The term project is to be a team effort, with each group consisting of two students. There are many benefits to this approach. First, it seems to model collaborative research that frequently dominates the scientific community. Second, learning occurs between the students themselves. Third, it seems to encourage the production of a quality project that has been well thought through by two minds instead of one.
Students have the option of choosing a partner or being assigned one.
Either way, the students are to work together in choosing a topic all the way through the to the final project. Grades on the work apply to both students. If any problems arise in the workings of a team, the instructor always leaves open the option of the dissolution of the team, allowing the students to work independently. All work jointly completed after notification to the instructor belongs equally to both partners. Homework exercises done in a statistical package called MicroCase will be collected over the course of the semester.