Question:
Discussion: Reporting Results
In many different situations, you may be exposed to information that requires further analysis; this may be true as you receive reports, read a journal, or prepare for a presentation. What is certain is that you should always approach results in a critical but unbiased way, and be prepared to address any potential weaknesses in the reported data.
For this Discussion, you will evaluate recommendations made based on the results of a study from a given scenario.
To prepare:
Select one of the following scenarios:
Scenario 1
A sample of 5,000 swimmers and 5,000 runners were screened for cardiovascular disease (CVD). The study found that the rate of CVD is 33.3% in swimmers and 30.9% in runners, with the p-value of <0.05. A public campaign is recommended to promote running instead of swimming activities.
Scenario 2:
A study of 1,000 married women was conducted concerning pre-marital birth and the success of the subsequent marriages. The study reported that less educated women were 30% more likely to have children before marriage than highly educated women. In addition, 40% of the African-American women in the study had children before marriage. The study concluded that marriage counseling should be provided to less educated women and to African-American women.
Answer:
Advanced Analysis of Community Health Data and Surveillance in Public Health
A research has been conducted on the Cardio Vascular Disease (CVD) among swimmers and runners. For the purpose of the study, a sample of 5000 runners and 5000 swimmers have been selected and all the 10,000 participants were screened for the fact whether they had cardio vascular disease (CVD) or not. As a result of the screening process, it has been observed that among the 5000 swimmers, 33.3 percent of them suffer from cardio vascular disease (CVD). The p-value of this test has been obtained to be less than 0.05, which is the 5 percent level of significance. Thus, from here, it can be concluded that the rate of cardio vascular disease (CVD) among swimmers is not equal to 33.3 percent.
Again, among the 5000 runners, 30.9 percent of them suffer from cardio vascular disease (CVD). The p-value of this test has been obtained to be less than 0.05, which is the 5 percent level of significance. Thus, from here, it can be concluded that the rate of cardio vascular disease (CVD) among runners is not equal to 30.9 percent.
It can be clearly observed from the samples that the rate of cardio vascular disease is less in case of runners than in swimmers. This has resulted the public campaign to recommend the promotion of running activities rather than the swimming activities as running must be more effective in reducing the cardio vascular disease.
From the results of the analysis, it can be clearly seen that the rate of cardio vascular disease is less in case of runners and a little higher when it comes to swimmers, but these results are from the point of view of the samples drawn. It has to be seen whether the results obtained from the sample can predict the population. As the obtained p-value is less than 0.05 in both the cases, thus, it can be said that the percentage of swimmers suffering from cardio vascular disease is not equal to 33.3 percent and the percentage of runners suffering from cardio vascular disease is not equal to 30.9 percent. It is not exactly known from the analysis, the equality of the percentage of swimmers and runners suffering from cardio vascular disease. Thus, the recommendation made from the analysis conducted so far is not appropriate.
To conclude, which exercise is better, running or swimming activities, a difference between the two percentages of the sample has to be tested. The test will be conducted for the difference to be less than zero against the difference to be greater than zero. If the first percentage is considered to be the percentage of swimmers and the second percentage is considered to be the percentage of runners suffering from cardio vascular diseases and the p-value obtained from this test is less than 0.05, it can be concluded that running is more effective in reducing cardiovascular disease than swimming. If the p-value obtained is greater than 0.05, then it can be concluded that swimming activities are more effective than running activities to reduce cardio vascular disease.
