Extra Credit Assignment – Spring 2023
Students who wish to receive extra credit can complete the following assignment by March
17th, 2023. The assignment should be submitted on Canvas by the due date. Those who submit
a satisfactory assignment will receive 5 extra points on their final grade, e.g. a final course
grade of 85 would increase to a 90.
The goal of the assignment is to have students implement the concepts taught in the course
thus far, on actual data. To get full credit, make sure to use as many of these concepts as you
can:
1. Search for and download a dataset to work with; that means, a file that has at least
40 observations (rows), and 2 variables (columns). The data can be from any field that
interests you (health, crime, education, economy, etc.). The data must come from a
reputable source, which should be cited. You cannot invent data. Examples of datasets
that you can work on – GDP by state, the rate of covid cases by state, responses to life
satisfaction surveys in the US, etc.
Make sure that the dataset is suitable for you to work on for this assignment in Excel.
2. Describe the dataset – what is the data? What type of data is each variable? What
are the definitions of the different variables in the data? What is the source of the data?
What year is detailed in the data?
3. Present at least 2 graphs relevant for the type of data that you are working with. (For
example, a bar graph to represent covid rates by state, from highest to lowest).
Interpret the graphs and state a few findings that arise from the graphs (For example,
the state with the highest covid rate is…, the state with the lowest covid rate is…, most
states had covid rates that are between X and X, etc.).
Students who wish to receive extra credit can complete the following assignment by March
17th, 2023. The assignment should be submitted on Canvas by the due date. Those who submit
a satisfactory assignment will receive 5 extra points on their final grade, e.g. a final course
grade of 85 would increase to a 90.
The goal of the assignment is to have students implement the concepts taught in the course
thus far, on actual data. To get full credit, make sure to use as many of these concepts as you
can:
1. Search for and download a dataset to work with; that means, a file that has at least
40 observations (rows), and 2 variables (columns). The data can be from any field that
interests you (health, crime, education, economy, etc.). The data must come from a
reputable source, which should be cited. You cannot invent data. Examples of datasets
that you can work on – GDP by state, the rate of covid cases by state, responses to life
satisfaction surveys in the US, etc.
Make sure that the dataset is suitable for you to work on for this assignment in Excel.
2. Describe the dataset – what is the data? What type of data is each variable? What
are the definitions of the different variables in the data? What is the source of the data?
What year is detailed in the data?
3. Present at least 2 graphs relevant for the type of data that you are working with. (For
example, a bar graph to represent covid rates by state, from highest to lowest).
Interpret the graphs and state a few findings that arise from the graphs (For example,
the state with the highest covid rate is…, the state with the lowest covid rate is…, most
states had covid rates that are between X and X, etc.).
4. Calculate a few relevant descriptive statistics relating to your data – what is the
median? the mean? the range? Interpret those as well.
5. Calculate a few relevant (and interesting) probabilities from your data (For example, the share of US states that had GDP above the average GDP in Europe
