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Length: No longer than four A4 pages (excluding tables and figures).
The Assignment Full Details
For this assignment each student will be required to use ONLY their allocated data set. Your data set is an IBM SPSS (version20) data set containing the answers to the class questionnaire for a random sample of 95 students who completed it and attached with this description as SAV. File.
Therefore, you should use only your assigned data set.
This assignment is designed in part to assess the descriptive statistics part of the course, but will also cover material up to date. As you will know by now, good clear presentation of results is very important, so you should make sure you follow the guidelines you have been given. While the content of your assignment is important, many of the marks for this assignment will be allocated for presentation. Your report must be typed, not handwritten. Do not include your SPSS (version20) commands; any SPSS output used should be edited to comply with the guidelines and look presentable. Your report should be no longer than four A4 pages (excluding tables and figures).
This assignment will be submitted electronically and will be checked for any Plagiarism.
NOTES
(i) You should use ONLY your own data set that is attached with this description as SAV file. There is not always just one correct way of handling data: you are sometimes required to use your judgment. When this occurs you should justify the decision you have made.
(ii) It is not compulsory to produce figures and tables in SPSS. Figures may be drawn by hand, or using some other package. However, presentation of figures and tables must comply with the guidelines explained below.
(iii) The cumulative relative frequency plot in (a) cannot be produced in SPSS (version20).
(iv) Because the datasets differ between students the results will differ and the conclusions may also vary. You should draw conclusions based on your dataset only.
(v) The coding of the variables included in your dataset is set out in the (below) attached questionnaire. This is for reference only. You do not need to complete this questionnaire.
The Assignment Presentation and SPSS output Should comply with the following Guidelines:
GUIDELINES FOR PRESENTATION & PREPARING TABLES AND GRAPHS:
1.Tables and graphs should be self-explanatory, so they should have a title; all axes, rows and columns should be labelled unambiguously; and units should be given.
2. Missing values such as ‘don’t know’ or ‘not answered’ should either be included as a separate class, or a footnote should be given noting that they are omitted.
3. If percentages are given, it should be clear what the denominator is.
4. Avoid open classes (e.g. 65 or over).
5. Where the vertical scale has a natural origin, it should either be included, or it should be emphasised that it is not.
6. Use spacing, not vertical lines, to separate columns.
7. Three-dimensional graphics (e.g. 3D bar charts) should be avoided.
GUIDELINES FOR PRESENTATION AND PREPARING FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTIONS & HISTOGRAMS:
1. Class boundaries should be round numbers.
2. It should be unambiguous in which class a boundary value goes; usually the boundary is in the class above, e.g. in Table 3, age 25 belongs to the class ’25-29′.
3. The number of classes should be small enough to provide regularity in the shape of the distribution, but large enough not to lose too much detail. Usually 5 to 15 classes are sufficient.
4. Where there are conventions covering 1), 2) and 3) above, these conventions should be followed; e.g. age-groups start with 0 or 5.
5. Classes can be combined later, but not divided, so use too many, rather that too few initially.
6. When counting by hand, work systematically through the data, using tallying to produce the distribution with one scan of the data. A check is always necessary.
7. Although wasting paper is to be deplored, the backs of envelopes were not designed for statistical tabulations.
GUIDLINES FOR PRESENTATION OF RESULTS:
When presenting the results of any statistical analysis, you should refer to the guidelines given above for presenting tables and figures. Additionally, all results should be reported with an appropriate level of precision.
Guidelines for rounding (precision) of results:
Based on quote from Gardner and Altman (Statistics with Confidence, 1989):
“Spurious precision adds no value to a paper and even detracts from its readability and credibility. Results obtained from a calculator or computer usually need to be rounded.
1. When presenting means, standard deviations, and other statistics the author should bear in mind the precision of the original data.
2. Means should not normally be given to more than one decimal place more than the raw data, but standard deviations or standard errors may need to be quoted to one extra decimal place.
3. It is rarely necessary to quote percentages to more than one decimal place, and even one decimal place is often not needed. With samples of less than100 the use of decimal places implies unwarranted precision and should be avoided.
4. Note that these remarks apply only to presentation of results – rounding should not be used before or during analysis.
5. It is sufficient to quote values of t, 2 x, and r to two decimal places.”
While test statistics are usually quoted to 2 decimal places, P values should be quoted to 1, or at most 2, significant figures.
Further Information about the correct presentation Guidelines:
The guidelines above (and those presented earlier for the presentation of tables and graphs) are based upon the requirements for reporting data in medical journal articles and government reports. Examples of how graphs, tables and numerical results are displayed and reported can be found in published articles and reports at the following websites ?
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm
Medical Journal of Australia http://www.mja.com.au/
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health
http://www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=1326-0200
Notes:
The number of decimal places is the number of digits after the decimal point.
