teams:
\begin{itemize}\tight

\item Make sure that there are times in the week when {\em everyone}
  on the team get get together as a single group.

\item What do you expect each other to contribute?

\item How will you contact each other about the meetings?

\item How much advance notice will you give (or do you need) before
  meetings?

\item Be specific.  Write down your agreements.  The ``Team Working
  Agreement'' assignment will give you a chance to earn some points
  for doing this.

\end{itemize}

\subsection{The Lazy Player}

Inevitably, there will be a few individuals who do little or no work
for their group, but yet want to claim a full share of credit for the
group's work.  I consider this cheating.  To try to cut down on this
problem, I will occasionally ask you to evaluate the work of the other
members in the group, and in particular whether one member is not
doing his or her fair share.

\subsection{The Question}

Make sure that the question your team chooses to investigate has these
properties:
\begin{enumerate}\tight

\item[A.] It is of interest to you.

\item[B.] This question can be answered using sample survey methods
  discussed in this course.

\item[C.] The entire project can be done in approximately 80 hours
  total for the team.

\end{enumerate}

\subsection{Typing up Project Work}

Follow these typing instructions for all work (Potential Topics and
Team Working Agreements, Final Proposal, Final Report, etc.):
\begin{enumerate}\tight

\item[A.] Use only 8.5''$\times$11'' paper format, and use at least 11
  point type in a Times Roman or similar font.

\item[B.] You are expected to do your data analyses and to prepare
  tables and graphs by computer (recall that R and Minitab are readily
  available on campus and can be installed on your own computer).
  \begin{itemize}\tight
    \item All relevant computer output must be labelled, e.g. ``Figure
      1'', ``Figure 2'', etc.  Similarly for tables.
    \item A figure or table should appear {\em only if there are one
      or more sentences in the paper referring to that figure or
      table}.
    \item All figures and tables must have captions explaining enough
      so that a reader can ``get the main point'' without going back
      to the text of the paper.
  \end{itemize}
  Your work will typically mix text, computer output, tables, figures,
  etc.  It is better to place these elements near the sentences that
  refer to them in the text, rather than collecting them all at the
  back of the paper.

\item[C.] {\bf Organize your answers in numbered and labelled
  sections.  It is critical that you do this so that your work can be
  accurately graded.}

\item[D.] Staple your pages together.  Paper-clipped, folded or loose
  pages run the risk of being lost or misplaced, and then you will not
  get credit for them.

\item[E.] {\bf Number your pages.} This is especially a problem in MS
  Word, which defaults to no page numbers.  Force pages to be
  numbered.

\item[F.] Include the names of all team members on the front page.

\item[G.] It may occasionally be possible to turn in a paper
  electronically.  In that case, turn in a single pdf file of the
  paper, conforming electronically to all of the above rules.

\end{enumerate}

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\section{Your Responsibilities}

It is your responsibility to contact your other project team members
and be availabel to meet with them.  Students may try to avoid working
(while still claiming full credit) by citing conflicts such as
extra-curricular activities, work in other classes, job searches,
etc.  I want to give full credit only to those who contribute as full
project partners, and not to those who use such excuses as a way to
avoid taking on their burden in a project, but I will need your
assistance. 

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\section{Potential Topic Assignment (Maximum of three (3) pages)}

Turn in a draft on Tue Jan 26.  I will return with comments on Thu Jan
31.  Turn in revised draft Tue Feb 2.

\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{ll}
\bf Milestone & \bf Due Date\\
\hline
\hline
\bf Phase I\\
1. Propose Two Topics & Tue Jan 26\\
2. Target Population, Frame, Mode of Data Collection & Tue Feb 2\\
\end{tabular}
\end{center}

