SchoolProjectGuide Blog | UNIVERSITY STUDENT SCHOOL PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS

Data Analysis

Let’s Discuss Data Analysis Cleaning, transforming, and modeling data to discover valuable knowledge for business decision-making is known as data analysis. Data analysts' goal is to derive valuable knowledge from data and make decisions based on that information. A basic example of data analysis is when we make a decision in our daily lives, we consider what happened the last time we made that decision or what would happen if we make that decision. This is nothing more than looking backwards or forwards in time and drawing conclusions based on our findings. We do this by gathering memories from the past or fantasizing about the future. So that's what there is about data analysis. Data analysis is what an analyst does now for company purposes. A solid strategy is needed for any good data analysis project. The data analysis project strategy depicts all of the project's fundamental specifications. The strategy defines the structure of the data, announces the study's objectives, explains the data sources, and specifies the study's procedures. Since it explains the study's methodology and intent to managers, grant authors, and specialists in the area, the plan paper becomes an important aspect of the project. Project Objective The project's objective must be included in the data collection project strategy. These priorities show concerned parties what the goals are and what a thorough review of the data can reveal. The project's objectives should be focused around a particular market issue, such as "How do fluctuations in raw material costs impact the company's profits?" or "How do social media messages affect stock prices?" Data Sources The next concern the project should address after establishing the project's objectives is the sources of the data to be included in the study. Annual earnings or asset values are examples of quantitative data sources, while assumptions and views are examples of subjective data sources. For example, more quantitative data sources will be used in financial data analysis plans, while more analytical data sources will be used in marketing and leadership evaluations. Method of Data Collection The data collection techniques must also be included in the project. Annual surveys, market revenue statistics, and stock price records will also provide objective evidence to analysts. Customer surveys, opinion polling, and face-to-face interviews are all methods for gathering anecdotal results. The strategy must demonstrate why each approach is being used and how it can help the project achieve its goals. If the strategies outlined in the proposal do not align with the project's goals, the project's request for resources to achieve the mission will be denied. Data Analysis method After the data collection tasks are finished, the project's next step is to review the data. The tools used to interpret the data must be included in the project schedule. Quantitative approaches, such as mathematical analyses, and qualitative methods, such as assessing emotions or experiences, are also available. The design of the research approaches to be used is often dictated by the project's goals. For example, a data collection project with the goal of determining customer satisfaction with a new product could use both quantitative and qualitative approaches, such as data from customer surveys. We will discuss the various methods of data analysis and their application in the next post....

