UC Berkeley's Statistics 222 (Spring 2016)

Projects

Group project guidelines

Large open ended questions in the sciences, government, and business require collaboration between multiple parties with a wide range of expertise. The projects in the course involve similarly large, open ended questions, and you are expected to use/develop your collaborative skills in a group project setting. To help ensure that this experience is constructive, you are expected to follow these guidelines:

  • Leave your ego at home when you come to work with the group. No matter how smart you are, the rest of the group together is smarter than you. The projects are not a competition, so give complements when they are due and provide constructive criticism when it is needed.

  • Take turns to lead each project. View this as a valuable time to develop your communication skills. Coordinate times for the group to meet and help keep the group on schedule by communicating what parts of the project have been completed and what still needs to be done.

  • Define responsibilities clearly along with a timeline to deliver the work. If you are responsible for a portion of the project, keep other group members informed of your progress. Honestly evaluate whether you on track to meet your deadlines (and keep the group informed) so that the group can make necessary adjustments. Try to communicate your strengths/weaknesses to the group and plan accordingly.

  • Individuals should submit a brief report of expected and actual contributions for each member. Did the group leader organize the team effectively or did another member need to take over? Not all group members will have the same skill sets. Try to keep this in mind as you evaluate your partners. Did they put in the effort to achieve what they committed to at the beginning of the project, or did others pick up the slack?

  • All group members are expected to have a basic understanding of the entire project and a full understanding of their part(s). If something is in your group's report, you are responsible to know what it means regardless of whether you were directly involved in that part. Collaboration cannot be effective if each party ignores the work of others.