Transcript Slide 1

VS.
It can be agreed that what
University an individual
decides to attend is a major
decision in their lives. It can
also be agreed that with this
decision comes a great deal
of stress. We decided that
an appropriate topic for our
data culminating would be
the comparison of two
universities: Which school
has better overall
characteristics and thus,
which school is more
suitable for students to
attend?
The information we have
gathered would be very
beneficial for those planning on
attending University. Therefore,
our main target group is grade
12, but it is also valid to say that
grade ten and eleven students
may be interested in the data
collected to make their decisionmaking process easier in the
future.
o What is the faculty like?
oHow many Ontario
Undergraduate applicants are
there?
oWhat is the student/teacher
ratio?
oHow expensive will my cost of
living be?
oWhere is the school located?
oWhat are the Co-op fees like?
oWhich university has better
tuition and overall costs?
oWhich university guarantees a
better acceptance rate?
• To start, we browsed the internet and looked for general statistics of each University to
determine whether or not we should pursue our topic.
•The internet was our primary source, although we are well aware that the probability of bias
on an internet website is very high. Therefore, we made sure to use the CARS checklist, which
meant we looked for Credibility, Accuracy, Reasonableness and Support on each site, all
important aspects of a valid website. Specifically, we looked for the date of the document and
whom the source was intended for and for what purpose.
• The most useful sites we found were the Ryerson and Western sites themselves and
"cuo.on.ca", which is "Common University Data", a very popular university search engine. We
also used the University ranking issue of Maclean's magazine and an article from the Globe
and Mail.
•From the data we collected, we made our own charts using Excel which created an effective
visual of the data. This made it easier to evaluate trends and similarities between the two
universities and to identify outliers. Excel also calculated the equation of the line and the
coefficient of determination (r2) of our line graphs.
GRAPH 1
Cost ($)
Annual Expenses
16000
14000
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
Ryerson
Western
In-Province
Out-ofProvince
Tuition
Tuition
International
Fees,
Books,
Materials
Residence Health Care
Type of Expense
http://www.schoolsincanada.com/profile.cfm?artid=21637
http://www.schoolsincanada.com/profile.cfm?default=ugradcolleges&&st
ateprovinces=5&newrfisearch=featured&artid=21726
•Each school follows the same trend  same shape of the graph for each
school, meaning the annual expenses rise and fall similarly
•Ryerson only falls below Western once: Fees, Books, and Materials. This
means that Western Book costs are approximately $1050 higher then
Ryerson’s.
• Validity - The Out of Province and In-Province Tuition cost was number
that was average from the lowest possible tuition cost from the highest.
That means that number falls into a margin of error.
We can conclude that the annual expenses of Ryerson are higher than
Western. This could be for many reasons:
•Location  in Toronto, you’ll most likely be taking public transportation
everyday
•Residence is limited at Ryerson, and therefore more expensive
•Western is an older, more developed university
Annual Expenses
Graph 1a
16000
Cost ($)
14000
12000
10000
Ryerson
8000
6000
Western
Linear (Ryerson)
y = -757.76x + 8663.9
4000
2000
R2 = 0.0789
0
0
2
4
6
8
Type of Expense
Graph 1b
Annual Expenses
16000
Cost ($)
14000
12000
10000
Ryerson
8000
Western
6000
Linear (Western)
y = -591.89x + 7087.6
4000
2000
R2 = 0.0685
0
0
2
4
Type of Expense
6
8
In both cases, the r2
value is close to zero
indicating that there
is no correlation
between the two
variables. This
makes sense
because the price of
residence, for
example, has no
affect on the price of
books. Each variable
is completely
independent.
Graph 2a
Graph 2b
• This information is based on a “The Globe and Mail University Report Card”
based on 81 aspects of University life. For example, school spirit, availability
of food on campus, residence, quality of teaching, etc.
•The way we got our percentages was by taking the number of grades in each
interval, for example A+ to A-, for each school and then divided it by 81.
Western’s frequency of A+ to A- is 47% more than Ryerson
Ryerson’s frequency of B+ to B- is 30% more than Western
Ryerson’s frequency of C+ to C- is 17% more than Western
The frequency of receiving a D+ to D- is equal for both universities at 9%
•According the Globe and Mail, Western is favored over Ryerson since their
“average mark” is higher. Western was given an overall “A” while Ryerson got
a “B+”
GRAPH 3
Entering grade ( %)
Average Entering Grades of New Full-Time 1st Year Ontario
High School Students
88
87
86
85
84
83
82
81
80
79
78
77
76
75
74
73
72
71
70
69
68
67
66
Ontario
Western
Ryerson
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
Year
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
•Western’s average entrance grades are higher than both
the average in Ontario and Ryerson.
