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Biostatistics Assignment Guidelines

This document contains instructions for a biostatistics assignment for postgraduate students. It includes 13 questions covering a range of biostatistics topics: 1) Classifying different variables by their scale of measurement, whether they are quantitative or qualitative, nominal or ordinal, and if quantitative whether they are discrete or continuous. 2) Calculating probabilities from sample data including the probability of an outcome given additional information. 3) Constructing frequency distributions and calculating probabilities using the normal and Poisson distributions. The questions require students to apply their knowledge of classifying data, calculating probabilities, and working with distributions to solve quantitative problems.

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48 views4 pages

Biostatistics Assignment Guidelines

This document contains instructions for a biostatistics assignment for postgraduate students. It includes 13 questions covering a range of biostatistics topics: 1) Classifying different variables by their scale of measurement, whether they are quantitative or qualitative, nominal or ordinal, and if quantitative whether they are discrete or continuous. 2) Calculating probabilities from sample data including the probability of an outcome given additional information. 3) Constructing frequency distributions and calculating probabilities using the normal and Poisson distributions. The questions require students to apply their knowledge of classifying data, calculating probabilities, and working with distributions to solve quantitative problems.

Uploaded by

Hirbo Shore
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Haramaya University

College of Medical Sciences, School of Public Health

Biostatistics Assignment for postgraduate students

Instruction

This individual assignment (*) and every one should attempt to answer the questions on his/her
own

Avoid carbon copying from someone as this disqualify the results if proved

Submit the hard copy of assignment containing the questions and answer just before final
examination

Submission after the exam will not be accepted

1. * Classify the following variables by the following types: (i) scale of measurement, (ii)
quantitative or qualitative, (iii) if qualitative, nominal or ordinal, and (iv) if quantitative,
discrete, or continuous:
I. blood type of children
II. age of individuals in a study
III. duration of stay in emergency care
IV. level of education
V. years of schooling
VI. survival status of patient suffered from heart disease
VII. patient’s level of satisfaction with service provided in a hospital
VIII. current marital status
IX. pregnancy resulting in live birth or not,
2. * Consider a study of 300 males aged 18 years or higher conducted in a city called D. The
study indicates that there are 10% smokers. Answer the following questions:
a. What is the sample?
b. What is the population?
c. What is the variable of interest?
d. What is the scale of measurement used for the variable?
3. Heights (in cm) of 24 women in a study are shown below: 148.1, 158.1, 158.1, 151.4, 152.9,
159.1, 151.0, 158.2, 148.2, 147.3, 145.6, 155.1, 155.2, 149.7, 147.0, 152.2, 149.1, 145.2,
145.9, 149.7, 149.3, 152.3, 146.9, 148.2. Construct a frequency distribution table and show
the following:
a. Class interval
b. True class interval
c. Frequency distribution
d. Relative frequency distribution
e. Cumulative frequency distribution
f. Relative cumulative frequency distribution
g. Construct a stem-and-leaf plot

h. Comment on the main features of the data


6. Coughlin et al. examined the breast and cervical screening practices of Hispanic and non-
Hispanic women in counties that approximate the U.S. southern border region. The study
used data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System surveys of adults age 18
years or older conducted in 1999 and 2000. The table below reports the number of
observations of Hispanic and non-Hispanic women who had received a mammogram in the
past 2 years cross-classified with marital status.

