Reference no: EM132860029 , Length: word count:2000
STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health - Laureate International Universities
Assignment - Identifying and Interpreting Statistics in Research Articles
Learning outcome 1: Understand key concepts in statistics and the way in which both descriptive and inferential statistics are used to measure, describe and predict health and illness and the effects of interventions.
Learning outcome 2: Apply key terms and concepts of statistics, including; sampling, hypothesis testing, validity and reliability, statistical significance and effect size.
Learning outcome 3: Interpret the results of commonly used statistical tests presented in published literature.
Instructions:
This assessment requires you to read two articles and answer a series of questions in no more than 2000 words.
Most public health and wider health science journals report some form of statistics. The ability to understand and extract meaning from journal articles, and the ability to critically evaluate the statistics reported in research papers are fundamental skills in public health.
Paper 1: Riordan, B. C., Flett, J. A., Hunter, J. A., Scarf, D., & Conner, T. S. (2015). Fear of missing out (FoMO): The relationship between FoMO, alcohol use, and alcohol-related consequences in college students. Annals of Neuroscience and Psychology, 2(7), 1-7.
Read the Riordan, Flett, Hunter, Scarf and Conner (2015) research article and answer the following questions:
1. This paper presents two hypotheses. State the null and alternative hypothesis for each one, and describe the independent and dependent variables for each hypothesis.
2. What kind of sampling method did they use, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of recruiting participants in this way?
3. What are the demographic characteristics of the people in the sample? Explain by referring to the descriptive statistics reported in the paper.
4. What inferential statistics were used to analyse data in this study, and why?
5. Regarding the relationship between FoMO scores, weekly drinks, drinking frequency, drinking quantity, and BYAACQ. Answer the following questions;
a) Which variable had the weakest association with FoMO score?
b) Which variable had the strongest association?
c) Was the association (weakest and strongest) statistically significant?
d) What are the correlation coefficients for both associations (weakest and strongest)?
e) State how much variation in weekly drinks, drinking frequency, drinking quantity, and BYAAC is attributed to FoMO scores.
f) What variables are controlled in the correlation analysis test?
6. How representative do you think the sample is of the wider population of college students in New Zealand? Explain why.
Paper 2: Wong, M. C., S., Leung, M. C., M., Tsang, C. S., H., . . . Griffiths, S. M. (2013). The rising tide of diabetes mellitus in a Chinese population: A population-based household survey on 121,895 persons. International Journal of Public Health, 58(2), 269-276.
Read the Wong et. al. (2014) paper and answer the following questions:
1. Describe the aims of the study. Can either aim be restated in terms of null and alternative hypotheses? Describe these where possible.
2. What are the demographic characteristics of the people in the sample? Explain by referring to the descriptive statistics reported in the paper.
3. What inferential statistics were used to analyse data in this paper, and why?
4. What did the researchers find when they adjusted the prevalence rates of diabetes for age and sex?
5. Interpret the odds ratios for self-reported diabetes diagnosis to explain who is at the greatest risk of diabetes.
6. What impact do the limitations described by the researchers have on the extent to which the results can be trusted, and why?
Attachment:- Statistics for Public Health.rar