Sandbox
Work on the following exercises from OpenIntro Statistics. You’ll deepen your understanding much more effectively if you genuinely attempt the questions by yourself before checking the solutions.
1.1 Migraine and acupuncture, Part I. A migraine is a particularly painful type of headache, which patients sometimes wish to treat with acupuncture. To determine whether acupuncture relieves migraine pain, researchers conducted a randomized controlled study where 89 females diagnosed with migraine headaches were randomly assigned to one of two groups: treatment or control. 43 patients in the treatment group received acupuncture that is specifically designed to treat migraines. 46 patients in the control group received placebo acupuncture (needle insertion at non-acupoint locations). 24 hours after patients received acupuncture, they were asked if they were pain free. Results are summarized in the contingency table below.
1.3 Air pollution and birth outcomes, study components. Researchers collected data to examine the relationship between air pollutants and preterm births in Southern California. During the study air pollution levels were measured by air quality monitoring stations. Specifically, levels of carbon monoxide were recorded in parts per million, nitrogen dioxide and ozone in parts per hundred million, and coarse particulate matter (PM10) in μg/m3. Length of gestation data were collected on 143,196 births between the years 1989 and 1993, and air pollution exposure during gestation was calculated for each birth. The analysis suggested that increased ambient PM10 and, to a lesser degree, CO concentrations may be associated with the occurrence of preterm births.
(a) Identify the main research question of the study.
(b) Who are the subjects in this study, and how many are included?
(c) What are the variables in the study? Identify each variable as numerical or categorical. If numerical, state whether the variable is discrete or continuous. If categorical, state whether the variable is ordinal.
Solutions presented as a drop down menu that appears by clicking.