The number of significant figures is a more general indication of the precision of a number. It is determined as follows:
1. Count the number of digits, beginning with the first non-zero digit, reading from left to right.
2. Ignore all zeros at the end of a whole number, unless you know them to be exact.
3. Zeros at the end of a decimal number are always significant.
For example: 3500, 0.0062, 0.050 each have 2 significant figures
50600, 8.02, 0.0920 each have 3 significant figures
Further Reading (The Full References are stated below):
BLAND (?4.3, 5.1-5.6); (?4.5-4.8);
ALTMAN (?3.2, 3.4, 3.7); (?3.1, 3.3, 3.7);
ARMITAGE, BERRY & MATTHEWS (?2.4, 2.6); (?2.1, 2.3).
Essential Required Readings for this assignment and the subject overall are:
1. Bland, M. (2000). Introduction to Medical Statistics. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Very readable style, covers almost the entire course and a little more. Contains exercises after each chapter, with solutions at the end. Strongly recommended to answer this assignment.
2. Armitage, P. Berry, G. & Matthews, J.N.S. (2002). Statistical Methods in Medical Research. 4th ed. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.
A comprehensive book at an advanced level covering much more than the basic course. It is useful for reference and is recommended for those students who are interested in developing their statistical skills further in the future.
3. Altman, D.G. & Douglas, G. (1999). Practical Statistics for Medical Research, London: Chapman & Hall.
A comprehensive book at an elementary level, aimed at medical researchers. Emphasises concepts and principles of statistical design and analysis. Covers much more than the basic course, including material covered in many of the statistics electives.
IBM SPSS Statistics Software:
IBM SPSS (version 20) is the statistical computing system you will be using on this subject to analyse data. It has been chosen because it is one of the major statistical packages and has the advantage that it is relatively easy to learn to use.
The Assignment Main Questions
Each student MUST answer the following questions for their own data set.
(a) Examine the distributions of weight and height. Are there any outliers? If so deal with them appropriately.
Create a new variable that divides weight into groups. Produce a table showing the frequency distribution and cumulative relative frequency distribution of the new grouped variable. Produce a histogram of weight to illustrate this frequency distribution and comment on the histogram.
Construct a cumulative relative frequency plot (by hand or otherwise) of the new variable and use it to estimate the median weight. Why may this estimate differ from the median of the recorded values for weight? Which estimate would be preferred and why? (12 marks)
(b) (i) The Australian Dietary Guidelines recommend that adults eat 2 or more serves of fruit each day. What percentage of students usually eat 2 or more serves of fruit each day?
(ii) Construct a two-way table to show within each sex (male vs female), the number and percentage of students who eat 2 or more serves of fruit each day versus those who eat less than 2 serves of fruit each day. (6 marks)
(c) (i) Construct a table to show, for each of the four groups defined jointly by sex (male or female) and whether they eat 2 or more serves of fruit each day (yes or no), the numbers of students who have had their cholesterol checked and the number who have not had their cholesterol checked.
(ii) Within each of the four groups defined by sex and fruit consumption category, calculate the percentages of students who have had their cholesterol checked. It should be clear from your table how the percentages were calculated.
(iii) Graph the percentages calculated in (ii), highlighting the comparison between fruit consumption categories within each sex. Describe the relationship in your own words. (20 marks)
(d) Body mass index (BMI) is a measure of body size. It is calculated as
BMI= weight / (height)2
where weight is in kg and height in metres. Its units are kg/m2. Form a new variable BMI and examine its distribution. Are there any outliers for BMI? If so deal with them appropriately. Summarise the distribution graphically (stem-and-leaf display or box plot) and with appropriate statistics. Describe the important features of the distribution in your own words. (10 marks)
(e) Finally consider BMI. Test whether your sample is consistent with having been drawn from a population with a mean BMI of 22kg/m2. Write a brief report (of no more than one paragraph) summarising your conclusions.
(12 marks)
(Total = 60 marks)
The Full Questionnaire questions are mentioned (below) in the following page
Here are the Questionnaire questions that are used for Class Exercise, with the questions coding:
1.Last digit of your Student ID Number.
2. Age.
3. Sex (1 = male 2 = female).
4. Height (cm).
5. Weight (Kg).
6. Write down a 2-digit random number.
7. Marital status
(1 = never married, 2= now married, 3= separated/divorced/widowed).
8. How many children do you have?
9. How much sleep did you get last night? (To nearest ? hour).
10. How are you doing this course? (1 = part-time, 2 = full-time).
11. How many cigarettes do you smoke per day?
12. Have you ever had your cholesterol measured? (1 = Yes, 2 = No).
13. How many serves of fruit do you usually eat in a day? NOTE: 1 serve fruit = 1 medium piece (like an apple or banana), or 2 small pieces (like two plums), or 1 cup of diced pieces (fresh or tinned).
It does NOT include fruit juice.
14. How many serves of vegetables do you usually eat in a day?
NOTE: 1 serve vegetables = ? cup cooked vegetables (fresh, frozen or tinned), or 1 cup raw salad vegetables.
This does NOT include fried or roast potato.
15. In the last week, how many times have you walked continuously, for at least 10 minutes, for recreation, exercise, or to get to or from places?
16. What do you estimate was the total time that you spent walking in this way in the last week?
Please provide a draft
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