\subsection{Potential Topics}

Part of this assignment is to give you a chance to see if you can work
together.  Identify {\bf two} survey projects that your team could
actually implement over the course of the semester.  
\begin{enumerate}\tight
\item[(1)] An on-campus project.  Examples might include:
\begin{itemize}\tight
\item A survey of student attitudes toward digital rights (copyright,
  royalties, intellectual property, open-source and file sharing).
\item A survey of academic departments to learn how they use Faculty
  Course Evaluations and other data to evaluate faculty teaching.
\item A survey of students in HSS to see how they use, and how they
  like, academic advising (could become involved in official HSS
  effort to do this).
\item A survey of staff to find out whether they feel they are
  adequately compensated (wages and benefits) at Carnegie Mellon.
\end{itemize}
\item[(2)] An off-campus project.  Examples might include:
\begin{itemize}\tight
\item A survey of Carnegie Mellon neighbors to learn about attitudes
  towards the University, or the golf course, or ``???''\ldots
\item A telephone survey of residents of Pittsburgh to learn about
  their attitudes towards the Pittsburgh Public School system.
\item A mail survey of subscribers to a community newspaper.
\end{itemize}
\end{enumerate}
For each of projects (1) and (2), answer the follwing questions:
\begin{enumerate}\tight
\item[a.] What question do you propose to study?  Give me a brief
  answer that would be understandable to my mother (who is not a
  statistician!).
\item[b.] What population or populations will be sampled? This is the
  question many of you will miss.
\item[c.] What population(s) do you wish to make inferences about?
  How does it (do they) differ from the population in (b.)?
\item[d.] How do you plan to carry out the survey (e.g. by telephone),
  and why?
\item[e.] What variables do you propose to measure?
\item[f.] For project (2) only, I want to see a sample (one page)
  questionnnaire. 
\end{enumerate}
You must submit this assignment as a team, and it will be graded as
such.  Please label your report for each project according to the
individual copmonents: 2 for project (1) and 6 for project (2).

\subsection{Team Working Agreement}

(To be turned in with the final written project proposal below.)

At later stages of this project, I will be asking you as a group to
evaluate the effort/time put in by other project team members.  Your
grade will depend on whether the other project members basically agree
that you were a full partner.

For this team work agreement assignment, I want you to think ahead to
what each of you like to do.  Examples of activities might include
preparing a draft questionnaire, pretesting the questionnnaire,
conducting interviews, handling mail-out/mail-back, doing data
analysis on the computer, writing up the results preparing a Power
Point presentation, etc. 

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\section{Written Project Proposal}

\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{ll}
\bf Milestone & \bf Due Date\\
\hline
\hline
\bf Phase I\\
3. Choose Topic \& Write Final Proposal, Begin IRB & Tue Feb 9\\
\phantom{3. }Sign \& Turn in Team Working Agreement
\end{tabular}
\end{center}

\subsection{Purpose of this Assignment}

The purpose of this assignment is to convince me to approve your
project and approve your team as competant to do it.  You can achieve
both goals with a clear, complete description of all aspects of the
project. 

\subsection{Proposal Table of Contents}
\begin{center}\tight
\begin{tabular}{lp{5in}}
Cover Page: & Signed original work statement (from the box
below). (Put this page on the very front of your proposal, with no
blank pages on top of it.) \\[1em]
%
Pages 1--3: & {\bf (A Maximum of 3 pages.)} Provide information on the
question(s) to be studied, the population(s) involved, and the
statistical issues to be explored.  A good place to begin is by
answering questions A. through E. of the ``Designing A Sample Survey''
handout.  [Make sure you first state and then answer the question so
  it is clear what questions you are answering.]  If you are doing the
project for a ``client'' tell me who he or she is and provide details
on your assignments.\\[1em]
%
Pages 4 and on: & \vspace*{-1.8em}
\begin{enumerate}\tight
\item Preliminary questionnaire
\item Verbatim script for interview (if appropriate).
\item Sampling process.
\item Data collection and analysis plan.
\item Proposed project schedule including pilot testing of
  questionnaire. 
\end{enumerate}\\[1em]
%
Evaulation: & Each of you must include a sealed envelope evaluating the
effort of your fellow team members.  I am particularly concerned to
know whether someone has not been available, and if so their grade
will be adjusted.
\end{tabular}
\end{center}


\subsection{Human Subjects Clearance (IRB)}

All survey research is subject to pre-approval by the University's
Institutional Review Board (IRB) .  There are special forms associated
with this process and they {\bf must} be submitted as part of this
assignment; this is a legal requirement on the university and all of
its members, including faculty and students.  Usually it is helpful to
include the draft questionnaire as part of the submission.

