DATA 301 Project¶
Introduction¶
One of the best parts of Data Science is that after learning just a little bit of background language, your world will open up drastically and you now have the power to explore whole datasets! It’s a whole new world…
You can find a dataset about something that you’re passionate about like climate change, music, financial information, vacation rentals, flight prices, stock prices, population data, vaccine efficacy, etc… Then practice using the techniques from this course on this dataset, and start exploring interesting questions, as well as more advanced data science techniques. Research shows that intrinsic motivation (defined below) have significant effects in students being more genuinely engaged in the learning activities, more dedicated to the task achieving deeper learning, and more persistent in the face of learning challenges [Vansteenkiste et al., 2004].
Tip
Definition: “Intrinsic motivation refers to people’s spontaneous tendencies to be curious and interested, to seek out challenges and to exercise and develop their skills and knowledge, even in the absence of operationally separable rewards”.[Di Domenico and Ryan, 2017].
Logistics¶
Group Size¶
The project can be done as a group of 2, as a group of 3, or individually.
I encourage you to work in a group, and I expect that you will learn a lot more working collaboratively, including how to use Git and GitHub in a team setting.
This will be an excellent skill to put on your CV, and it will also be much closer to what happens in real life.
In non-pandemic times, this is a group project and students don’t have the option to do it individually.
In pandemic times, I can understand that time zones and your personal situations might make group work difficult, so you may choose the individual project option.
Join a Group¶
All students (even those doing the project individually) must join a group so you can be assigned a group number. Group numbers are sequential from 1 onwards. Please try to join groups sequentially - i.e. don’t join group 55 when the next available group is 4. Please do not join a group without talking to the other member(s) first and discussing a plan (see below).
How to form a team¶
There is a little bit of additional work needed to form a team, so we can make sure that all team members are on the same page, and teamwork can happen harmoniously.
To create a group of two or three, here’s what you need to do:
Use the Ed Discussion megathread to post an “ad” looking for a team to join, or partners for your team.
Get in touch with your potential team members (you can message anyone in the class via the Canvas Inbox).
Share contact details with each other, and arrange for an initial meeting (Zoom, phone, instagram live, whatever y’all use these days).
I will give you some class time to make the initial contact and exchange information.
In your initial meeting discuss the following items:
What are your interests and goals with this project (datasets, research questions, what you want to learn)?
How much time will you be able to dedicate to this project?
What timezone(s) are you going to be in?
How frequently will you meet or discuss the project?
What are each of your strengths and weaknesses?
What will you do if there is a conflict or if issues arises within the team?
Do you all agree to stay in touch, and keep everyone informed despite how busy you are? I suggest setting a response time, say a response time of ~ 12-24 hours.
Do you think you will be able to work together for this project?
Once your initial meeting is done and you have answered those questions together, one person in the team should create a Private Ed Discussion post, copy/paste this message, and fill in these details:
Hi Dr. Moosvi,
Here is the information you requested on our team:
Team Members and timezone:
Student 1 (me) is in Kelowna, and is in the same timezone as Kelowna.
Student 2 is in Toronto, and is three hours ahead of Kelowna.
Student 3 is Edmonton, and is 1 hour ahead of Kelowna.
I can confirm that we have had our first meeting and we discussed all of the questions above:
Were all members of the group present at the meeting? Your Answer Here
What is the dataset or area/sector that you are interested in doing a project together? Your Answer Here
What will you do if there is a conflict or if issues arise within the team?: Your Answer Here
Do you think you will be able to work together for this project? Your Answer Here
We will await your response to confirm that we can form a group together.
Tip
Once you receive the “go-ahead” from me (hopefully within 24-36 hours), then you can join the group on Canvas, and accept the GitHub Template project link.