I. We select at random a subject who had a mammogram. What is the probability that
she is divorced or separated?
II. We select at random a subject who had a mammogram and learn that she is Hispanic.
With that information, what is the probability that she is married?
III. We select at random a subject who had a mammogram. What is the probability that
she is non-Hispanic and divorced or separated?
IV. We select at random a subject who had a mammogram. What is the probability that
she is Hispanic or she is widowed?
V. We select at random a subject who had a mammogram. What is the probability that
she is not married?
7. In a survey of nursing students pursuing a master’s degree, 75 percent stated that they expect
to be promoted to a higher position within one month after receiving the degree. If this
percentage holds for the entire population, find, for a sample of 15, the probability that the
number expecting a promotion within a month after receiving their degree is:
a. Six
b. At least seven
c. No more than five
d. Between six and nine, inclusive
8. Based on data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics and made available to the
public in the Sample Adult database, an estimate of the percentage of adults who have at
some point in their life been told they have hypertension is 23.53 percent. If we select a
simple random sample of 20 adults and assume that the probability that each has been told
that he or she has hypertension is 0.24, find the probability that the number of people in the
sample who have been told that they have hypertension will be:
a. Exactly three
b. Three or more
c. Fewer than three
d. Between three and seven, inclusive
9. Tubert-Bitter et al. found that the number of serious gastrointestinal reactions reported to the
Committee on Safety of Medicine was 538 for 9,160,000 prescriptions of the anti-
inflammatory drug piroxicam. This corresponds to a rate of 0.058 gastrointestinal reactions
per 1000 prescriptions written. Using a Poisson model for probability, with λ=0.06, find the
probability of
a. Exactly one gastrointestinal reaction in 1000 prescriptions
b. Exactly two gastrointestinal reactions in 1000 prescriptions
c. No gastrointestinal reactions in 1000 prescriptions
d. At least one gastrointestinal reaction in 1000 prescriptions
10. Given the standard normal distribution find:
a. The area under the curve between z = 0 and z = 1:43
b. The probability that a z picked at random will have a value between z =-2.87 and z = 2.64
c. P(-1:96 ≤z ≤1.96)
d. P(z ≥ -0.55)
11. *Given the following probabilities, find z1:
P (z1 ≤z ≤ z2) =0.8132
P (-2.67 ≤z ≤ z1) =0.9718
12. For another subject (a 29-year-old male) in the study by Diskin et al., acetone levels were
normally distributed with a mean of 870 and a standard deviation of 211 ppb. Find the
probability that on a given day the subject’s acetone level is:
a. Between 600 and 1000 ppb
b. Over 900 ppb
c. Under 500 ppb
d. Between 900 and 1100 ppb
13. One of the variables collected in the Birth Registry data is pounds gained during pregnancy.
According to data from the entire registry for 2001, the number of pounds gained during
pregnancy was approximately normally distributed with a mean of 30.23 pounds and a
standard deviation of 13.84 pounds. Calculate the probability that a randomly selected
mother in North Carolina in 2001 gained:
a. Less than 15 pounds during pregnancy
b. More than 40 pounds
c. Between 14 and 40 pounds
d. Less than 10 pounds
e. Between 10 and 20 pounds

Common questions

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To determine the probability that a randomly selected subject who has received a mammogram is not married, one needs to calculate the sum of probabilities of all non-married categories (e.g., divorced, separated, widowed) divided by the total number of subjects who had a mammogram. This involves calculating the marginal and joint probabilities from the observed frequencies given for different marital statuses and applying them to determine this specific conditional probability .

Calculating sample mean provides a measure of central tendency, indicating the 'average' height within the group studied while the standard deviation provides insights into the variability around this mean. This gives a comprehensive snapshot of how data is distributed, helping identify patterns or deviations in physical attributes among the sample, essential for making generalizations about a larger population .

This probability estimate based on survey data offers insights into the prevalence of hypertension in the adult population. By applying the binomial probability model to estimate the likelihood of certain outcomes (e.g., exactly three or fewer than three adults knowing about their condition), it quantifies health awareness levels and the potential success of public health interventions addressing hypertension in the surveyed demographics .

The Poisson model is suitable for predicting events happening independently at a constant rate over time. Here, with λ=0.06 representing the rate of gastrointestinal reactions per 1000 prescriptions, the Poisson distribution can estimate probabilities for different numbers of reactions expected out of a given set of prescriptions. Calculations involve using the formula P(X=k)=(e^(-λ) * λ^k / k!) where k signifies the number of reactions to determine the likelihood of specific outcomes like exactly one or no reactions .

A frequency distribution table organizes the heights data into different class intervals to reveal patterns. Features like the mode, variability, and central tendency are observable, showing how data points concentrate around particular values. For example, class intervals with heights and their frequencies show how many individuals fall within specific height ranges, whereas cumulative distributions can reflect proportions below and above certain values .

This study design entails a sampled survey which confines the data analysis to a demographically relevant subset, males aged 18 or older, allowing the estimation of smoking prevalence. The design's strength lies in focusing attention on a specific population, thus enabling an accurate assessment of the smoking variable (binary qualitative: smoker/non-smoker) using nominal scales, providing insights essential for tailored public health strategies .

The methodology involves treating pregnancy weight gains as normally distributed with given mean and standard deviation values. By converting specific weight gain values into Z-scores, one assesses the probability of a mother's weight gain being less than, more than, or within a provided range in contrast with norms. This requires using standard normal probability tables or computational software for more precise cumulative probability calculations .

To evaluate body acetone levels using a normal distribution, one must utilize the standard deviation and mean values provided. For instance, using a mean of 870 ppb and a standard deviation of 211 ppb, Z-scores for the specified acetone levels are calculated to find probabilities from standard normal distribution tables. Such standardization helps in finding the probability intervals or extremes, such as values between 600 and 1000 ppb or above 900 ppb .

A Chi-Square goodness-of-fit test or a Binomial test can assess if nursing students' promotion expectations are consistent with population behavior. This involves setting up a hypothesis to test the alignments of observed data (75% expect promotion) versus expected frequencies derived from sample proportions (sample size of 15), checking for significant discrepancies that reject or support expectations mirroring the larger population .

The variable 'age of individuals in a study' can be classified by scale of measurement as 'ratio,' as it has a true zero point where age cannot be negative. It is a 'quantitative' variable since it represents a measurable quantity. Further, it is 'continuous,' as age can take on any value within a range, including fractions of years .

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