Doing the project

Guide to preparing the dissertation

Additional information and suggestions about things to look out for in preparing and marking the main dissertation will be uploaded before the start of the projects. 

Description

SwDS students will work on 2 statistical Consultancy-Style Research Projects during Block 5 (June–August). The first project will be completed in the first half of Block 5, and the second project will be completed in the second half of Block 5.

These projects are specifically designed in order for you to build up expert knowledge of statistical research and analysis, as well as computing, presentation and other essential communication skills. In particular, you will be given two distinct problems, translate them into statistical language, identify and develop associated statistical techniques for addressing the questions of interest, apply the techniques to real data and finally interpret and sharing your findings. 

Doing the project and further information

Each project will be supervised by 2 supervisors. It is your responsibility to organise and complete project work. For each project, you have to submit an individual typeset report carefully describing the statistical techniques used for the analysis, results obtained, and corresponding interpretation of the results. You will give a 15-minute oral presentation on one project of their preference about 2 or 3 days after the second project report has been submitted. The projects are of equal weight (each will be 45% of the total final mark for the dissertation) and will be consecutive. The two reports contribute 90/100 of the marks (45/100 each), and the oral presentation contributes 10/100 of the marks. 

Drop in sessions

There will be weekly two-hour drop-in meetings for the duration of each project. In these meetings, the supervisors will answer questions related to the project and be able to provide guidance and feedback on how the work is progressing. It is important to manage your interactions with your supervisors to get the most out of the time they can give you. It is a good discipline to write a short report each week listing what you have done that week. Keep these reports! 

Feedback 

Your supervisors should read and give you detailed comments on one or two chapters of your dissertation. Agree with them when you will give them this material and when you will get it back. You will probably need over a week to react to the supervisor's comments, so give the material to be read to your supervisors in good time. Do not expect your supervisors to correct your grammar, get help elsewhere for that and use the time your supervisors have to guide you about the content. 

Misconduct

Although students may discuss the project with other students taking the project, the work presented in the submitted typeset report must be your own independent work. Ask your supervisors specifically to verify that you are citing other people's material in a way acceptable to Edinburgh University. We will ask you to sign a declaration when you hand in your dissertation to confirm that it is free of plagiarism. Submitted reports will be checked carefully for plagiarism using Turnitin and you should be familiar with the University's plagiarism guidelines.

The University of Edinburgh plagiarism guidelines

Important tasks

At the end of the first full week in June please send an email message to the project coordinators confirming that you have had a meeting with the supervisors and that your project is underway. 

Make sure that you make regular backup copies of all data (programs, models, drafts of the reports, etc). We will not give extensions for data loss.