18 Project Narrowing
Goals for today
Set up the foundations for a successful collaboration. You will:
Get in your proposed groups.
- I’ve tried to honor who you want to work with and/or group by interests.
- Students are welcome to change groups, but they must facilitate these switches.
Do introductions.
Identify a project topic.
- The more specific the topic, the easier your next project steps will be.
- For example, you’ll be asked to finalize your data and do a preliminary analysis by next Tuesday.
Start looking for data!
Specify expectations for communication and collaboration outside of class hours.
General project timeline
Week 1: Establish foundations. Get in groups, finalize topics, get data, do preliminary data checks / cleaning, do some preliminary analysis (wrangling and plots). Do more if possible!!
Week 2: Complete the bulk of the analysis, and start thinking about final report / presentation.
Week 3: Finalize analysis and chip away at the final report / presentation.
Week 4: Finalize final report and presentation.
18.1 Activity
18.1.1 Introductions
Make sure you know everybody’s name, pronouns, emails, and something about each other. Take notes as necessary!
18.1.2 Project ideas and interests
Discuss potential project topics, starting from a broad area (eg: economics) and getting as specific as possible (eg: underemployment).
Come to consensus on a project topic. Everyone should be on board, even if it’s not their first choice.
18.1.3 Data
Start looking for datasets! You will have to finalize your data collection and do a preliminary analysis by 9am next Tuesday. Check out, and possibly even start, Project Milestone 3 details on Moodle.
18.1.4 Setting expectations for communication
Your group will need to communicate outside of class! Set up some expectations now by agreeing on the following.
How are you going to share ideas and progress? For example: Slack? Google Doc? Whatever you decide, you might start today!
How are you going to share code? For example: Google Drive Folder? Github? Whatever you decide, you might start today!
Unless you plan to communicate over email, share relevant contact info.
Though you might be able to do some work asynchronously outside of class, there will be times when you’ll have to meet. On what days / times do you tend to be most available? When are you most likely to be able to engage in synchronous meetings outside of class?
It can sometimes be helpful to designate (and possibly rotate) specific roles. Decide if it makes sense for your group to have roles like the following:
- facilitator: set up times to meet outside of class
- communication manager: set up communication systems (eg: Google Docs) and reach out to group members as needed
- reflector & delegator: thinking about equity and making sure tasks get divided, make sure people get a chance to work on building skills
18.2 Wrap-up
Be mindful of the following due dates:
Thursday: Homework 8.
Next Tuesday by 9am: Project Milestone 3 (progress report). There are no extensions or revisions for project milestones. Submit whatever progress you’ve made.