There has been a major set back in my project. The original data collection process was unsuccessful. I had called multiple dealerships and got many excuses why they could not give me their information. Some of the dealerships told me I had to talk to the manager, and I did, but they never gave me a call back. Other dealerships said that they could not give this information due to certain privacy laws. Since the deadline for data collection is nearing, I have to switch my study from an experimental to observational study. This transition will affect my data analysis toolbox and also my final presentation.
My new project question will be; How has the prices of cars changed from 2004 to the present time? To further elaborate on this question, I will answer sub questions; What was the mean price of cars in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008? Why has the price changed? What causes these price changes? I will use cars that range in price from $15,000 to $25,000. To find the prices of cars I plan to use resources like http://www.edmounds.com/ and http://www.cars.com/. The cars that I will be using can be found in my newly updated toolbox. Since my project will be an observation study, I was informed that my presentation has to be above and beyond students that have carried out experimental studies. This means that I must locate reliable sources and use certain technologies that other students are not going to use (i.e. Minitab). I will also have to work harder on my PowerPoint, to make sure it stands out from the other students. I will also use extra graphical displays than originally planned including using z-scores (http://kochanski.org/gpk/research/misc/2005/zscores.html) and confidence intervals. Hopefully this extra work will make a great project and create some useful statistics.
My new project question will be; How has the prices of cars changed from 2004 to the present time? To further elaborate on this question, I will answer sub questions; What was the mean price of cars in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008? Why has the price changed? What causes these price changes? I will use cars that range in price from $15,000 to $25,000. To find the prices of cars I plan to use resources like http://www.edmounds.com/ and http://www.cars.com/. The cars that I will be using can be found in my newly updated toolbox. Since my project will be an observation study, I was informed that my presentation has to be above and beyond students that have carried out experimental studies. This means that I must locate reliable sources and use certain technologies that other students are not going to use (i.e. Minitab). I will also have to work harder on my PowerPoint, to make sure it stands out from the other students. I will also use extra graphical displays than originally planned including using z-scores (http://kochanski.org/gpk/research/misc/2005/zscores.html) and confidence intervals. Hopefully this extra work will make a great project and create some useful statistics.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
3 comments:
It is unfortunate that your initial idea did not work. Although, I am very interested in seeing the results of your new idea. I recently bought a car myself around two years ago, and I would like to how the prices of cars today are comparatively to then. Best of luck in your research, and I will surely check into your blog next week.
It deleted my post, so I'm just reposting. It seems like you and Cinnamon have run into major road blocks in your project. I would suggest having your toolbox ready by Thursday, because you'll want to have your data by the end of Spring Break. Also, I was wondering where are you going to get this data from, the Internet? or are you going to call the dealerships. I'm not sure if the dealerships will have all of this information readily available.
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