• Since Western is a much older school then Ryerson, it
has built more expectations which Ryerson is bound to
meet in the next 10 to 20 years. This is evident because if
you look at Western’s average entrance grades in the
1970s and 1980s you notice a similar trend to Ryerson’s
current data.
•All trends shown an increases in acceptance averages
meaning that as the years go on the expectations for
higher averages rise.
Data shows a limitations in the following way :
Doesn’t provide statistical information for the years
2006 or 2007
We could not use any stats before 1992 because
Ryerson
Ontario
Western
Ryerson
1992
78.1
79
73.3
1993
78.8
78.3
74.5
1994
79.2
79.6
76.2
1995
79.6
79.9
75.9
1996
79.7
80
76
1997
79.8
80.1
76.1
1998
80.1
80.5
77
1999
80.1
81
77.3
2000
80.3
81.8
77.8
2001
80.6
82
78.2
2002
80.7
82.8
78.7
2003
81
84.1
79.4
2004
82
86.2
80.5
2005
81.4
85
79.5
GRAPH 4a
Ryerson: Where Do Students Come From?
2500
Toronto
2000
Durham
Number of 1500
Students 1000
Halton
Peel
500
0
1
Other
Other
Provinces
International
2185
Halton
168
118
Peel
682
York
731
560
Other Ontario
Other Provinces
125
International
173
Geographic Source
•Doesn’t appear to be skewed  mainly mound-shaped
•Toronto = outlier
•This makes sense because Ryerson is in the heart of
Toronto  it is more of a commuter school because of the
limited residence space, so it’s more convenient and less
costly for Torontonians to go there
Toronto
2185
Durham
168
Halton
118
Peel
682
York
731
Other
560
Other Provinces
125
International
173
http://www.ryerson.c
a/upo/statistics/Year
1-2006-geog.html
Table 4b
Percent from Ontario:
90.5
Percent from rest of Canada:
6.2
Percent from outside Canada:
3.3
http://www.uwo.ca/pvp/common_university/section_
e.html
• Universities use statistics and graphs of course to convince prospective students to attend
their institutions. These graphs and statistics are shown to student to by how much they
are better then other schools or how better they are on average. For example, some school
might slightly lower their statistics regarding tuition cost to give prospective students the
impression that their institution offers a quality educational experience at a lower
monetary value.
Sampling Bias Globe and Mail bases their Report Card results on a sample taken only
from surveys done on studentaewards.com. This sample is not necessary representative of
the entire population that attends Ryerson, Western, or any other University.
•Response Bias May also play a miniscule factor in skewing the results of data that we
have incorporated into our paper. For example, many student may find it fun to mess up
the results in the survey by not writing down dishonest answers to try making their school
appear better or worse than it actually is.
•Non-Response Bias is evident in Maclean’s Survey of Western and Ryerson University.
This is because, just 26 out 47 Universities, Western and Ryerson refused to take the 20062007 Survey citing credibility issues with Macleans data collecting techniques. To fill the
void for Western and Ryerson’s results, Macleans showcased the universities’ 2005-2006
data instead. This information is then misleading because it is out of data and incompatible
with the updated data from other universities.
 We found that Western had plenty of statistical information while
Ryerson was lacking in graphs/statistics that could be converted into
graphs.
For annual expenses, some averages needed to be taken. Therefore,
these values are more so an approximation that the actual cost. Also,
the annual expenses of University will surely fluctuate between
students, so we can't possibly find one set cost.
There is a wealth of information regarding University all around us.
The internet, magazines, newspapers, university handbooks, even
people are constantly throwing information university information at
us. This means that the information is liable to change between
sources. Bias and opinion are definitely influencing factors which can
alter the statistics of both universities.
We were not able to do a box and whisker plot because the data we
collected was not always numerical. In other words, the statistics were
frequently qualitative rather than quantitative.
Statistically, Western has better overall characteristics than Ryerson
Pros about Western:
It is an older, more developed school
The annual expenses are cheaper
More residence/green space
Student opinion, as recorded in Maclean's magazine says that Western
will give you a better first year experience (for example, better nightlife)
Pros about Ryerson:
The average entering grade is lower than that of Western
It is located in the middle of exciting Toronto
“Hands-on approach” rather then theoretical
However, we have concluded that it can't be decided
what University is better. Ultimately, it is based on
opinion for many reasons. One example is that one
university may have a program that is better suited for
a person than another, like the fact that Ryerson's
journalism program is far more recommended and
valuable than the same program at Western. Budget
and location are also factors that make this decision
completely one's own. Maybe an individual can afford
a university with a tuition of $10 000 a year. Maybe
they prefer a big city rather than a school located in
more of a country setting. It is certain that looking at
the stats will aid in the decision making process. After
all, it's a big one that will greatly affect our lives. But
since so much money and time will be put into your
University experience, you can't base your decision
solely on statistics.