Department of Finance and Economics
Business Statistics II
Term Project/Poster
Deadline is (25th November, 2018)
This project/poster should be done in Groups (max 4 students).
This Project counts 10 % of your total grades, (5 marks for the project and 5
marks for the poster)
The goal of the project is to apply the methods taught in class to a real data set of
interest to you.
Instructions:
Each group must collect data related to the topic that has been chosen. The topic should be
related to one of the following chapters: Chapter 16, Chapter 17. A soft copy of the data
must be sent to the instructor (Excel File). The document will be part of the evaluation
process.
Project Description
Part A:
The report should describes the question/s of interest, how you used your data set to analyze
these question/s with details on the steps you used in your analysis, your findings about your
question of interest. Specifically, your report should contain the following:
1. Cover page (Title, names, IDs of the group members, Course number)
2. Abstract: A one paragraph summary of what you set out to learn, and what you
ended up finding. It should summarize the entire report.
3. Introduction: A discussion of what question/s you are interested in.
4. Description of your used data set: give details about the source of data and how the
data set was collected and the variables in the data set.
5. Provide descriptive statistics of each variable in the report (mean, median,
variance, standard deviation, maximum, minimum,…etc.).
6. Plot the data for the used series and include the graphs in the report.
7. Write your analysis method or regression model and define your variables.
8. Run the analysis or the estimation of the regression model using Excel or E-views
to get the coefficients and the standard errors of each coefficient (as shown in
class) and plot the necessary graphs to check the required conditions about the
error terms.9. Analyze the Excel output: Test for each coefficient of the regression model and for
the regression model as a whole. Assess the regression model: how well does it fit
the data? Are the required conditions about the errors satisfied?
10. Results: Provide inferences about the questions of interest and discussion.
11. Conclusion: provide brief conclusions about the results of your study and state
policy implications if any.
12. As a teamwork, you need to produce a written report based on your chosen topic
(about 1,000 words), font Times New Romans, size 12, double spacing.
Part B:
Each group must prepare a poster summarizing the findings of the research project. The group
members will be asked to present their project as a poster. The poster must:
be 61 cm width and 91 cm long
contain different parts that reflect the content of the research project
o Title of the research
o The importance of the research question
o The theoretical analysis (with graphs if needed)
o The application (with graphs if needed)
o Conclusion
use bullet points rather than long sentences
contain clear and well labeled graphs
not contain pictures unless it is necessarily needed
students and faculty names
Examples of questions of interest are as follows:
Estimating a simple Linear Regression Model or a Multiple Regression Model for GCC
Countries:
1- The impact of government expenditure on the economic growth rate in Country (X)
2- The impact of Exports and FDI (Foreign Direct investment) on GDP in Qatar
3- The impact of Consumption and Investment on the GDP in Qatar
4- The impact of Exports and FDI (Foreign Direct investment) on GDP in Country (X)
5- The impact of Consumption and Investment on the GDP in Country (X)
6- Is the unemployment rate in Country (X) is related to economic measures such as
interest rates, stock returns, and the inflation rate?Below are few potential sources of data:
a. The World Bank website.
b. The IMF website.
c. The website of the Central Banks of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE,
Oman and Kuwait (check the statistical reports of the central banks).
d. Bloomberg (available in the computer labs at CBE).
e. Qatar University Library (ask for assistance to search within the databases
available at the library).
The Evaluation Process
– This is a group project. Each group must consists of at most 4 students, one of them will be
the group leader.
– Students will be evaluated based on different criteria: quality of work, problem solving skills,
teamwork and time management, and poster presentation.
– All group members are expected to fully participate. The role of each group member should
be clear to the instructor. Group members who do not participate will receive a score of zero.
– The group leader will be asked to report to the instructor the activities of the group: the
organization of the work, the tasks of each member, the communication between the
members…etc.
– The instructor will schedule meetings with the group leader (and with group members if
necessary) to be updated about the activities of the group and the progress of the work.
– A well-structured report answering all questions must be submitted to the instructor (hard
copy and soft copy through Blackboard, Safe Assignment).
– Any work submitted after the due date will receive a penalty of 10% per day late but the
total penalty will not exceed 50% of the points available for the Project.
– No work will be accepted when the final examination period starts (December, 4th) and the
resulting score will be zero.
– Please note that PLAGIARISM is a serious academic violation; it will result in a severe
penalty to all group members, Zero mark.
