The John Hooper Medal for Statistics competition has yet again been a huge success. The CSO would like to thank all the schools, teachers and students who took part, for making the competition such a great success. The judges were very impressed with the entries. As always, we received imaginative and inspiring projects.
The ninth John Hooper Medal for Statistics competition was launched by Maria Hurley, Assistant Director General, Central Statistics Office on 17 October 2018. In all, 301 posters, both Irish and English language entries, were received. The posters were initially judged in two phases by teams from the CSO, according to detailed judging criteria. Fifteen posters were then shortlisted for the final judging phase. The final judging panel, chaired by Fiona O’Callaghan, consisted of:
Kathleen O'Sullivan
Lecturer & Director of the Statistical Consultancy Unit
School of Mathematical Sciences
University College Cork
Dr. Kieran Murphy
Lecturer in Mathematics
Waterford Institute of Technology
Fiona O'Callaghan
Statistician
Central Statistics Office
Cork
Anthony Dawson
Statistician
Central Statistics Office
Cork
The panel had a very difficult task to assess the shortlisted posters and pick the winners. The John Hooper Medal for Statistics 2019 prizes will be presented at an award ceremony in the National Concert Hall, Dublin, on Tuesday 22 October 2019. Invitations will be issued at a later date.
The results of the final judges’ deliberations are given below:
Students: Aisling Barry, Katrin Birk
Teacher: Stephen McLaughlin
Bandon Grammar School
Co. Cork
This poster represented Ireland in the International Statistical Literacy Program poster competition in the category "Students born in 2000 and younger", and came first.
Students: Calum Agnew, Seb Lennon
Teacher: Sophie Caine
St. Mary's Diocesan School
Drogheda
Co. Louth
Students: Elspeth McIntosh, Aifric Middleton Murphy
Teacher: Stephen McLaughlin
Bandon Grammar School
Co. Cork
Dyslexia: Learning Difficulty or Hidden Talent? (PDF 825KB)
The following posters were given an order of merit by the judges:
Students: Kate Bagnall, Bobbi Beattie
Teacher: Ciaran O'Connor
The King's Hospital
Palmerstown
Co. Dublin
This poster represented Ireland in the International Statistical Literacy Program poster competition in the category "Students born in 2003 and younger", and came first.
Students: Patrick O'Connor, Liam Heylin, George McCann
Teacher: Pádraig Costello
Blackrock College
Co. Dublin
Concussion in Schoolboy's Rugby (PDF 342KB)
Students: Keith Ahern, Josh Baker
Teacher: Pádraig Costello
Blackrock College
Co. Dublin
The Economic Viability of Electric Cars in Ireland (PDF 638KB)
Students: Eva Connolly, Willemijn Bosschaert, Ella Shanahan
Teacher: Brian Higgins
Loreto Secondary School
Balbriggan
Co. Dublin
Can we Effectively Make Biodegradable Clothes? An Investigation (PDF 1,424KB)
Students: Cleo Gallen, Zainab Shahid
Teacher: Brian Higgins
Loreto Secondary School
Balbriggan
Co. Dublin
Replacement of Polyethylene Microbeads with Sustainable Biodegradable Alternatives (PDF 605KB)
Students: Katie Conachy, Ruth Smyth, Emma Jane McKeon
Teacher: Mary Mullaghy
Eureka Secondary School
Kells
Co. Meath
Students: Eimear Sherwin, Aine Matthews, Daniella Onunkwo
Teacher: Mary Mullaghy
Eureka Secondary School
Kells
Co. Meath
Students: Luke Coffey, Damien Kelly, Neil Hannon
Teacher: Meighan Duffy
Athlone Community College
Co. Westmeath
Anaphylaxis - We Need a Reaction (PDF 405KB)
Students: David Caulfield, James Callaghan, Luke Kehoe
Teacher: Jason Burns
Good Counsel College
New Ross
Co. Wexford
Investigating the Political Ideology of Ireland's Youths (PDF 519KB)
Students: Alexander Gniazdowski, Adam Stapleton
Teacher: Eileen Flanagan
Ardscoil Rís
North Circular Road
Limerick
Students: Shalom Oyenuga, Aoife Mulhall, Isabel Gill
Teacher: Claire Treanor
Loreto Secondary School
Granges Road
Kilkenny
Transition Year, Yay or Nay? (PDF 1,985KB)
Students: Cliona Dunne, Katy Hynes
Teacher: Claire Treanor
Loreto Secondary School
Granges Road
Kilkenny
Assessing Parental Attitudes to the HPV Vaccine for Boys (PDF 868KB)
The judges were very impressed with the variety of interesting topics covered in the posters this year but have offered the following tips and suggestions:
