Pittsburgh Data Jam 2016

Project ProposalsMATTHEW J. DE RENO

IBM Watson Information Developer &

Pittsburgh Dataworks Content Marketing Strategist

Project Proposal

Submit by Jan 5th

One page or less describing:

Problem being studied

Its importance/relevance

Data that you think you’ll need to study/analyze the problem

Data availability – identify data sources

Plan B proposal

Approved – Jan 15th

Project Proposal - Keys

A Winning Formula: Good Proposal = Good Data Jam

Past Data Jam winners tended to have very strong

proposals

Good research questions = good proposals

The proposal centers around a research question and that

question weighs a lot with the Judges

Therefore, start with a good research question!

Project Proposal - Example

Project Proposal – Of

Champions

2015 Bethel Park Team C – The Problem?

“Do public high schools in Allegheny County that offer more extracurricular activities (sports and clubs), and a broad range of courses (AP and elective courses), have a lower crime rate and/or better academic performance (graduation rate, college acceptance rate, SAT scores, standardized test scores, etc.)?”

~ Bethel Park Team C – 2015 Data Jam Winner

Project Proposal – Framed Nicely

Proposal Breakdown

Title and team members – Learn about us…

Problem – A clearly stated, concise problem that we want to

address…

Importance – Why should you care about this problem? Is it

interesting or actually important?

Address the problem – This is how we will tackle the

problem! We will do this…

Data Required – What data do we need? What data do we

have? Do we need more? Do we need help getting it?

Potential Actions – Can we enact or recommend change?

Anticipated Findings – We think we’ll discover this…

August 6, 2012

Project Proposal – And the

Judges weigh In…

August 6, 2012

...And called it good!

Project Proposal - 2015 Top 5

August 6, 2012

The Ellis School – Team B

Project Proposal – Of A Top 5

Effort

2015 The Ellis School Team B – A Narrative Proposal

“We propose to examine the correlation between the number of bars in an area and the rate of crime, specifically theft. In May 2014, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette wrote an article that cites Pittsburgh as….”

“We are interested in seeing what potential effects this statistic has on Pittsburgh and its rate of reported theft and robbery…”

“For information on the number and location of these bars, we will be….”

~ The Ellis School – Team B

Project Proposal – Framed Nicely

Key Point of the Ellis School Team B Proposal

Clear and Concise – We propose to do this…Explained in

two paragraphs!

States what is interesting about the proposal – We are

interested because…

Describes the data that will be used – We provide a

good short explanation of the data sources and how we

plan to use the data…

Explains what is at stake? – We want to understand this

better because a lot rides on it…

August 6, 2012

Project Proposal – And the

Judges Weigh In…

And call it good!

August 6, 2012

Wait there’s more!

The Correlation Between Economic Policies/Decisions and

Economic Growth/Success

What is the return on investment if one decides to go to a

community college, vocational/technical school, four year

college, or enter the workforce upon graduation?

Your Proposal…

What data interests you the most?

What will you discover?

What is at stake?

Perhaps, the most important question to ask?

August 6, 2012

What’s In Your Data?

August 6, 2012