Mentored activity: Analyze and discuss the implications of public health data
Consider the following scenario: You randomly pick one class of students from a high school. The class consists of 20 students. You ask each student of the class how many hamburgers and bowls of oatmeal they consumed in a given month (30 consecutive days). Their relative level of attentiveness in class is tabulated as a function of the number of hamburgers and bowls of oatmeal consumed. The results are presented below.
Hamburgers consumed in 30 consecutive day period | Class ranking (1 lowest, 20 highest) | Bowls of oatmeal consumed in 30 consecutive day period | Class ranking (1 lowest, 20 highest) |
5 | 9 | 2 | 18 |
10 | 11 | 10 | 11 |
15 | 20 | 15 | 5 |
21 | 19 | 5 | 16 |
12 | 16 | 22 | 6 |
15 | 17 | 29 | 3 |
21 | 15 | 25 | 2 |
2 | 3 | 0 | 20 |
7 | 4 | 6 | 15 |
19 | 13 | 30 | 5 |
4 | 7 | 12 | 10 |
6 | 8 | 20 | 7 |
20 | 18 | 7 | 14 |
5 | 10 | 3 | 17 |
4 | 5 | 12 | 8 |
2 | 6 | 2 | 19 |
17 | 14 | 9 | 12 |
1 | 2 | 14 | 9 |
3 | 1 | 7 | 13 |
16 | 12 | 29 | 4 |
- Which conclusions do you immediately draw from the data?
- What are the implications of your immediate conclusion for public health?
- Is there any other set of data you would like to consider before drawing final conclusions?
- What are the limitations of this study?
Make a short 10-15 minute PowerPoint Presentation to your mentor that explains your results and answers the above questions. (If you do not have access to Microsoft Office, you can use Apache OpenOffice to prepare your presentation). Ensure you plan your presentation around your target audience (public health professionals and educated lay audiences). In addition, prepare a one page summary of your statistical analysis and PowerPoint presentation for your mentor. Ensure you ask your mentor for feedback.