IA Help.. Maths Studies SL IA

[judIB]

Hi...really in need of some help. We just got a checklist for our Maths IA.

I've chosen for mine to be on the relationship between gender and olympic qualifying swimming times.

I have the data of male and female swimmers and their qualifying times, but I don't know where to go from here.

For example, what mathematical processes will put me in the top band 17-20?

What data will I need to collect: ie. standard deviation, scatter graph, mean, box plots, chi-squared etc.

[iSurviveIB2013]

I did mine last year on the relationship between a runner's height and mile time. I used all of the processes you listed "standard deviation, scatter graph, mean, box plots, chi-squared"

My teacher instructed everyone to gather 100 pieces of data, for your IA, you should do 50 male and 50 female to keep it equal. Pick a specific race you want to compare, to keep it simple.

This was probably no help.... I'll look for mine when I get home.

[alefal]

Hey there!

You will need to do both simple and sophisticated processes, as well as to discuss the results in a good, efficient manner in order to get a good grade. We cannot tell you what to do, however, as it is you who is assessed. Whatever you end up doing, it should be relevant to your research question, and should also lead to something substantial (whether that being another process or something you can form a conclusion on).

Examples of simple processes are:

• Standard deviation
• Mean
• Median
• Percentage
• Most probability
• addition
• division

Examples of sophisticated processes are:

• Chi-squared
• Regression line
• Pearson's correlation coefficient

I've heard rumours that you also have the t-test in the new syllabus. If so, that also counts as a sophisticated process.

Good luck!

[mavv]

In addition to this the key thing is that the processes are relevant for example a regression line would not be appropriate if there is a poor correlation.

[judIB]

I did mine last year on the relationship between a runner's height and mile time. I used all of the processes you listed "standard deviation, scatter graph, mean, box plots, chi-squared"

My teacher instructed everyone to gather 100 pieces of data, for your IA, you should do 50 male and 50 female to keep it equal. Pick a specific race you want to compare, to keep it simple.

This was probably no help.... I'll look for mine when I get home.

Yes, my teacher also said 100 athletes..but the data I have has 63 males and about 39 females. That's all I can find on swimming times and my teacher looked at all of it and said it was fine so not too sure..will chat to him and see what he says. I could say its a limitation and why, I guess?

Also, I can't directly check their race as its just name, country, sex and time

Edited May 7, 2013 by judIB

[alefal]

I did mine last year on the relationship between a runner's height and mile time. I used all of the processes you listed "standard deviation, scatter graph, mean, box plots, chi-squared"

My teacher instructed everyone to gather 100 pieces of data, for your IA, you should do 50 male and 50 female to keep it equal. Pick a specific race you want to compare, to keep it simple.

This was probably no help.... I'll look for mine when I get home.

Yes, my teacher also said 100 athletes..but the data I have has 63 males and about 39 females. That's all I can find on swimming times and my teacher looked at all of it and said it was fine so not too sure..will chat to him and see what he says. I could say its a limitation and why, I guess?

Your IA will definitely be stronger if you mention it as a limitation, explain why it is the case and how it could be solved if your project was to be repeated. You should aim to do this with all of the (to some degree significant) limitations you encounter. This is, if my memory serves me correctly, a part of the evaluation criterion of the maths IA.

If you're considering doing the chi-squared, make sure you sort time into intervals and do frequencies instead of the actual times. A lot of people in my class failed on that, and was stuck for quite some time. For instance, for the interval 31 < t ≤ 40, there were 4 persons (thus, the frequency is 4). For the interval 41 < t ≤ 50, there were 10 persons (frequency = 10), et cetera.

Edited May 7, 2013 by alefal