Assignment 1: Discussion Assignment

The discussion assignment provides a forum for discussing relevant topics for this week based on the course competencies covered.

To support your work, use your course and text readings and also use the South University Online Library. As in all assignments, cite your sources in your work and provide references for the citations in APA format. Make sure all references are cited in APA format. References should be current at least within the last 5 years. Remember that references should be used to support your peer responses.

Statistics for Contingency Tables

The purpose of this assignment is to learn about categorical data and the statistics used to analyze this type of data.

You can expect to research and provide your own definitions of these concepts. You will also discuss in what situations to use each statistic, how these statistics are used to test for significance of relations among the data, and how to interpret each statistic. The takeaways from this assignment are an understanding of contingency tables as a representation of categorical data, two statistics used to analyze this type of data, and an understanding of how to interpret these statistics in the context of a public health analysis.

Using the South University Online Library, the Internet, and your text readings, research the following statistical topics:

• Contingency tables
• The chi-square
• Fisher's exact test (FET)

On the basis of your research, respond to the following:

• Find and state a definition of a contingency table that you feel is easy to understand.
• In your own words, explain what contingency tables are and what they are used for.
• Explain what type of data is displayed in contingency tables.
• Explain how contingency tables and their related statistics are used to test for significance of relations among the data.
• Two statistics that can be used in contingency tables are chi-square and FET. Distinguish between the two statistics.
• Explain when you would use the chi-square and when you would use the FET.
• Explain how you would interpret each statistic.