161.762 2025 Project

Part I: Writen Report TempIate

(Max 7 pages, excIuding references and appendix)

1. lntroducⅥon (4 Marks)

•     What dataset are you using, and what is its real-world or business context?

•     What are the main research quesons you aim to answer?

•     Why are these quesons important from a business or analycal perspecve?

2. Data DescripⅥon (4 Marks)

•     Number of observaons and variables; types of variables (numeric, categorical, etc.)

•     Any cleaning, transformaons, or imputaons performed

•     Summary stascs and 1–2 basic visualizaons

3. MuIⅥvariate Method 1 (e.g., PCA, Factor AnaIysis) (4 Marks)

•     What is the method, and why did you choose it for your data and queson?

•     What assumpons are involved? Were they met?

•     Show a key visualizaon (e.g., scree plot, biplot). Walk the reader through it:

o  What does it show?

o  Which variables are most important?

o  What does it reveal about the structure of your data?

•     What business insight did you gain?

4. MuIⅥvariate Method 2 (e.g., CIuster AnaIysis) (4 Marks)

•     Why is this method suitable?

•     What were the key plots (e.g., dendrogram, cluster map)?

• What defines each group/cluster in your data?

•     Are the results interpretable and relevant?

5. MuIⅥvariate Method 3 (e.g., Discriminant AnaIysis, MDS, MANOVA, etc.) (4 Marks)

•     Jusfy the method choice in your context

•     Include at least one meaningful plot and walk the reader through its interpretaon

•     What new or different insight did this method give compared to the others?

6. ComparaⅥve AnaIysis (4 Marks)

•     How did the methods differ in what they revealed?

•     Were their conclusions complementary, overlapping, or contradictory?

•     Which method added the most value, and why?

7. What Didn’t Work (4 Marks)

•     Briefly menon one thing you tried that didn’t produce useful results or that you revised

•     What did this teach you about method selecon or assumpons?

8. ConcIusion (4 Marks)

•     What are the main takeaways?

•     What are the limitaons of your analysis?

•     How can a business or analyst act on these insights?

Appendix

•     Addional plots (if you used them to make decisions), outputs, or reference tables not included above, Chat logs with LLMs

Part 2: Video PresentaⅥon TempIate (Max 5 minutes) 18 Marks

Use the following structure to guide your video recording. You may present slides or talk through your report using screen recording so什ware (e.g., Zoom, OBS).

1. lntroducⅥon (30 seconds)

•     State your dataset, business context, and research quesons

2. Method 1 VisuaIizaⅥon & lnterpretaⅥon (1 minute)

•     Display one plot

•     Explain what it shows, how you interpret it, and why it maters

3. Method 2 VisuaIizaⅥon & lnterpretaⅥon (1 minute)

•     As above, focus on the second method

4. Method 3 VisuaIizaⅥon & lnterpretaⅥon (1 minute)

•     As above, focus on the third method

5. ComparaⅥve lnsights (1 minute)

•     Synthesize how the methods gave different or complementary insights

6. ConcIusion (30 seconds)

•     What’s the single most important insight a business user should remember?