At IE University, we believe that continuous growth and knowledge exchange are pivotal aspects of the exciting and challenging discovery process. That’s why we decided to stretch our Bachelor in Data and Business Analytics students, challenging them to design and pitch short presentations to other students, graduates, and academics on various topics such as statistics, data analytics, and forecasting.
Briefly explain what your presentation was about.
Data scientists spend a huge amount of their time cleaning up their data so that it meets the criteria of the model they’re using. But using Bartlett’s test of sphericity—a tool for dimension reduction of data—professionals can seriously scale down time wasted. Our presentation outlines multivariate techniques, principally multiple regression, and principal component analysis—all with the aim of reaching a deeper understanding of Bartlett’s test of sphericity.
What was your biggest challenge?
Bartlett developed two tests: one for the homogeneity of variances and one for sphericity. Our biggest challenge stemmed from the fact that the difference between the two isn’t clearly stated, so we had to analyze this ourselves. We also found it really challenging to source information that our audience could easily understand. We only managed to find it written in a very technical format, and even this was hard to get our hands-on.
What did you enjoy most about working on this presentation?
We all really enjoyed being able to tackle difficult topics as a group. We found that when working together, nothing is impossible, even the most complicated and demanding topics!
How does this project relate to what you are learning in class?
In class, we’ve been studying multiple regression and the importance of meeting the assumptions behind it. Following on from that, we learned a lot about the transformations that we can carry out to fix the violations of these assumptions. However, there are still some other methods, such as Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity, that can help us with these violations, which is where our presentation fits into the picture.
What are your conclusions?
This project really helped to broaden our understanding of this topic, as well as teaching us how to better explain difficult concepts in the most digestible way. This not only improved our statistical knowledge, but also enhanced our teamwork and public-speaking skills.
Projects like these are fundamental in developing well-rounded and capable professionals who are able to tackle today’s challenges head-on. Our students continually surprise us with their ability to understand complex issues and convey them in an interesting and accessible format. We love watching their hard work pay off and look forward to seeing them apply it in their professional life!
