Applied Statistics for Health Care Professionals



Applied Statistics for Health Care Professionals

Q1: How are graphics and/or statistics used to misrepresent data? Where have you seen this done?

Graphics and statistics are used for giving an idea regarding what the outcomes can be, based on the historical trends and various other factors. It provides us with a measure of a probability of viewing a certain outcome. Statistics can be easily misused while analyzing data, be it accidentally or intentionally. Various variables are often ignored by the one who is analyzing the data. Apart from all this, there are various assumptions made, which could either be false or true. These assumptions don't provide a clear picture. Without any solid grounds, the person analyzing the data can come up with suggestions and recommendations that are not based on the true findings.

The data source, if not factual, can simply reflect a biased, misleading statistic based on information which is not true. This false information can lead to a false publication. Certain data has outliers which are included by the researcher. These outliers can lead the researcher in generating results which are not accurate, thus misguiding the readers. This can be seen done in various research institutes, which involve thesis and research publications.

Q2: what are the characteristics of a population for which a mean/median/mode would be appropriate and inappropriate?Mean, Median and Mode are measures of central tendency which are very valid. However, under various circumstances, certain measures are considered more appropriate than others. Mean is a mostly used measure of central tendency, (MacGillivray,1981). It is used with both, continuous and discreet data. However, it is mostly used with a continuous data set. Median, on the other hand is the middle value in a data set. Mode is the most frequently accruing data value which is represented by the tallest bar in the graph. It is mostly used for a data which is categorical in nature. Therefore, a population that is represented by a data which is continuous in nature makes use of mean as the most appropriate measure of a central tendency. However, if the population has outliers, then the mean will not be appropriate.

Median is not affected by the presence of outliers. Therefore if there are outliers in the data, then median can be an appropriate measure of the central tendency. Mode, on the other hand is used for that population which is ...