Peer Review of Jason Smith’s Formal Report Proposal

To: Jason Smith 

From: Eric Chang

Date: October 16, 2019

Subject: Peer review of Jason Smith’s formal report proposal

 

Hi Jason I have now completed reading your proposal in regards to the lack of motivation of participants of nwHacks hackathon. In the section below, I have provided a few suggestions and recommendations on your proposal.

 

First Impressions:  

As a former participant of nwHacks, the problem regarding lack of motivation from participants presented in this formal report is definitely valid and an issue that should be addressed by the nwHacks committee. The formal report itself is then extremely well done, as the information presented within the report was precise and to the point. The only section where I would consider making major changes is in the methods section where a further expansion on alternative methods would make data collection for this project much easier. 

 

Organization: 

The report is well organized as all formatting requirements such as bolded titles were met. The flow of ideas within each section of the report was also excellent as there was no disconnect of ideas.

 

Introduction:

The introduction section was generally well done as the reader was provided with both the necessary background knowledge as well as the goals that nwHacks wanted to accomplish through this event. The only aspect missing from this section is an explanation on the causes of the problem being addressed in this report.

 

Statement of Problem:

The statement of problem section was excellent, as the problem of the event was identified and established by the first two lines of the section. The inclusion of the negative effects of the lack of motivation of participants was also an extremely effective decision, as it highlights the reason why this problem needs to be addressed.

 

Proposed Solution:

The proposed solution section presents numerous desirable solution as well as addressing the main cause of the problem which is a lack of incentive for participants to stay till the end of the event. The solution that seems most feasible from the ones stated within the report is giving out prizes to all participants that complete the event. This is because providing extra mentorship or better job opportunities to all participants at the nwHacks event will be near impossible due to the amount of participants that attend. 

Scope:

All of the questions proposed were excellent questions here are a few suggestions of my own:

• Does level of experience with coding affect the motivation levels of participants ?
• Does a team with a more diverse group coders perform better than a team with only one type of coder ? 
• Does lack of sleep and rest affect the motivation levels of participants ?

 

Methods:

Collecting surveys from past and previous participants of nwHacks is definitely a good idea as it provides insight on the wants and desires of the people attending nwHacks. With that being said extending the surveys to the executive members of nwHacks as well as participants from other hackathons will greatly improve the range and amount of information gained from the surveys.

 

 My qualifications: 

As both a member of the marketing team for nwHacks as well as a 5th year computer science student you are more than qualified to be conducting this report.

 

Citations/References: 

No citations or references were needed for the initial report.

 

Conclusion:

Conclusion was solid, as it sums up the main points of the report. 

 

Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling:

There are a few grammar mistakes within the report:

• In the last sentence of the statement of problem section, where it states “finding the reason why students lose motivation,” – I believe the word reason should be changed to its plural form reasons as there most likely our multiple reasons to the problem.

 

Concluding comments:

• Include cause of problem in the introduction section of the report
• Edit the grammar, spelling and punctuation errors
• Expand on the method section by considering alternative methods as well as surveying a larger range of people

Overall the report was extremely well composed and address an issue that could largely affect the success nwHacks hackathon event. Please contact me if you have any questions regarding the suggestions I made within the report. I will be looking forward to the final report.