Saturday, 15 May 2021

TIME MANAGEMENT

Running behind time is soooooooo easy. One minute you have all the time in the world and the next you realize you barely have an hour or more to the moment you have been waiting for. It’s kind of frustrating to be late or not meet up.Especially, when it’s something very important. On top of that, imagine knowing that you are going to be late on your project or even a presentation. That would be some hell of a big deal. Add to the fact that a lot of supervisors do not take it lightly to let you be the deciding factor and you have a picture in your mind’s eye that brings a scowl on your face. Now imagine if that were a reality. Of course that will be way below par with what you want or the picture you would love. There is something about poor time management that rubs us all the wrong way. For one, it makes you feel like a looser. I have not yet met anyone who is comfortable to know that they are turning up late at an extremely important schedule that does not feel horrible. In fact, in most cases, ‘horrible’ will be an understatement. Besides, you don’t want to have a run in with your supervisor for being late on submissions right? So how about we discuss how to manage your time better? Here we go. Let us find out some ways to meet up with your time: HAVE A DRAFT: What do you want to do? Sit down and start drafting. Have an outline that guides you. Summarize in a small, short form the structure of your project. What you wish to do. At this stage, what you really should focus on is to have the title and the chapters written out as a guide. Just make little notes to aid you on your thought line. You really don’t have to go into details. If you itemize them like this, it will make it easier for you to highlight fully or expatiate later. Usually it is a way of trying to get you and your mind to start working on your project. Instead of just living in your imagination, by doing a short draft you have successfully moved your Project into reality. You must note that this is different from having an action plan. HAVE AN ACTION PLAN: Use a calendar to plan a chart. What do you want to do at a specific point and when? Realize that waiting for your supervisor to give you a heads up on when you should submit your work at any stage means that there is a possibility you may lag behind. So do not let this happen. State how long it should last and allot a time frame on it. This will guide you towards how and when each target should be implemented. I personally use this a lot on my work schedules and it helps me a great deal. You might prefer to use a POST-IT, they are very colourful. (Colours have a way of calling your attention). Especially when they contrast perfectly from the background where you place them. Strategically position them in a place you will always look or go to: In front of your computer or laptop; on your fridge; on your bathroom door or door to your loo (That is if you live alone. Of course you do know it will be crazy to plaster everyone’s faces with your activity right?). Well, by the time you start submitting chapters upon chapters of your work, you will have very little work pressure compared to not having an action plan at all and if you need to effect any corrections that your supervisor advices, you will find that it becomes easier and not too stressful; as is the case when you are pressed for time. KEEP A REMINDER: Use your phone. It is called a mobile phone and usually you take it everywhere you go. I love it when my phone beeps to remind me about something I need to do in the next few minutes, next hour or so depending on how I set it up. I would recommend that you give yourself at least thirty minutes ahead of each agenda so that you have more time. Also, depending on where you will be at a certain point in time you should be able to assess whether your time could be extended further to accommodate a preparation. For instance if what you need to do demands that you get home to pick up something or change gears, you should set your alert for perhaps an hour to give you enough room to do just that. It is a great asset for the work of an assistant and you do not have to pay an assistant’s salary at all. Just log into the calendar your reminder for when you want the alert and the rest is history. Your project work will benefit tremendously if you utilize this asset that is your mobile phone. Believe me. BE DESCIPLINED: It’s important that you understand how needful it should be that you be disciplined. Take for instance the scenario that your phone starts beeping; you take a look at it, read what it's saying and stick it back into your pocket without doing anything about it. Or better still, the scenario that you have drafted out your action plan and allotted time frames on it, but don’t get around to actually following through on your targets? Of course that would mean that you are not disciplined enough to be committed to your own success. So yes, you must be disciplined to ensure you work according to plan and push yourself to follow through with what is necessary. FIND THE TIME YOU WORK BEST: If you are wondering how this can impact on your time management, consider the fact that you do more work at those times that you find it easier and motivated enough to put in some work on your project. For instance, if you prefer a serene atmosphere and find it more pleasurable to work at night without much disturbance and distractions, you will notice that the energy to do more at those times means that you get more done. So reiteratively, the outcome is that whenever you work at night you turnover more at that time of the night than during the day. Maybe you might have a pile of work that ends up disappearing after you put in a decent duration of night time. By all means use that knowledge to your advantage and leverage on it. When your project work becomes that beautiful piece of work in your school’s library your immense efforts will have paid off. Finding the time you work best and leveraging on it will save you tons of hours. By the time you quantify the hours you have saved for yourself, you will realize how far you have come with effective time management. Clap for yourself later (don’t forget me too… now am smiling). CHECK IN WITH YOUR SUPERVISOR AT EVERY STAGE: One of the biggest mistake you can make after saving yourself time by implementing all of the above is by not checking in with your supervisor at every stage. You don’t want to do that and ruin the great job you are trying to do. Keep in touch. Keeping in touch with your supervisor is a great way of keeping the communication line open. Aside from that, in cases of new information, you get to hear them on time. It does not mean that you are sucking up to him or her. It will enhance the quick delivery you have targeted for your timeline. Need I tell you will also be any supervisor’s ideal candidate? ... *wink*. BE EARLY FOR YOUR PRESENTATION: And when the time for your presentation comes, repeat the processes that brought you this far to be absolutely prepared and on time. Go to bed early the day before, so that you will be fully refreshed at the dawn of your 'D' day. Make sure you have a head start in the morning to run through your entire work. Envisage your presentation and the kind of questions it could attract. Practice calmness and use the time you have been given for the presentation of your project work to schedule yourself. Arrive early and don’t be late. You should be looking dapper. Go buddy! Well, we have come a long way. I should hope the end justifies the means at this point. You want to be that person who has everything planned accordingly and implemented successfully and on time right? I trust that this will go a long way to making you that person. Obviously this list is not an exhaustive one. Feel free to share your insights too. Good luck on becoming that pro with time management. ...

