• Word count 800, focus on quality and clarity, not quantity.
• Use ordinary plain language in your report. Do not use textbook definitions or unnecessarily complex
• technical language. I want to see your understanding, not some copied textbook definitions. Keep
• explanations concise and clear. Sentences are precious; don’t waste them. Complex sentences are
• fine, provided the occasion merits it.
• Some examples: http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/campaigning/examples/before-and-after.html
Brief
Pick a journal article related to your industry which uses t-test and/or ANOVA to analyse survey data.
The articles should use some form of statistical analysis of the data, more than simply presenting bar
charts / pie charts of numbers / percentages. Some articles are more complex, and some are simpler,
so look for a few different ones and choose one that you are comfortable enough in understanding
but be sure that the article employs these statistical methods to a meaningful extent.
Examples of statistical analysis would be chi-square test, t-test, anova, Wilcoxon (Mann-Whitney U)
regression, etc, see (Fink, 2003). Some tests, or aspects of them, may be too advanced or difficult to
understand. Try to research what the test does and how it is usually applied and then relate this to
what the article is using the test for.
Write a report on the selected article. Describe in your own words what the article is about, what its
objectives are, what the methods used are, what the results show and what the conclusions drawn
are. Again, avoid overly technical jargon; however, some jargon is unavoidable. Spend some effort on
outlining the method and it’s application in the article.
Describe any new learnings you have gained about the application of statistical methods from having
studied this article, highlighting anything that you found particularly interesting.
Outline any points which were difficult to follow and methods you didn’t really have a full grasp of
(or any grasp of). Note that you should try to select an article which you have some overall
understanding of.
