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HELIX Study Data Analysis Report

This 7-10 page final project for STAT331 requires analyzing data from a mother-child cohort study to address a specific research goal. Students will form groups of 3-4 to conduct exploratory data analysis, build a statistical model, report results, and discuss limitations. The project grade will consider inclusion of required components, clear writing and justification of analysis decisions, appropriate presentation of important results, and acknowledgement of limitations.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
15 views3 pages

HELIX Study Data Analysis Report

This 7-10 page final project for STAT331 requires analyzing data from a mother-child cohort study to address a specific research goal. Students will form groups of 3-4 to conduct exploratory data analysis, build a statistical model, report results, and discuss limitations. The project grade will consider inclusion of required components, clear writing and justification of analysis decisions, appropriate presentation of important results, and acknowledgement of limitations.

Uploaded by

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

STAT331: Final Project

Due: Dec 6, 2022 at 4pm on Crowdmark

General Instructions
• Due: December 6 at 4pm.

• Each group consists of 3–4 students

• Each project consists of a typed report between 7-10 pages (12 point font with standard
1-inch margins and single-spaced) including figures and tables, but excluding a mandatory
Appendix containing (but not limited to) all R code.

• Reports may be written in R Markdown, LaTeX, Word, or any other reasonable format as
long as all R code is included in the appendix

• Reports must be submitted online via Crowdmark

• There will be a peer evaluation component (detailed form will be distributed at a later date)
where you will evaluate your group members’ contributions

• Late Penalty: 10% per day. Projects turned in after Dec 8 will not be graded.

• Your project grade will be worth 35% of your final grade

Project Details
Data
You will analyze data from a (slightly modified) subcohort of 1301 mother-child pairs from the
HELIX study. Details on the HELIX study can be found here and here. This subcohort includes
1301 mothers who were enrolled into the study during pregnancy. Each observation represents a
mother-child pair: several health outcomes were measured on the child at birth or at age 6-11
years; environmental exposures of interest were measured on the mother either during pregnancy
or post-natally; a handful of other covariates were measured either at the mother or child level.
The data can be downloaded here. (Click the Download button and then save the file
exposome [Link]). After downloading the data, you can load the data in R using
load("exposome [Link]"). In addition to a data dictionary called codebook that provides
brief explanations of all variables included in the data (as well as the exposure families/groupings
that may be useful in organizing your analysis), this will load 3 datasets: phenotypeNA which
includes several health outcomes measured on the children at birth or at age 6-11; exposomeNA
contains many different possible environmental exposures of interest (i.e., the main covariates of in-
terest), which are broadly grouped into several categories of exposures and measured at the mother
level either during pregnancy or postnatally; covariatesNA contains a handful of other covariates,
measured either at the mother or child level. Note that ID represents the unique mother-child pair
identifier to be used to link the different datasets—and note that the IDs are out of order in the
exposomeNA dataset so you’ll need to re-order them to match ID 1 with ID 1, ID 2 with ID 2 etc.
across the datasets.

1
Goals
The goal of this project is to analyze the HELIX study data and write a report on your analysis.
The specific goals of your analysis are for to you to decide. Examples could include: building the
best possible predictive model for birthweight; investigating interactions among chemical exposures;
identifying the most important predictors of high body mass index (BMI); evaluating how much
chemical exposures improve predictions of IQ at age 6-11; many others! You can be creative here—
the more specific and interesting the goal, the better. You can use these data in any way you like
but your outcome(s) of interest must be among child-health outcomes reported in the phenotypeNA
dataset.

Report
Your 7–10 page report must contain the following components:

1. Summary:

• A maximum of 200 words describing the objective of the report, an overview of the
statistical analysis, and summary of the main results.

2. Objective:

• Describe your goals for the analysis.

3. Exploratory Data Analysis:

• Conduct exploratory data analyses: report summary statistics, visualize data (his-
tograms, scatter plots, etc.). Report on any interesting findings and comment on how
these inform the rest of your analysis.

4. Methods:

• Describe your statistical analysis: What is your model? Did you use any transformations
or extensions of the basic multiple linear regression model? How did you select a model?
Does the model fit the data well? Are the necessary assumptions met? Be sure to explain
and justify your decisions.

5. Results:

• Report on the findings of your analysis

6. Discussion:

• Comment on your findings/conclusions; describe any limitations of your analysis.