Wednesday, 19 December 2018

Writing a Project Abstract

Finishing a good research job is one thing and valuing a strong demand is another. Just like in production, except that a product is well marketed, its quality is unpredictable. Marketing first attracts the attention of the potential consumer before a trial is considered and then the marketability of that product. As a sign of great need, the summary of each research paper should be of interest to all readers to demand the purchase of the complete material. With this exemption, e-journals have become the best way to reach a wider audience and only the quality of a researcher's resume has the ability to sell research material. This blog article therefore focuses on the best way to present a good summary. Let's take a look at some basics; DEFINITIONA summary in a simple form can be understood as a summarized summary sufficiently comprehensive to represent all the work in sight (no more, no less). This summary should be able to highlight the main contents of the document allowing the reader to anticipate the expectations of the review. Nevertheless, even if a summary is informative, the editor should be careful not to use overly elaborate vocabularies or end up with a lengthy redaction with unnecessary extensions. CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD SUMMARY 1. Accuracy: A good summary must correctly reproduce the purpose and topics of the work in view. It should not include irrelevant information or items that are not in the work. I can advise that search job headers be noted and used as a guide to check the accuracy of the abstract. In the case where the research work is a replica or an extension of an existing research, the authors (initials and last name) must be cited with the year of publication. 2. Brief and precise: each sentence used must be as revealing as possible, in particular the first main sentence. And it should be as short as possible, so that the total length of the entire summary does not exceed 150 words (in estimate). COMPONENTS OF A SUMMARY Although a summary does not need to be long, it should be able to represent all the material in sight. That is, each major point of the work must be represented in a sentence or two. The following components are the specifications that can be used to check when writing a summary; INTRODUCTION: This is the first part of the abstract that introduces the motivation or intent of research in general. This must come first in order to captivate the reader and gradually lead to the problem of research. PROBLEM STATEMENT: Does research seek to solve a problem? Is your field of work generalized or specified to a particular situation? You will have to avoid too many stories, go ahead and put it in one sentence. Sometimes it is best to bring the problem statement, then the motivation can follow. METHODOLOGY: What method did you use to solve the problem? This could be the use of field data, simulation, analysis or prototyping. They must be stated in a sentence with the variables after the problem statement. CONCLUSIONS: What are your conclusions? Be careful not to use ambiguous statements, it is correct to put the figures obtained specifically, yes, put the result there, in figures. Conclusions: What inferences can we draw from your answer? Can your result be potentially generalized or is it limited to the particular case of the study? This must be indicated. ...

