Initial question/selection:

Select two variables which you wish to study. You may choose variables which you suspect have a correlation, know are correlated, or wish to see if there is any correlation simply by chance.

What source(s) are you using?

Why are you interested in this data?

Hypothesis:

What do you hypothesize the relationship to be between your two variables?

Identify the independent and dependent variables.

Single Variable Analysis:

For each variable

Create a histogram and describe the shape of the distribution (left or right skewed, bimodal, mound shaped).

Calculate the mean, median and mode

Which measure of central tendency would be best to describe the average for each variable? Why?

Determine the standard deviation

Determine the quartiles

Create a box and whisker plot, modified if necessary

Do you have any outliers to consider? Describe the impact of the outlier(s) on the mean, median, mode, and standard deviation.

If one of your variables appears normally distributed, pick a particular data value (for example, if you used countries pick Canada) and determine the z-score for that data value. What percentile does this piece of data rank?

If neither variable is normally distributed, pick the one that visually looks closest to a normal distribution and determine a z-score for a particular data value (for example, if you used countries pick Canada). What percentile does this piece of data rank?

Two Variable Analysis

Do a regression analysis of your two data sets (calculate the correlation coefficient, r, and interpret the value)

Create a scatter plot, include a line of best fit

If it looks like another model would be a better fit then try other models. Compare the values of the coefficient of determination, r2, for the different models. Which one has the best fit?

If you have outliers in the data set, how do they impact the line (or curve) of best fit?

Show how the line or curve of best fit changes when the outliers are removed. Do you think its reasonable to remove the outliers? Explain.

Validity of Results/Final Thoughts:

Do your calculations support or refute your hypothesis?

What else could you consider for further study?