During the Quantitative Analysis Center’s Student Research Poster Session Dec. 11, Stacy Uchendu ’17 shared her research titled “The Power of the People: The Relationship between the Support of Social Activist Movements and the Perceived Political Influence in Government.” She discovered that those who have positive sentiments towards the government have higher approval ratings of activists movements. Several Wesleyan faculty, alumni and community members evaluated the students’ poster presentations.
Alcohol use, traffic fines and race, and the impact of caffeine on sleep were among the topics presented at a poster session in which students enrolled in a project-based course at the Quantitative Analysis Center demonstrated the power of statistical analysis to illuminate social problems.
The QAC Student Research Poster Session, held Dec. 11 in Beckham Hall, served as a final exam for students taking QAC 201: Applied Data Analysis. Several Wesleyan faculty and alumni evaluated the students’ poster presentations.
Funded by the National Science Foundation, the QAC 201 class allows students to spend a semester studying a topic they are passionate about. They learn to generate hypotheses based on existing data; conduct a literature review and evaluate the content of empirical research; prepare data for analysis; select and conduct descriptive and inferential statistical analyses; and present research findings to expert and novice audiences at the poster session.
“Poster sessions truly are valuable experiences,” said QAC 201 student Aiden Martinez ’17. “Students get the opportunity to connect with guest evaluators, who are professionals in their field. For example, I never thought my research on alcohol use could be related to economic theory, but in my discussion with guest evaluator and Wes alumna, Rachel Deyette-Werkema, I saw how sessions like these have the potential to connect different disciplines.”
According to Professor of Psychology Lisa Dierker, the course was conducted this semester with a partner university in Ghana. A video of students at the University of Ashesi was shared during the poster session.
Photos of the Poster Session are below: (Story by Fred Wills ’19. Photos by Olivia Drake)
Aidan Martinez ’17 shared his research titled “The Association Between Self-reported Big Five Personality Traits and Alcohol Use” during the QAC Poster Session. Martinez concluded “there is an association between alcohol usage and personality, specifically between the traits of extraversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness.”Mikaela Carty ‘18 presented her study titled “The Relationship Between Caffeine Consumption and Sleep Patterns.”Julian Weiss ‘16 presented “Racial Bias in Connecticut Traffic Stops.” He concluded that drivers of color might be more likely to receive a more severe penalty compared to white drivers, suggesting that racial profiling may not be restricted to biases in making the stop—it may also be reflected in how police treat drivers of different races during traffic stops.Tyler Clarke ’18 examined the “Relationship Between Age and Gender Within Traffic Stops” and concluded that female drivers are let off with a warning more frequently than male drivers, ages 16-30, who are more often cited and arrested.Brian Sing ’17 studied the “Perceptions of Parental Stress and Relationship Quality.”Emma Siegenberg ’18, at right, focused her study on the “Relationship between Access to Healthcare and Perceived Socioeconomic Status.”More than 100 students presented their research at the poster session.Several Wesleyan faculty, alumni and community members evaluated the students’ poster presentations.
Olivia Drake
James Sims
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