Stat 567: Statistical Reliability
Expected Quality of Class Reports
A number of homework projects, including the final project, call for the
writing of a reliability data analysis report. The reason is that a student
using the reliability analysis methods covered in this course is likely
to have engineers as his or her customers. Engineers usually like to have
the results of a reliability data analysis presented to them in written
form.
Class reports should meet the highest possible standards of professionalism
- statistical correctness, quality of writing, and appearance. You will
not get an "A" grade for a report unless it is good enough to
be used in a top corporation or consulting firm.
A report should be accompanied by a cover letter directed at top management.
Here, you should state the main conclusions of your reliability data analysis
and their impact on the company. If you have any recommendations you should
also state them here. Bullet lists are highly encouraged in the cover letter.
Make sure to distinguish in this letter between
- conclusions for which you have statistical evidence based on the data,
and
- suppositions that you surmise from a plot or table and for which you
need more data to corroborate.
The main reasons for writing a cover letter are:
- A letter is more likely to be read than a report
- Managers can use well-written cover letters to make decisions
- Managers use cover letters to decide who will read the report
A typical report should include the following sections:
- Summary and Conclusions: This section is intended for the
engineering supervisor. The key engineering insights that resulted
from your analysis should be here with some kind of justification. Summary
diagrams, graphs, and tables should be here as well as the content of the
cover letter but in more detail. Make sure that you back claims based on
a graph or plot with the results of a formal statistical analysis. If something
is suggested by a plot of graph that you think might be real and important
- but that you cannot back with a formal statistical analysis - then recommend
further study to corroborate your suppositions.
- Data Analysis: This section is intended for the working engineers.
It should contains the steps you followed in you analysis. Make sure to
explain in plain English what each statistical procedure that you use is
saying about the reliability data.
- Appendixes as necessary with the raw data and other things that
may interfere with the smooth flow of the data analysis section of the
report. The appendixes should contain material intended for a statistician
who works with the engineers.This section should contain diagnostic plots
and procedures that a statistician is sure to want to see to judge the
completeness of your analysis. If a statistician asks you "Did you
try this analysis..." you should be able to say that you did and what
were its results or give reasons why you did not use this analysis method.
Take look at some past student projects
Do you have something to
tell me?