Wednesday, 19 December 2018

ACING YOUR PROJECT WRITING

When students get to the project writing stage in their academic career, it is always a major challenge. Several uncertainties and confusions arise from the first procedure to take, to the completion and defence. In this blog post, we will try to reveal some tricks and tips on acing your project defence in your academic year. The first requirement in every project research is to get a project topic. Most schools or supervisors specifically demand that students source their topics themselves, especially on trending issues with a project proposal (see next post on HOW TO WRITE A PROJECT PROPOSAL). This is ok because, when the students source their topics, they can freely dwell on the topic while building a passion around it. And that will encourage the student to explore every aspect of their topic. Also, when the topic is a trending one, the project will play a vital role in contributing to the body of knowledge, such that, other scholars who are interested in the same chosen field, will have references to assist in their own research work, thereby, boosting the relevance of the research work done by the source. At this end, it is advised that every student has to build an interest in rising issue in the society and seek to research on the root cause and remedies in relation to academic achievements. On approval of the project topic, the student needs to proceed with chapter one. The Chapter one of most school formats consist of; 1.1 Background of Study: At the background of study, the origin of the subject matter is to be discussed. The process of development and current existence of the phenomenon in the chosen case study will also be expressed and people's ideas and contributions to the topic can also be featured here too. The background of study does not necessarily have to be too voluminous, but should be comprehensive enough for readers to flow. Each paragraph must contain a separate idea or point, but must not digress or distort the linking statements from the previous of next paragraph. For example; If the project topic has to deal with the "Motivation and Employee Job Satisfaction, a case study of a quoted bank" The background of the study can start by expressing the term "Motivation" and its general understanding, then talk about motivation in the banking sector as a whole, its origin, who introduced it, the purpose, etc. Thereafter, motivation in the specific bank to be studied and the sustainability of motivation on the case study, then the response or the impact of motivation on the employees can be discussed and the sustainability of the motivation pattern used if any. Many other ideas can be employed to beef up the background to form a solidified introduction to the topic in view. 1.2 Statement of Problem: The statement of problem on the other hand, deals with the issues underlying either on the over practice or lack of practice of the subject matter in the case study or the general environmental effect of the subject. Problem statement can further express the problems the research will solve after completing the study. This session does not necessarily need any citations nor quotes, however, that is at writer's discretion. 1.3 Research Objective: The objective of the study itemizes few goals and objectives that the researcher want to target on. This is necessary because, one can never exhaust every possible area of any topic nor case study all at once. But then, the list has to be inter connected in the sequence that follows a hierarchical order; Objective one should seek to know the meaning, existence or idea behind the subject matter, objective two should be able to state the status of practice, patronage, exercise, of functionality of the subject matter, objective three would be able to state the solution, enhancement, method of curative or other related steps on the subject matter, then objective four can seek the measures to be taken to solve the issue of the subject matter. They can be as many as possible, but cannot be less than 3 in number in order to gain recognition and easy approval by the project supervisor. According to the project topic, there should exist two variables - Dependent and Independent variables, which should be considered while choosing the research objectives. The dependent variable is the factor on the project topic that cannot exist when the other factor is removed, while the independent variable is the variable that can stand as a constant will continue to exist regardless the other factor is removed. For example “Motivation and Employee Productivity”, here, the Employee productivity can never stop, meaning the employees will continue to work and bring about productivity in the organization whether motivated or not, it can only be little or large. Hence, the dependent variable in the sample topic above is “Motivation” while the independent variable is “Employee Productivity”. These two variables have to be determined first because there is a link between the research objective, research question and research hypothesis and the hypothesis forms the basis of the analysis that will be treated in chapter four, while the research question forms the questionnaire to be distributed to respondents if the research will employ the primary data analysis method. 1.4 Research Question: The research questions are the basis of the research topic. It provides questions to be asked during field survey (if it’s a survey method to be used) or questions that can place a perspective on the direction of the research. This must come in connection to the research hypothesis if not word for word. The only difference should be that the research question comes in a question form with a question mark ‘?’. For example, if the first research objective states; “To discover the relationship between motivation and staff productivity”, The research question one should go, “Is there a relationship between motivation and staff productivity?” 1.5 Research Hypothesis: Hypothesis generally exists as a debate between two opposite facts. One part called the Alternate Hypothesis (H1) is proposing the motion while the Null Hypothesis (H0) is opposing the motion. Hence, on each research objective, there should exist a H0 and a H1, although, most supervisors would not find it so necessary to also state the H0 as they are both like a two-faced coin where one obviously does not stay without the other. The hypothesis will then be the measure of comparism to determine if a particular question ends on a positive affirmation or a negative conclusion. 1.6 Significance of Study: The significance of the study is where the writer or researcher states the importance of the study, sector or set of people it is useful to and how it is useful to them. 1.7 Scope of the Study: The scope of the study states the specific area of concentration of the study, talking about the state, number, Name or branch of case study and others. 1.8 Limitations of Study: Here, the researcher is given the right to state the obstructions, challenges and hitches faced during the research work 1.9 Definition of Terms: In the definition of terms, the researcher is to list out words used in the research and define them as represented in the work. In Chapter Two of the project work, the student is expected to discuss other ideas obtained from the works of researchers on the similar topic or field. Chapter two comes with three major components according to the university standard; Conceptual Framework: The conceptual framework is the section to define the concepts of the project topic according to the arrangement of the dependent and independent variables. Pictorial illustrations will be more appreciated also if the diagram represents the links between the variables very well. Empirical Framework: Empirical study is where all other works on the focus of the study and their writers observations will be listed in paragraphs according to their different authors. It can appear like stating the abstracts of each research done by each researcher in the past on the subject matter, relating to their topic, what they tried to discover and the method they used (if necessary) and the their findings after the study. And Theoretical Framework: The theoretical framework will feature various theories that support the study, who propounded them and the year and how it is related of useful to the research. ...

Saturday, 24 February 2018