Please submit completed IRB forms directly to me, not to the Carnegie
Mellon IRB.  Because your project is being conducted for course credit
in 36-303, I---as your instructor---will act on behalf of the IRB.
\begin{quote}
  {\em Given
  the seriousness of this approval, I urge groups to prepare an early
  draft and share it with me for comments before the actual proposal
  is due.  }
\end{quote}

\subsection{Original Work}

The following items may be discussed with other students, with
possible clients, and with the instructor or TA:
\begin{itemize}\tight
\item The selection of a project topic and various questions 
  encountered while doing the project.
\end{itemize}
The following items {\bf must} be done {\bf only} by team members:
\begin{itemize}\tight
\item The final choice of a project topic (with instructor approval);
  resolution of difficult questions; interpretations; drafting and
  revising survey questions and intervew protocol; design,
  implementation, data collection, and data analysis for the survey;
  and composition of project documents.
\end{itemize}
Whenever you draw upon the written work of others, that material
should be properly referenced in your reports.  For examples of
acceptable citation styles, see {\tt
  http://library.osu.edu/sites/guides/apagd.php}.  The ``reference''
form should appear at the end of the paper in a list of references,
alphabetized by author.  The ``in-text'' form is used in the body of
the paper, each time you call attention to the source from which you
drew material.\\

SIGN THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT AND INCLUDE IT ON THE COVER PAGE OF YOUR
PROPOSAL: (a second copy is attached to this handout for you to tear
off and use)\\

\fbox{\parbox{6.5in}{

\begin{center}
{\bf ORIGINAL WORK STATEMENT}\\[1em]
Project Title:~\rule{5.5in}{.1pt}\\[1em]
We the undersigned certify that the actual composition of this
proposal was done by us and is original work.\\[1em]
\def\bl{\rule{1.25in}{0.1pt}}
\def\li{\bl & \bl & \bl & \bl \\[1.2em]}
\begin{tabular}{rcccc}
 & \bf Signatures & \bf Typed Names & \bf Phones & \bf Emails\\
Contact\\
Author: & \li & \li & \li & \li
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
}}

\section{Some Notes about Grades for Projects}

\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{ll}
\bf Milestone & \bf Due Date\\
\hline
\hline
\bf Phase II\\
4. Sampling Scheme \& Question Design & Tue Feb 16\\
5. Pretest \& Revise Questions & Tue Feb 23\\
6. Final IRB \& Project Plan & Tue Mar 2\\
\bf Phase III\\
7. Progress Report on Data Collection \& Analysis & Tue Mar 30\\
\phantom{9. } (Meeting of the Minds Registration & Thu Apr 1) \\
8. Rough Draft of Final Report & Tue Apr 6\\
9. Final Report Due & Fri Apr 30 \\
\phantom{9. } Oral Presentations & Apr 20--Apr 29\\
\phantom{9. } (Meeting of the Minds & Wed May 5) 
\end{tabular}
\end{center}

The easiest projects typically will involve an on-campus survey of
some of your fellow students, especially a subset who are easily
accessible to you.  The easiest mode of administration is by e-mail
and/or a web service like {\tt surveymonkey.com}, but followup and
high response rates are often easier to achieve with other modes of
data collection (especially interviews and other face-to-face
methods), though they require more time and effort.

In my evaluation of your project work (both proposals and completed
projects), there will be a tradeoff between originality and cleverness
on the one hand, and thoroughness and difficulty on the other.  If you
are willing to do a more complex and difficult project this may make
up for lack of originality.  For example, I will specifically evaluate
all proposals for thoroughness, including plans for non-response
followup.  On the other hand, I definitely do give credit for
originality.  Thus a project that is really dull and boring but does
hard statistics cannot be expected to get higher marks than a project
that is easier statistically but involves a clever problem or one of
intrinsic scientific, social or policy interest.

