We are constantly looking for information on the health of people and the country. According to one site, health statistics provide key indicators that help us know about the conditions of life in a country (Importance, n.d.). The author goes on to say these statistics help us understand the impact of health on people and work for their betterment. As we monitor the health of a population, we enhance our understanding of strategies to promote its health (Importance, n.d.).
Discuss whether or not you feel health planners, government officials, and healthcare organizations are using social issues/pressures or health statistics to determine strategies? Which is more reliable?
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Reference:
Importance. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nichsr/usestats/importance.html
Uses. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nichsr/usestats/uses.html
Required Reading and Resources
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC]. (2012). Lesson 4: Displaying public health data. In Principles of epidemiology in public health practice [3rd ed.]. Retrieved from www.cdc.gov/ophss/csels/dsepd/ss1978/lesson4/index.html
Cook, A., Netuveli, G., & Sheikh, A. (2004). Chapter 1: Laying the foundations: Measurements and probability. In Basic skills in statistics: A guide for healthcare professionals (pp. 3-14). London, GBR: Class Publishing. eISBN: 9781859591291.
Statistics Learning Centre. (2011, December 13). Types of data: Nominal, ordinal, interval/ratio
. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZxnzfnt5v8
Norman, G. R., & Streiner, D. L. (2014). Section the first: The nature of data and statistics: Chapter 1: The basics. In Biostatistics: The bare essentials [4th ed., e-Book]. Shelton, Connecticut: PMPH-USA, Ltd. eISBN-13: 978-1-60795-279-4. Available in the Trident Online Library EBSCO eBook Collection.
Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce. (2016, August 9). Health data tools and statistics. Retrieved from https://phpartners.org/health_stats.html
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT:
Part I (approximately 1–1½ pages, total):
Copy and paste the following examples (1-6 below), then respond by classifying each of the following variables as either: nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio. Provide a brief explanation where indicated.
1. A researcher studying lifespan categorizes individuals into single, married, divorced, or widowed. What type of variable measurement is this? Health Data Discussion Case 1 Paper
2. A cognitive scientist places her subjects into categories based on how anxious they tell her that they are feeling: “not anxious,” “mildly anxious,” “moderately anxious,” and “severely anxious,” and she uses the numbers 0, 1, 2 and 3 to label categories where lower numbers indicate less anxiety. What type of variable measurement is this? Are the categories mutually exclusive?
3. A Physician diagnoses the presence or absence of disease (i.e., yes or no). What type of variable measurement is this?
4. A person weighing 200 lbs. is considered to be twice as heavy as a person weighing 100 lbs. In this case, what type of measurement is body weight?
5. A nurse takes measurements of body temperature on patients and reports them in units of degrees Farenheit as part of a study. What type of variable measurement is this?
6. Patients rate their experience in the emergency room on a five point scale from poor to excellent (1 = very poor, 2 = not very good, 3 = neither good nor bad, 4 = quite good, and 5 = excellent). What type of variable measurement is this? Is the difference between a 1 and a 2 necessarily the same as the difference between a 3 and a 4? Explain briefly. Health Data Discussion Case 1 Paper
Part II: Statistics (1/2 page)
Given what you’ve learned in this module about the meaning of “statistics,” choose one of the examples from Part I (1-6), and raise a relevant question of your own that could be answered by a statistician. Then without answering your own question, explain how a pattern could be studied or a useful prediction made based on data that are to be collected.
Part III: Quantitative vs. Qualitative Data (approximately 1–1½ pages)
A health scientist wishes to measure how well participants diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are coping. Explain how a variable such as coping could be measured quantitatively or qualitatively.