Try to avoid using a dark background colour in your poster as it can make some of the text very difficult to read. Sometimes colours and fonts can look different on screen and on paper, so it might be a good idea to print a copy of your poster to see how it looks before you submit it. Also, give consideration to the balance of blank space versus text/graphs; while a certain amount of blank space is needed in the margins etc. so that the poster is not too cluttered, small font sizes and small graphs are difficult to read.
Think about the appropriateness of the graphs that you use. Bar charts are good for comparisons, while line charts work better for trends. Scatter plot charts are good for relationships and distributions, but pie charts should be used only for simple compositions — never for comparisons or distributions. Graphs should help the reader to understand your results so be sure to label your axes and use a legend if required.
Some posters showed a lot of potential in terms of the subject matter and the data collection etc. but they didn’t quite follow through with the analysis section. Try to explore a range of statistical techniques including descriptive and inferential statistics.
Finally, make sure to proof-read your poster before you submit it as typos and spelling mistakes can take from the overall impression of a poster.
Clarity of message: Try not to over-complicate your poster by attempting to test or analyse too many things.
Data collection: This year there was a good mix of data sources – secondary sources, respondent surveys and experiments. If survey data comes from a particular school, some background on the school should be provided so that the context of the findings may be more transparent. The possible effects of non-response could be explored.
Analysis and conclusions: Exercise caution when reporting your findings. Avoid overstating the inferences/conclusions that can be made from the results – usually the inferences are limited to the sample and probably can’t be extended to the overall population. It is very important to choose a statistical analysis that is appropriate for the type of data collected. Try to keep the commentary on the conclusions objective rather than subjective.
Graphs and tables: Make sure to label the axes of all graphs, label them correctly and try to select a style of graph that best conveys your message. Avoid the use of 3D graphs as they can often detract from the readability of a graph. Choose the graph type that is appropriate for your data, for example, do not use line graphs to summarise categorical data. In presenting your results, limit the number of decimal places displayed to 2 or less – unless the data specifically needs to be displayed with more decimal places.
Presentation: Take care with spelling and the overall alignment and formatting of the poster. Try to avoid having too much text and over-filling the poster area. Including more text by making the font size smaller on the poster can sometimes take away from the impact that the students’ hard work deserves. Use a mixture of text, graphs and images, but keep in mind graphs and images have a greater impact than text.
If the poster is in a slide format, do not over-complicate the flow of the narrative. Make sure the slides follow a simple, easy to follow and logical flow. For example:
Make sure all text, graphs and images are legible in the final poster. In a number of posters, the text was not legible as it blended into the background – try a dark font on a light background.
Try to create an eye-catching poster but be careful in choosing the overall colour scheme. 2 – 3 different colours should suffice. Use an overall colour scheme that is not too garish and hard on the eye. Avoid backgrounds that are too busy.
Creativity/Importance: Originality and creativity in the research question are key components of the competition.
Avail of the many online guides that can help to improve the overall impact of your poster, e.g. http://hsp.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/ScientificPosters.pdf
Please send your feedback and comments on the John Hooper Medal for Statistics poster competition to johnhooper2019@cso.ie
