Advice to Future Students

My advice to future students doing this project would be to make sure you do each part with your partner. Don't divide up the work and each do only some parts, because then you won't have as much practice for the exam, and it will hurt your grade. Also, don't be afraid to go ask Chuck questions because it helps a lot. Better to ask him than get something wrong.

A new topic I might suggest for next year would be something involving the cafeteria food. Maybe how satisfied students are with the food or if they would like to see something improved. I think you could get a good feedback because you could focus on people specifically who eat in the caf.

Advice & Topics

Advice:

For future students I would first suggest to start doing everything early, it leaves much more time for editing or finding solutions to unforeseen problems that may come up. This can apply to all parts of the project, but especially the paper, because it will end up taking much longer than you might think.
I would also suggest to do thorough work on the early assignments for the project, especially the one focusing on finding other sources, as that will help speed up the process of writing the paper when you get to that point. Lastly, I would definitely recommend working with a partner, because this is a long project with a lot of work, and it would help to be able to divide up the work.

Topics:
1. Why people chose the major that they did, and how many hours of work per week each major does.
2. Compare the majors of athletes and non-athletes
3. Compare the social lives of athletes vs. non-athletes, between dorms, between classes, etc.

Advice and Possible Topics

My Advice

I would advise you future students to take the assignments about the project very seriously because they come in handy when writing out the final project. (Especially the assignment where you have to find outside resources) If you already have these resources and numbers, then your hypothesis tests will be easier to finish for the project. Another piece of advice is that if you are going for a large sample size, ask people in person to fill out your survey because people are more likely to do it when they are facing a real person. Going for a large sample size however is not the most important thing!! When it comes down to it, you are better off focusing your time on making sure your calculations, your regressions, and your analysis are done perfectly. You only get 5 extra points for a large sample size; it would suck to lose points on other parts of the project for those 5 points. Also, choose a partner you can actually work with and don’t be afraid to hold them accountable for their part. Last thing, start at least 4 days before it’s due and go into Chuck’s office/call him as much as you need to. Nothing’s worse than thinking you’re doing everything right and then asking the day before and finding out you need to do something over. Start early and give yourself lots of time to bug Chuck. I know the project seems like a huge stressor, and it is, but it is actually kind of cool once you finish and see what your research found.

Possible Topics

You could study student spending, student sleep habits, student caffeine intake, student eating habits, or all those for professors; you could compare any of these things to Western students. You could study which major costs the most in terms of money on classes and study time and then ask alumni their majors and salaries, and see if the costs are worth it. 

Advice for future students

Advice for future Business Statistics students

I recommend that as soon as you receive anything that has to do with the project you do it as soon as possible because if you put it off it can become real stressful. Early in the quarter the project isn’t that stressful but it gets worse towards the end of the quarter, so make sure to stay on top of the early assignments. If you work on the project little by little and not all at one time then you’ll be in good shape.

            It’s better to start early when it’s time to type up the whole project because that way you can ask your professor questions if you are unsure about anything.

           

My class was given the choice of working in a group or alone and I recommend that if you are given the same choice you choose a partner because this project is long and tedious enough already so you want someone to split up the work with so it will be a lot easier.

Possible topics

-       - Professor’s salaries in different departments.

-       - Which stores do K students most frequently visit?

-       - Where K students spend most of their Munch Money and which other restaurants should Munch Money include?

Advice for Future Business Statistics Students

Here is some advice for students undertaking the Business Statistics project:

-Start early. Knock out every aspect of the project as soon as you can. This will keep you from stressing out and making stupid mistakes.

-Work with a partner. I definitely recommend a partner because theres less work to do than on your own and, as the saying goes, misery loves company. I'd also make sure at least one of you knows how to use excel well. This will make the whole process much easier. 

-Stay Calm. The project may seem overwhelming at times but if you do a little at a time instead of all at once it will be over before you know it. 

-Ask Chuck (or whoever your professor is) for Help. If you don't get something, ask. Chuck is there to help and will help you solve any issue you might be having. 

Possible Topic Ideas:

- Tobacco use at K.

- Car use and Car ownership among K students.

- Which T.V. channels are most popular on K College's cable. This would be nice because it could help the administration figure out what channels to keep, get rid of, and/or add. 

Project Review and Advice

Dear Future Business Stats Students,

Based on my experience with the project, I have two pieces of advice to give:
1. Take the intermediate steps seriously
     -While the project ended up as a success in the end, my group ran into several issues along the      way because we neglected to take the initial survey design, sample selection and data processing seriously. As a result, the last few days before the final paper was due we ran into a few issues that made the work less than enjoyable. Getting a good start early can make the project much more satisfying and a little less strenuous.
2. Start writing the final paper/processing the final data early
    -Unfortunately, my partner and I underestimated how much time actually compiling all the data and running the various statistical tests actually takes. While tests such as a T-test take less than a second on Excel, the actual process of determining what to enter can take far longer. If my group would have began to write and process earlier, our paper would have been much cleaner, absent of mistakes and incorrect interpretation.

A few suggestions for future students:
1. Study what professors, alumni and parents of students think of the fields project. Unfortunately we were unable to survey the above groups and our data was limited to current K students. I think some cool and important results could be found if this topic was undertaken.

2. Study the overall opinion of athletics and its funding at K. An interesting study would be to determine how students feel about athletics and what they feel appropriate funding granted towards sports at K would be. While the administration may not use the results, it would be interesting to determine the general attitude at K towards athletics.

Gender and Spending Habits

When you think of the typical shopper, you are likely to imagine a young woman with a shopping bag in a mall. This is a stereotype that has been associated with women (and youth) for quite a while. Moreover, this association has led to the belief that young adult women spend more money than their masculine counterparts. Is this true? Who actually spends more?

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Who spends more at Kalamazoo College, men or women? What kind of products do the sexes purchase? What factors influence these tendencies? 

In this study, I surveyed 28 students at Kalamazoo College. The survey was split into two main sections: 1. General Income and Quarterly Expenditures; 2. Situational Questions. The first section gathered data on hard numbers - how much income each person had/generated, as well as how much they spent on various products per quarter. These products included food/beverages, entertainment, travel, clothing, and monthly payments. The situational questions asked each person several hypothetical questions, like how likely they would be to spend on better hotels, cheaper clothing, better looking cars, and romantic interests.

It turns out that the question, "Who Spends More?" may be too broad. In the end, there was no statistically significant difference between the spending of men and women at KCollege. However, there were still patterns that emerged. Men generally spent more than women, but most generated more income than women. Still, men on average spent a larger percentage of their income. Statistically, more men were employed (part-time) than women. Men spent significantly more on entertainment and food/beverages, and women spent significantly more on clothing. 

The situational questions also pointed out some very interesting tendencies. Women were more likely to: spend on clothes that they did not initially intend to buy; buy a good-looking, used car with many miles; be charitable to the homeless; spend more on a hotel to for its superior location. Women varied less in their responses than men, which is why I could draw some of these patterns. Men, on the other hand, had very different responses to many of the questions; some were extremely likely to give into peer pressure and others were unaffected. One tendency that most men agreed on, though, was spending more money on a romantic interest, while women were more likely to have different opinions on the matter. Interesting stuff.