\subsection{Inferring Causal and Lurking Variables}

Sample surveys are good at measuring things as they are, and only can
be used to measure causal effects in very special and limited
circumstances.  Many questions of interest that are expored using
sample surveys nonetheless are related to causal questions.  In almost
any statistical problem of comparing two or more subpopulations, or
where we are studying the ``effects'' of some variables on others,
there will be {\em Lurking Variables}, i.e. variables that---if not
measured and accounted for in your analysis---will cause a distortion
of the results, especially when you are looking at relationships.  I
will mention a few of these in class.  I expect that your project will
consider and measure lurking variables that are especially relevant
for your question(s) of interest.

\subsection{Thoroughness and Creatitivy}

As suggested above, I will give a subjective evaluation of your
proposal, based on two factors: First, is the idea really clever or
really of scientific interest, and second, have you done a reasonably
thorough job of things?  I am hoping that this will induce you to
think of a project that is both interseting and leaves scope for some
statistical analysis.

For example, if you simply state that you plan to compare GPAs of male
and female students, you are being neither creative nor thorough.  It
is easy to see that there are lurking variables (college and major),
and there are also possible regression relationships with other
variables of interest (e.g. SAT scores).

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\section{Other Notes Relating to the Project}

\begin{itemize}\tight

\item I suggest that you spend approximately 80 hours as a team on
  this project.  You may spend more time if you are convinced that the
  benefits of spending more hours on this project are greater than the
  costs.

\item Keep a diary (e.g. in the form of a lab book, or an on-line
  document), and update it regularly througout the project (no less
  than once a week!).  Record your expenditures of time and other
  resources, as well as any notable events that may influence the
  interpretation of your data or data analyses.  Keep track of which
  team members attend each meeting.  {\bf Turn this diary in with your
    final report.}  (One text or pdf file {\em per person} is fine.
  If you handwrite your diary, it must be neat and easy to follow.)
  Credit will be awarded for this effort.

\item You will invest a certain amount of time, energy, money and
  other resources, in doing this project.  As is the case with all
  investments, the amount of return you will receive on this project,
  both now and later in your career, depends on the amount you invest
  in it and the risk you take.

\end{itemize}

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\section{Oral Presentation of Projects}

\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{ll}
\bf Milestone & \bf Due Date\\
\hline
\hline
\bf Phase III\\
9. Final Report Due & Fri Apr 30 \\
\phantom{9. } Oral Presentations & Apr 20--Apr 29\\
\phantom{9. } (Meeting of the Minds & Wed May 5)
\end{tabular}
\end{center}

Scheduled for April 20, 22, 27 and 29. Each group will have 20
minutes for its presentation.

In the past, students have found that making the presentation using
PowerPoint is quite effective and allows the group to cover more
material.  In additon, you may wish to prepare a handout for the class
with questionnaire materials and some of your analytic results.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\section{Written Final Report}

\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{ll}
\bf Milestone & \bf Due Date\\
\hline
\hline
\bf Phase III\\
9. Final Report Due & Fri Apr 30 \\
\phantom{9. } Oral Presentations & Apr 20--Apr 29\\
\phantom{9. } (Meeting of the Minds & Wed May 5)
\end{tabular}
\end{center}

Due by 5:00pm on the final day of classes, Fri Apr 30.

Further instructions and a proposed grading scheme will be handed out
later in the course.

\clearpage

\thispagestyle{empty}

\fbox{\parbox{6.5in}{

\begin{center}
{\bf ORIGINAL WORK STATEMENT}\\[1em]
Project Title:~\rule{5.5in}{.1pt}\\[1em]
We the undersigned certify that the actual composition of this
proposal was done by us and is original work.\\[1em]
\def\bl{\rule{1.25in}{0.1pt}}
\def\li{\bl & \bl & \bl & \bl \\[1.2em]}
\begin{tabular}{rcccc}
 & \bf Signatures & \bf Typed Names & \bf Phones & \bf Emails\\
Contact\\
Author: & \li & \li & \li & \li & \li
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
}}



\end{document}
