Before you start project work for a course, you should be able to complete the following proposal template, addressing the questions listed as completely as possible. However, keep in mind that throughout the design iterations of your project, many parts of it will likely change (i.e. increase/decrease in number of samples, types of features or algorithm used, etc), so this is just a starting point. Also, if you are unsure in some areas, you should still submit a partial proposal to receive feedback from instructors.
In addition to submitting this plan, you may discuss the areas below with an instructor in a scope meeting.
- What is the framing question of your analysis, or the purpose of the model/system you plan to build?
- Who benefits from exploring this question or building this model/system?
- What dataset(s) do you plan to use, and how will you obtain the data?
- What is an individual sample/unit of analysis in this project? What characteristics/features do you expect to work with?
- If modeling, what will you predict as your target?
- How do you intend to meet the tools requirement of the project?
- Are you planning in advance to need or use additional tools beyond those required?
- What would a minimum viable product (MVP) look like for this project?