Stat 301 – Fall 2007 (Mini-project 1)

• General Knowledge of Cal Poly Students

Do Cal Poly students tend to have more general knowledge concerning political issues or popular culture?

• Sierra Mist vs. 7-Up

Do people have a (blind taste test) preference between the Sierra Mist and 7-Up?

• Response Differences for Male, Female Surveyor

Do males answer a question regarding exercise/working out habits differently depending on whether they’re asked by another male or a female?

• Visual stimuli and taste perception

Does the color of food (cookies in this case) influence one’s perception of the food’s taste?

• Random “Myspace” Friends

Are “people” on Myspace more likely to add an unknown person as their friend if the unknown person claims to be female, rather than male?

• Fish breathing in cold, warm water

Is there a difference in the number of breaths a fish takes in a minute if he’s in cold water, compared to water at room temperature?

• Know the topic of a word scrambler

Does knowing the subject of scrambled words in a word scrambler game help improve peoples’ scores in the game?

• Positive vs. Negative question wording

Are students more likely to agree with a statement they read, regardless of if the statement is phrased positively, or negatively?

• Restroom usage

Are people less likely to use a public restroom if (1) there’s a sign on the door indicating the restroom is under observation and (2) there’s an individual holding a clipboard standing outside the restroom?

• Question phrasing (positive/negative)

Do World of Warcraft players respond differently when asked whether or not they’re happy vs. whether or not they’re unhappy with the progress of their raids?

• Cereal serving sizes

Does the size of the bowl affect what people perceive to be one serving size of cereal?

Stat 301 – Fall 2007 (Mini-project 2)

• Batting Averages in Major League Baseball

Was the average batting average in the 2006-2007 seasons lower than .300?

• Analysis of Present Professional Skateboarders and their Ages

Is the average age of professional skateboarders less than 22 years?

• Let’s Go Grocery Shopping!

Does the average cost of items from Albertson’s online grocery list differ from $5?

• Cosmo and Ads

Is the proportion of pages in the Oct-Dec, 2007 issues of Cosmopolitan magazine different from .30?

• Length of songs in Aaron’s itunes library

Does the proportion of songs in Aaron’s library that are longer than 4 minutes differ from .5?

• E for Everyone

Are a majority of all games rated by the Entertainment Software Rating Board rated E or E10+?

• Foreign Languages vs. World Population

Does the proportion of languages in the Eurasian continent match the proportion of the world’s population?

• Illegal Turns

Do a majority of drivers through a particular intersection illegally turn right on red?

• Word Length of “I Have a Dream” Speech

Does the average length of words in this speech exceed that of the Gettysburg Address?

• Analysis of Adams’ iTunes Library

Is the average length of a song in this library greater than 210s?

• Is SLO the Way to “Go”?

Does the average lifelength in San Luis Obispo cemeteries exceed the U.S. life expectancy?

Stat 301 - Spring 2007 (Mini-Project 2)

• From imdb.com, what proportion of full-length theatrical releases are under 2 hours?
• Comparison of test scores (whether above state average) between below average and above average spending schools with at least 200 students fall 2005.
• What proportion of words from webster’s new pocket dictionary had wikipedia come up first in google search?
• Comparison of rainfall data between LA and Phoenix from 1921-current NOAA data
• What proportion of recipes in different cookbooks had over 1000 calories