STA305H1 (L0101/L0201) Winter 2025 - Assignment 4
Deadline:
• The deadline for on-time submission is Friday, April 11, 2025, at 23:59.
• You are required to submit the assignment via Quercus.
What to submit:
1. The report, saved as a PDF. Do not include R code in the report.
2. The Rmd file containing the code used to analyze the data.
3. The collected datasets, saved as CSV or RData files, uploaded to a cloud-based
storage service (e.g., OneDrive), with the shareable link included as a submission
comment on Quercus.
Each student (no groups allowed) will plan and perform a factorial experiment. This
includes collecting and analyzing the data in R. I leave it to each individual student to
decide what he or she wants to study. The number of possible topics is very large. It’s
very important you pick a topic that you are interested in and will enjoy working on.
The report should not be longer than 4 pages including tables and plots and be sub-
mitted in one document.. An example report is attached to Assignment 4 on Quercus.
Feel free to use this report as a template.
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Report Format:
The report should include the following three sections:
1 Description of the design. (One page maximum)
The design should be a replicated or unreplicated full or fractional factorial experiment.
Include details on how and why you conducted or chose the experiment. What do you
hope to learn from this experiment?
Grade:
5 – Excellent: Strong evidence of original thinking and a clear explanation of how and
why they conducted the experiment.
4- Good: Grasped the basics of designing a factorial study; a good explanation of how
and why they did the experiment.
3- Adequate: Understood the basics of designing a factorial study, but may not have
designed a factorial experiment. Provided an adequate explanation of the design.
2- Marginal: Some evidence of understanding the basic design of a factorial study.
Provided a poor explanation of their design.
1- Inadequate: Little evidence of even a superficial understanding of a factorial design.
Little explanation about how or why the design was chosen.
2 Analysis of the data. (Two pages maximum)
Include appropriate plots and calculations such as: main effects and interactions; esti-
mated variance of the effect (if replicated); confidence intervals for true values of effects (if
replicated); Lenth plot; or half normal plot.
Grade:
5 – Excellent: Strong evidence of data analysis skills. Used R to perform calculations
and create plots.
4- Good: Good evidence of data analysis skills. Appropriate calculations were done,
and maybe appropriate plots were included.
3- Adequate: Understood the basics of required data analysis.
2- Marginal: Some evidence of understanding the basic data analysis required, but
might not have carried out all the appropriate calculations and plots.
1- Inadequate: Little evidence of even a superficial understanding of the data analysis
required to analyse a factorial design.
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3 Conclusions. (One page maximum)
What conclusions can you make based on the results of your experiment? Write a paragraph
or two outlining these conclusions.
Grade:
5 – Excellent: Conclusions are highly appropriate given the experiment conducted.
4- Good: Conclusions are appropriate given the experimental context.
3- Adequate: Some conclusions are appropriate; other obvious conclusions might be
missing.
2- Marginal: Some evidence that there was an understanding of the basic conclusions,
but several obvious conclusions not stated.
1- Inadequate: Little evidence of even a superficial understanding of the conclusions
that can be drawn from the experiment.
Rubric and Overall Report Formatting
• (1 point) Page counts for each section are met or exceed the limit by no more than
20 words. Writing is well-organized and free of grammatical and mechanical errors.
• (1 point) All numerical results and summaries are reported with appropriate preci-
sion.
• (1 point) Plots and tables are clear and easy to read, with informative captions, axis
labels, and legends. They are placed near the relevant text.
• (2 points) The R code is well-formatted and organized for readability. It is properly
indented, includes meaningful comments and variable names, and is easy to under-
stand.
• Bonus (2 points): Up to two additional points may be awarded for reports that
demonstrate exceptional writing quality, elegant R code, insightful analytical meth-
ods, or an analysis that extends beyond the required analytical questions.
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