Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

Paper 1: Lam, T., Liang, W., Cherith’s, T., & Alsop, S. (2014)

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.

The paper talks about the tendency of the school leavers to get indulged in alcohol and other drugs. The high consumption of drugs and involvement in unprotected sex among the high school students has made it a topic to discuss.

The study has been conducted on the students to get the necessary statistics and information about the scenario. A section of the report contains drug usage and alcohol abuse among 17-18 years old Australians who wanted to attend (n=541) and who went to the celebration (n=405).http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

A self-report methodology was used to gather the core data and conduct the research.

The first part of the survey consisted of young people who had the intention to attend the event (n=541). The pre-celebration survey was available for both online participants and those who are willing to come face to face for the responses.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

2. What kind of sampling method did they use, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of recruiting participants in this way?

Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney sampling method was used in the paper. There are certain advantages to using this method. Online and face to face surveys were carried out and the survey consisted of two parts.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

As per the view of Lam et al. (2014), the first part is regarding the intention of those people and the send part consists of what actually happened at the celebration. Recording the responses for both the scenarios will be beneficial as an idea can be made available along with the actual events.

In this way the facts and figures procured from different methods will help to provide a backbone structure to the concepts and facts at hand.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

The main disadvantage of conducting the sampling method is that the sources may be unreliable or the respondents are unwilling to share the necessary information required for the study.

This to some extent can jeopardize the purpose of the research paper which can create difficulties in the future. Unreliable and inaccurate information and data can create difficulties to understand the actual scenario.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

This can significantly hamper the study by making those figures inaccurate and unfit for usage. Combination of different and reliable sampling methods could have been used in order to minimize the chances for adulteration and inaccuracy.

3. What are the demographic characteristics of the people in the sample? Explain by referring to the descriptive statistics reported in the paper.

The majority of the respondents are of seventeen years of age, whereas the legal purchase age for the purchase of alcohol in Australia is 18 years.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

These respondents had intended to or had attended the celebration at Rottnest Island. The first part of the survey consisted of conducting surveys among young people consisting of 17 years old and 18 years old individuals.

A single ferry terminal was used to enter and exit the location in bulk, which is suited perfectly for the given study. The survey was started 2 months prior to the event until its the last day before the celebration.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

A total number of 541 individuals have been utilized for the study and responses from them have been taken in an organized way, out of which 56 % were females and 91 % who were 17 years old. A mere 9 % were 18 years old along with 87 % of the total number enrolled in an independent school.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

4. What inferential statistics were used to analyze data in this study, and why?

Alcohol and other drug consumption have been categorized into three groups, the first one being their intake and consumption at the last event. The second group consists of an average of school-going people’s intake and consumption, whereas the third group is regarding the study of leaver’s event day.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

Alcohol consumption and drug abuse have increased to a significant degree in the case of average school goers as compared to the last event. The current scenarios are almost the same as that of an average school and have increased substantially since the last event took place.

The number of participants in the first case is 306, whereas it is 388 in the third and the last case.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

The last event has been described elaborately with the help of examples and statistics, which has enabled it to become more prominent among the remaining studies conducted. Each individual day has been market with separate consumables including drugs other than alcohol such as amphetamine and cannabis.

Figure 1: Use of drugs other than alcohol

(Source: Lam et al. 2014)

These figures and statistics have been used to have a practical understanding as well as the required proof for the study. This will be used to give support to the theories and the already researched facts and statistics. The researcher will get an idea about the individuals which will help him to draw a reliable and proper conclusion.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

5. What is the odds ratio for engaging in unprotected sex (compared with those who engaged in safety strategies with the greatest frequency)? Interpret this by explaining what the odds ratio is telling us, including any variables that were controlled for in the model.

The odds ratio is defined as a measure of association between the outcome and the exposure. The outcome of a situation depends on the exposure and the change in the exposure of a situation can result in a different outcome that may not be preferred by some individuals.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

In the given scenario the outcome of the exposure, which here is “unprotected sex” can have drastic outcomes some of which can even be fatal. Unwanted pregnancy is the major concern for these types of exposure along with other threats such as the need may arise to go for abortion.

Ensuring protection while having sex helps to come up with alternatives and adjust to the scene according to it. Unwanted pregnancies can be avoided with the help of protection and using other measures to prevent unwanted or drastic outcomes.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

The high school students nowadays get involved in activities that are hazardous for their health as well as for themselves. These practices include alcohol consumption, drug abuse, and unprotected sex. Individual lives can be hampered along with others.

It is often seen that the family members have to suffer for their child’s actions, which can be said to be unjust and improper.

Involvement in these types of activities increases with celebrations and parties, where the limit gets crossed on several occasions. This can be hazardous for individual health and can lead to even death.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

6. How representative do you think the sample is of the national population of schoolish? Explain why.

As the study was not done for all the school-goers of Australia, therefore a national or a global is missing. The study is not conducted in an exhaustive way and hence may not be appropriate with accurate results and conclusions.

A small community is selected in this research which somewhat limits its scope for future analysis and study. However, combining with other research papers and articles can help the paper to establish significance.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

In spite of the best effort given by the researcher, this paper lacks data that reflects the community on a national basis. This is applicable as well for the school-goers who are engaged in improper and sometimes illegal activities.

Paper 2: Wong, M. C., S., Leung, M. C., M., Tsang, C. S., H., . . . Griffiths, S. M. (2013)

1. Describe the aims of the study. Can either aim be restated in terms of null and alternative hypotheses? Describe these where possible.

