IA Math Studies IA help?

[Ridapher]

Okay, I had an initial project idea and I felt like it was going to work. But turns out, there isn't enough data (I'm getting this from the US census bureau). And then I realized, "this topic is insanely boring". So here I present to you my first attempt:

Does living in a certain region of the United States of America have an effect on the number of children in immigrant families during the years 2007-2011?

I know. Really draggy.

But I had no knowledge that we were allowed to survey. In that case, I a biggilion ideas!

i.e. a) Does going to sleep on a certain time and ones gender effect how well you remember dreams? (On a scale?)

1)OR...Does taking a class that calls for creativity have an effect in people who remember their dreams? (weird wording I know...)

2) SORRY, I love the idea of dreams...What about eating vs. remembering dreams?

3) Day of the week and remembering dreams???

b) Race/ethnicity and number of pets?

c) Does age have an effect on whether one would watch the music video before listening to the song (vice versa)

PLEASE let me know. I want to get a good grade with this IA as I consider it the most interesting...

thanks

Edited November 11, 2013 by Ridapher

[alefal]

Hey there!

I'd be cautious about the 'remembering dreams' ideas, because the whole idea of remembering our dreams is contested. Some research has concluded that we're actually not supposed to remember our dreams at all, whilst other research insinuate that it has something to do with our alpha wave. If you decide to continue with this idea, though, I suggest you go with the first idea (going to sleep + gender). I would argue it is much easier to make a proper survey and to process the data you get with this question than with any of the other sleep-related questions.

A 'class that calls for creativity' is ambiguous, and some might find that maths classes make them more creative than a drama class (it has happened!).

For the question about what we eat - people eat a lot of different things. You might be tempted to put various types of food into categories such as 'healthy' and 'unhealthy,' but keep in mind that what's actually healthy varies slightly from person to person. Other types of food might make the IA too superficial to be able to conclude anything of importance. For instance, let's say that those who remember their dreams frequently eat vegetables. What kind of vegetables, how much and how does this affect the dream recollections? But then again, these things could result in a good evaluation of the IA, as you could provide a thorough discussion of how the investigation could have been improved and all that.

As for how the day relates to remembering dreams, to me that sounds like a far-fetched idea. How exactly would the day have anything to say on whether or not we can remember our dreams? Humans have supposedly a biological clock that measures the time of day and keeps track of the lunar month (the latter might sound a bit weird, but it is rooted in the theory that full moon provides enough light for humans to hunt for food, as well as being under threat from other species, and that's why some people have trouble falling asleep around full moon), but as far as I know, we don't have any measurement for week.

I also urge you to be careful with the 'race/ethnicity and amount of pets' question. If your teacher is focused on being politically correct, then this might not be preferred.

For the last question, I think you need to word it differently. You mean that there's some people who listen to the song before they decide to see the music video and some people who go straight to the music video, right? I was a bit confused as to what you meant with that question in the beginning, because initially I thought you meant that some people watch the MV before they decide to listen to the music itself, which didn't make much sense to me. Therefore, I think you need to rephrase it to make sure that it makes sense. This topic is doable, though keep in mind that other variables are also important. For me, I don't have a set pattern for whether or not I see the MV first, but I find most of my music on Youtube, and if the MV looks interesting the first few seconds (or sometimes solely based on the thumbnail), I see the whole MV, and if it doesn't seem interesting, I do something else whilst I listen to the music, and I might go back to the MV later on if the song is good. For me, it also depends on my mood and how much I have to do. If I have little to do and feel like relaxing, I see the MV anyway, whilst if I have a lot to do and feel a bit pressed for time, I listen only to the song. However, as I said earlier, you might want to comment on these possibilities when you evaluate your investigation, and you could also easily comment on how you could have improved the investigation if you were to do it again.

Good luck!

[Ridapher]

@alefal

Hm. Okay.

I'm going to think it over.

I had another question though...Say I have data that compares, say gender, with number of family members (just an example). How could I do linear regression on this data? Do I label male 1 and then female 2? But that seems like it will heavily skew the data. Is lin reg the right thing for qualitative data? Or partial qualitative data?

EDIT (by alefal): OH! Nevermind that post, i figured it out