Grading
• Project grades will consider the following:

– All required components are included.


– Ideas are well organized (please use the sections as described above, but you can further
divide material into subsections as appropriate)
– Ideas are clearly expressed, and written in complete sentences with clear and descriptive
interpretation of results
– Subjective analysis decisions are reasonable and well-justified.

2
– Statistical challenges are well described and addressed appropriately
– The most important/relevant results and findings are shown and discussed in the report
(optionally, any supporting analyses or results you wish to show can be included in the
Appendix, but anything crucial should be included in the main report).
– Results are presented and interpreted correctly
– Analysis limitations are acknowledged
– Conclusions are insightful and well-justified
– Choice of tables and figures is effective
– Tables and figures are well presented: captions and labels are informative; axes/scales
are appropriate; no needless digits (3 or 4 significant digits is usually ok); no wasted
space
– R Code is clear, well-commented and reproducible

Common questions

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Environmental exposures measured on mothers during pregnancy or postnatally are central to the STAT331 project as they represent primary covariates of interest, potentially affecting child health outcomes. Analyzing these exposures can help in building predictive models and understanding their interactions with other variables. This focus informs the objectives of the analysis, such as investigating the influence of chemicals on birthweight or BMI, or improving predictions of health metrics like IQ .

The HELIX study data can be creatively used by identifying novel relationships or patterns in the dataset that have not been extensively explored. For instance, one could investigate how combined environmental exposures affect specific child health outcomes or develop indices that capture exposure levels across various dimensions. Hypothesis-driven approaches could involve examining interactions between genetic markers and exposures, or time-series analyses of exposure impacts at different child development stages .

The penalty for late submissions of the STAT331 final project is 10% per day. Projects submitted after December 8 will not be graded, which implies that if a project is turned in past this date, it will automatically receive a score of zero, thereby potentially affecting the overall grade significantly as the project accounts for 35% of the final grade .

The appendix in the final report for the STAT331 project plays a crucial role in documenting supplementary material that supports the main report findings, such as R code. It provides a complete and transparent view of the analysis process, allowing others to review and reproduce the results, thereby enhancing the credibility and verifiability of the work. Including an appendix also helps keep the main body of the report concise, focusing on essential findings and arguments .

Including a discussion section in the final report is important because it synthesizes the results, offering insights into the implications of the findings. This section should encompass a commentary on the conclusions drawn from the analysis, acknowledge limitations, suggest potential improvements, and propose avenues for future research. A well-rounded discussion provides depth to the analysis by interpreting the findings in the context of existing literature and practical implications .

Peer evaluation is integrated as a component of the grading system to assess the contributions of group members in the STAT331 project. This component serves to ensure accountability and equitable participation among group members. It allows students to reflect and provide feedback on the collaboration process, which can help in distributing credit fairly based on individual contributions to the project .

Exploratory data analysis (EDA) is critical for identifying patterns, spotting anomalies, and checking assumptions through summary statistics and visualizations. This stage can reveal interesting insights about data distributions and relationships between variables, which can inform the choice of statistical modeling techniques and the identification of potential covariates for more detailed analyses. EDA helps in refining the research question, tailoring the statistical analysis to better fit the data, and ensuring the assumptions required for subsequent modeling are not violated .

The R code submitted in the STAT331 project must be clear, well-commented, and reproducible. It should be formatted to ensure that each step of the analysis is transparent and easy to follow, which includes appropriate annotations explaining the purpose and function of code segments. This helps in validating the analytical methods and ensures others can replicate the study results, supporting the overall integrity of the research process .

When selecting a statistical model for the STAT331 project, considerations include the goodness of fit, interpretability, underlying assumptions, complexity, and computational feasibility. The model should fit the data well, as evidenced by diagnostic measures and plotting residuals. Transformations or extensions of the basic linear regression model may be necessary to address non-linearity or heteroscedasticity. The choice of model significantly affects the validity and reliability of the results and conclusions since an incorrect model can lead to biased estimates and incorrect inferences .

The effectiveness of tables and figures in the STAT331 project report is determined by their ability to convey information clearly and concisely. Criteria include the use of informative captions, appropriate scales and labels, and the avoidance of unnecessary detail (such as overly precise numerical data). Efficient use of space and the inclusion of only relevant visualizations that directly support the analysis findings are also important. Well-designed visuals enhance understanding and support the narrative of the report .

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