The aims of the study include the following-

• To determine and evaluate the prevalence of self-reported diabetes by territory wise household surveys of almost all of the population of Hong Kong.
• To examine various factors associated with their diabetes independently.

The study has been done on the people of Hong Kong, where face to face interviews was conducted with 12195 interviewees in the given survey. 103367 numbers of people were of the age of fifteen years or above.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

The study was carried out with different approaches for males and females. The surveys were done in the years 2001, 2002, 2005, and 2008.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

Among male, the age and sex-adjusted prevalence in the given years were 2.80 %, 2.87 %, 3.32 %, and 4.66 %. The age and sex-adjusted prevalence among female were 3.25 %, 3.37 %, 3.77 %, and 4.31 % respectively.

Factors

It is seen in the study that prevalence increases notably with age and poverty. Lower monthly income was significantly associated with diabetes. Household services were conducted according to a scientifically designed random sampling methodology.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

The regions covered were urban area, new towns, and other developed areas within Hong Kong. The survey covers about 96 % of the city’s population and the response rate was almost 75 %.  Census and statistics department of the Hong Kong government formed a committee that trained the interviewers using a standardized method of face to face interview.

In all the four surveys including that of 2001, 2002, 2005, and 2008, some standard questions were set up in order to ask the people to answer them. There were some limitations in the study.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

Firstly, they relied on self-reported information in order to determine and analyze the prevalence of diabetes. It is found in the recent studies related to China and other countries that the information may be very likely wrong, as many of the patients are undiagnosed of diabetes.

The strength of the study is that it incorporated the data of a total 1, 21,000 people collected in the surveys that were carried out for the paper, and standardized methods were used with proper interviewer training across various time periods.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

2. What are the demographic characteristics of the people in the sample? Explain by referring to the descriptive statistics reported in the paper.

An age group ranging from 0 to 39 years were taken for the purpose of conducting the research. Twenty of the total respondents were reported to have diabetes.

There were 11479 respondents belonging to the age group of 40-65 years, out of which 527 reported to have diabetes. 3703 were interviewed who were of age greater than 65, out of which 636 were reported to have diabetes.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

As per the view of Wong et al. (2013), ft is analyzed sex-wise it is found that 14734 females were interviewed, out of which 580 reported having diabetes and 14189 males were having diabetes.

In respect of monthly income, people who have income greater than 50, 000 Hong Kong dollars, 3455 were interviewed.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

3. What inferential statistics were used to analyze data in this paper, and why?

Binary logistic regression analyses were conducted in order to study and evaluate the independent factors associated with diabetes. This is a statistical technique used to predict the relationship between the predictors and a predicted variable. The dependent variable is binary.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

A good example is male vs female and high vs low. The model utilizes a logistic function in order to model a binary dependent. The dependent variable consists of two levels in a binary logistic regression model. The coefficients are usually not evaluated by an expression that is closed-formed.

4. What did the researchers find when they adjusted the prevalence rates of diabetes for age and sex?

The study was carried out with different approaches for males and females. The surveys were done in the years 2001, 2002, 2005, and 2008.

Among male, the age and sex-adjusted prevalence in the given years were 2.80 %, 2.87 %, 3.32 %, and 4.66 %. The age and sex-adjusted prevalence among female were 3.25 %, 3.37 %, 3.77 %, and 4.31 % respectively.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

5. Interpret the odds ratios for a self-reported diabetes diagnosis to explain who is at the greatest risk of diabetes.

The elderly people who are above 60 years of age are at the greatest risk of acquiring the disease. Similarly, the trend is higher among females in comparison to males.

The people who work and do exercise on a regular basis are less prone to diabetes, whereas the people who are involved in less exercise and less physical labor are more prone to the disease. It is seen that the majority of the patients prone or affected by diabetes are of the higher-income groups.

The person belonging to the lower economic section in a society tends to develop fewer issues related to obesity and diabetes. This can be stated because of the fact that they tend to work more in terms of physical labor.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

6. What impact do the limitations described by the researchers have on the extent to which the results can be trusted, and why?

As the study is based on self-reports by the respondents, a lot of those are maybe not diagnosed with diabetes.

Recent studies in China suggested that 75 % of the patients ware undiagnosed. Moreover, there has been no information in any sub-population which makes the research more limited and narrow.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

In addition to the stated issue, there may be an issue regarding the area of research and its scopes. The research is conducted in the city of Hong Kong only, which puts restrictions on its figures and data when compared to a global study.

A lack of a global or national approach can be said to the issue of the research paper.

Although people from different backgrounds and cultures reside in the city of Hong Kong, there were an inadequate number of respondents which has brought certain limitations in the study.http://Best STAT6000 Statistics for Public Health Sample

In order to get a sufficient and adequate number of respondents, the researcher had to consider a bigger area and conduct the research accordingly. This would have required extensive resources and time which might have been not possible for him at the given time.

References

Lam, T., Liang, W., Chikritzhs, T., & Allsop, S. (2014). Alcohol and other drug use at school leavers’ celebrations. Journal of Public Health, 36(3), 408-416. Retrieved from: http://jpubhealth.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/08/26/pubmed.fdt087.full.pdf+html

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. Retrieved from: http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.laureate.net.au/10.1007/s00038-012-0364-y

Know more about UniqueSubmission’s other writing services: