Research question
State clearly your research question and explain why it is of your interest. Describe your data sources. Brief descriptions of data: data source (firsthand or second hand; where did you get it, if second hand), year of collection, unit of analysis, sample size, etc. Descriptive Statistics (Creating the “Table 1”) You will create a table that provides descriptive statistics of variables that you plan to use in your t-test / regression. In many journal articles, authors present this information as “Table I” (because it is most likely the first table presented in their papers) with table titles such as “Descriptive Statistics” or “Sample Characteristics.” For continuous variables, present means and standard deviations (sometimes, minimum and maximum are also presented). For nominal variables (dichotomous or categorical variables), present frequency percentages or proportions rather than means or standard deviations. For example, it makes no sense to calculate the mean or standard deviation of race as a nominal variable. After presenting your Table 1, briefly discuss the meaning (how is it defined and measured) and statistics of each variable that you will use in the table.