CISC4900 Independent Project 1: General Problem: The general problem lies in the classification of large data. Professor Joyner works with many students as a Micro-Biology Professor on a project that requires students to fill out a survey that asks them about things such as their previous knowledge of biology and what they expect from the class. The second survey acts as a post class survey which is compares against the initial surveys. The problem comes in when it comes time to manage and analyze all the survey data so that the information can be used to make future classes better for both students and professors. 2: Proposed Solution: My proposed solution will be to make use of the collected data in ways that are both efficient for both the people managing the data and for the people who it will affect. I will research effective models for organizing the data along with meaningful lines of analysis as to make the data useful, rather than just a collection of data. Along with making use of the data in meaningful ways, I will work to create scripts that will allow Jessica to organize the input data easily, essentially saving lots of time so that more work can be put to understanding the results of the data rather than organizing it. 3: Outline:
- Research tools being used for the project [both software and languages to be used]. As of now, the tools I will definitely be using in terms of software will be Microsoft Excel, and the languages used for scripting will be Python. Useful tool will be taken note of as the project progresses and integrated based on practicality and effectiveness.
- Evaluate student surveys as to develop possible links of useful data, outlining potentially meaningful analysis. I will use different forms of data visualization [graphs, charts, etc] to help identify analyzed data. This is where the bulk of the work will take place, as there will quite a bit of research into effective analysis models, statistics, and possibly references to other studies [for example, studies measuring “happiness” that might relate to survey results].
- Ideally, automate the analysis mentioned above via scripts that will be used in the future with identically formatted student data surveys. This will save a lot of time and effort as there will a researched model for the analyzed student data that can be used to draw conclusions based on the current students for the micro-biology project.