Form groups of 3-4 students. Try to ensure a diverse mix of backgrounds and perspectives in your group.
As a group, brainstorm a question that piques your curiosity and can be answered using data. It could be related to any field of interest, such as social sciences, health, sports, technology, or the environment. The question should be specific enough to guide your exploration but broad enough to allow for meaningful data analysis.
Once you have your question, discuss and identify the types of data that would be necessary to answer it. Consider the potential sources of data and discuss any challenges you might encounter in obtaining the data. Think about the variables you would need, their nature (categorical or numerical), and the level of detail required.
Based on your question, brainstorm a hypothesis that could potentially answer it. This hypothesis should suggest a relationship between variables or make a prediction about the data. Ensure that your hypothesis is testable and aligns with your question.
Now, consider the data visualization techniques that could help you explore and analyze your question effectively. Discuss various visualization methods such as bar charts, line graphs, scatter plots, histograms, or any other relevant techniques. Determine which visualizations would be most suitable for your question and hypothesis. Consider the variables you want to compare or visualize and how the chosen visualization technique would reveal patterns or trends.
Each group will have 10 minutes to present their question, hypothesis, and proposed data visualization techniques to the rest of the workshop participants. Be prepared to explain why you chose your question, how you plan to test your hypothesis using data, and how your chosen visualizations would provide meaningful insights.
After each presentation, there will be a brief question-and-answer session. Workshop participants are encouraged to provide constructive feedback, suggest alternative approaches, or ask clarifying questions.
How does the number of hours spent studying affect students’ grades?
Students who study more hours will have higher grades.
The data required to answer this question would include the number of hours spent studying and the corresponding grades for each student. The data could be collected from a survey or obtained from a school or university.
A scatter plot would be an effective visualization technique to explore the relationship between the number of hours spent studying and the corresponding grades. The scatter plot would allow us to visualize the data points for each student and identify any patterns or trends.