To

From
Date

Professor Malesh
Rashad Soboh and Paul Chae
6-27-15

Subject

Transportation to Wayne State University

Introduction
For many people commuting to Wayne State University, a routine commute
between their location and destination can become very stressful. For example I-94
is a very popular highway that is used by many Wayne State commuters, who will
agree that traffic can easily build up with no way around the jam. Simply put, rush
hour on I-94 can leave one stuck, which can result in late arrival to campus work, or
classes, produce stress, increase congestion and pollution, and more money wasted
on gas for individuals.
Audiences
The three audiences who will be involved with this research are: Professor Malesh,
Wayne State University commuters, and the commuters parents or
spouses/partners.
Purpose
The professors input is very important, as his feedback will inform us if our
knowledge of the topic, our position, and our thesis are well argued. Wayne State
commuters are the target audience who could benefit from this project. If we
resolve this problem, the Wayne state students could greatly benefit by saving
money and time. Parents or spouses/partners need to be educated about the
problem in order to influence the Wayne State University commuters about our
proposed solution.
Primary Research
Two types of primary research we will utilize in our research include surveys and
observation. Surveys are inexpensive, ensures an accurate sample, and dependable
results/data. We will have to make surveys to find out what locations the students
are commuting from and find out how many students commute. For observations on
traffic flow and various routes will give us a sense of what improvements can be
made, we may also interview commuters to discover how they feel and think about
the topic, hear their concerns/opinions and to exchange ideas about how to solve
the problem. By incorporating these research methods, we are assuring that our
data is credible and unbiased.

Secondary Research
Secondary research will be very important to getting valuable information that will
help write this report. Most secondary research will be in the form of academic

studies, specifically those that take raw data and draw conclusions from the results.
This will help us be able to write in a more reader-centered style in our report, by
communicating and appealing to our readers by using credible sources that have
valuable data. We will be using several search engines to find academic published
papers, including google scholar and the Wayne state online library.
One of the two possible sources I have found talks about he affect commuting has
on students. It describes the negative effects that commuting has due to the time
resources it takes and the lack of involvement in the school community the student
has compared to a student who lives on campus. It has a lot of raw data that
compares the test scores of students who commute and those who live on campus
during their freshman years and the commuting students do worse in every
category. I feel that this has a direct relationship to our report because we are trying
to find a solution for students who commute both financially and academically. This
proves that there is a correlation between academic performance and commuting
and with our solution we hope to be able to decrease the amount of negative affect
commuting has on students; especially freshman students at Wayne State
University.
Source: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED357706.pdf
The second source I found talks about the direct economic stress that commuting
has on students in Universities and community colleges. Explaining through raw
data that the cost of commuting is much larger then is forecasted, there are often
unapparent costs that are not considered that drastically effect the cost of
commuting for a student. This underestimation is larger for community college
students which is applicable to many Wayne State University students. The author
estimates that commuting costs is a third more than conventionally estimated and
the percentage change in the average student budget is about twice as much for
the community college student as for the average student attending a University.
There is also a large factor that is unconsidered, the hidden value of time.
Source: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ248850.pdf

Dates

Work to be completed

Team
Member

June 21 June 28

Project Plan memo

Introduction, Audiences, Purpose,
Primary Research

Rashad

June 21 June 28

Project Plan memo

Secondary Research, Timetable, team
plan section

Paul

June 29 July 3

Primary Research - First Survey

Questions to be asked and who the
audience is going to be

Rashad

June 29 Secondary Research - First Source

July 3
Read, Summarize, analyze.
4-Jul
Team Meeting
July 5 - July
10

Survey - Complete survey draft with

questions and evaluation form.
The plan for surveying (email, in person)
and where the survey will take place
All details of survey must be completed

July 5 - July
Secondary Research - First Source
10
Read, Summarize, analyze.
11-Jul
Team Meeting
Progress Report Due
12-Jul
Combine work and submit
July 13 - July
16
July 13 - July
17

Gather data and analyze into graphs.

Presentable information
Analyze the data and compare with
sources
Combine Work

July 18 July 19

Paul

Rashad

Paul

Paul
Rashad
Paul

Team Meeting - In Person

Will complete first draft of report

July 20 - July
24

Read Peer evalution

Make adjustments on results and
analyzation of the data

Rashad

July 20 - July
24

Read Peer evalution

Make adjustments on sources and
analyzation of the data

Paul

25-Jul
Team Meeting
July 26 - July Make final adjustments
27
Review Pauls Work
July 26 - July
27

Make final adjustments and combine

work from both team members
Make report presentable and professional

Rashad
Paul

Team Plan Section

Technology use will include google drive that will allow for shared drives. This tool
allows us to download and upload files simply to share and edit drafts of team
members work. A useful feature of google drive is that it allows you to see who the
last author was to edit the document and when that edit was made. This allows for
the team members to efficiently communicate deadlines and revise each others
work without confusion of revision dates and updates. Weekly Skype meetings will
also be implemented for clear communication. During these weekly meetings we
will discuss the goals we have for the week and what we want accomplish or revise
to the time table.

Team Member Duties are going to be clearly be established at the beginning of the
project to avoid confusion of roles. Paul Chae is the team leader and Rashad Soboh
is the Co-leader. We both plan to work together by openly communicating and
making decisions together. Paul will be in control of the research and sources used
for evidence in the validation of our data. Rashad will be in charge of the surveys
and data collecting that will be used to come to our conclusion. These are the main
duties of the project that the team plans to partake. Paul is qualified for his role in
the group because he has had a lot of previous experience as a Senior student,
researching for lab reports and communicating those results through his previous
work experiences. Rashad is qualified for his role in data collection because he is
very organized and has had previous experiences with deadlines as well as
communicating with customers/participants.
Team member accountability is a very important topic that will be enforced
throughout the entirety of this project. If a team member is habitually absent or late
to meetings the team leader will address the issue by communicating with the
member. If this does not resolve the issue, the instructor of the course will be
notified. If the team member does not finish his work, he will be warned. The team
member must finish the work at a new appointed deadline. If the team member
submits poor quality work, open communication during one the meetings is the best
way for the issue to be resolved. The team needs to communicate and be clear as
to what is expected from each member and the exact task that needs to be
completed. This way the members know what is expected of them and can
contribute to the team at the standard that is established by the team.