Last modified October 21, 1998 1:49 PM

1. Weisberg, Exercise 2.1 (Omit 2.1.5). Use the report format for this problem. Here are some hints on how to organize your report.

1. The report itself (not including references and appendixes) should not exceed two single-spaced pages (or equivalent).
2. You should address all of the issues Weisberg raises in parts 2.1.1-2.1.4 of his exercise, but you should not simply follow his instructions and report your results. [He is describing the steps you should take and a sensible order in which to take them. But that a report should not simply be a catalog of results given in chronological order.
3. The point of the analysis is to say something useful about factors that may predict or explain body types (SOMA) for girls and boys at age 18, based on earlier measurements. The Results section should deal directly with these issues.
4. The Data Analysis section should outline the statistical evidence that you will use to draw conclusions in the Results section. Any material you need to support a conclusion should go into this section, although you may refer to the details by pointing the reader to a particular place in your appendix.
5. Consequently, most of the Stata output that Weisberg calls for in 2.1.1--2.1.4 will go into your appendix.
6. Since comparing boys and girls is one of the points of the exercise, it is probably useful to put a set of statistical computations for boys next to the same computations done for the girls. If the correlation matrix for boys is next to the correlation matrix for girls, for example, it will be much easier to compare them than if they were on separate areas of the appendix.
7. The Discussion section is where you should be consider the strengths and weaknesses of the analysis you have done.
8. If a person or source was particularly helpful in creating your analysis, acknowledge the assistance in a brief "Acknowledgement" section just before the References. This will not count against your two-page limit.
9. Two pages is not much space. Don't spend more than a sentence or two on the data description -- just give enough for the reader to be able to follow your report. (It is OK to refer the reader to Weisberg for the full details.)

2. Weisberg, Exercise 2.3.

3. Weisberg, Exercise 2.8. As in the first exercise, write a two-page report based on this exercise. Do not simply list your answers (or just show your Stata output) for the particular questions Weisberg asks. Instead, use those questions as guidelines for thinking about the data and what it might tell us about air pollution and climate.

The question asks you to construct added variable plots. This was discussed briefly in class. For an example, see the Frequently Asked Stata Questions (Stata-FAQ) page on the website

For the week of 10/25: ALR Chapters 4 and 5.