Final Project.

In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:  Perform basic, context-appropriate statistical calculations and hypothesis testing in accurately analyzing biostatistical data  Interpret key biostatistical metrics, methods, and data for addressing population-based health problems  Communicate biostatistical results, procedures, and analysis to other health professionals and the general public for informing their decisions related to population-based health problems Prompt Biostatisticians are constantly called upon to analyze data in order to help researchers and health officials answer critical questions about populations’ health. For this assessment, you will imagine you are a biostatistical consultant on a small study for a local health organization. You have been given the data set provided, along with some background information on how and when the data was collected and the general research question the organization is interested in answering. This is often the way you will receive data in the real world. Your task is to help the organization answer their question by critically analyzing the data. You will run statistical tests, interpret the results, and present the results and recommendations to non-technical decision makers in the form of a statistical report. Keep in mind that it is your job to do this from a statistical standpoint. Be sure to justify your conclusions and recommendations with appropriate statistical support. Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed: I. Introduction A. State the overall health question you have been asked to address in your own words. Be sure you capture the key elements of the question, using language that a non-technical audience can understand. B. Assess the collected data. Use this section to layout the source, parameters, and any limitations of your data. Specifically, you should: 1. Describe the key features of your data set. Be sure to assess how these features affect your analysis. 2. Analyze the limitations of the data set you were provided and how those limitations might affect your findings. Justify your response. C. Process: Propose how you will go about answering the health question you were asked to address based on the data set provided. II. Data Analysis A. Graphs: In this section, you will use graphical displays to examine the data and formulate an initial hypothesis. In particular, you should: 1. Create key graphical displays that give a sense of potential relationships between variables. Include the graphs and discuss why you selected these graphical displays as opposed to others. B. Conduct appropriate hypothesis tests, simple regressions, and other tests to analyze the data set. C. Explain why these tests are the best choice in this context and how they compare with established best practices. D. Analysis of Biostatistics: Use this section to describe your findings from a statistical standpoint. Be sure to: 1. Present key biostatistics from the graphs, tests, and regressions performed, and explain what they mean. Be sure to include a spreadsheet showing your work as an appendix. 2. What statistical inferences or conclusions can you draw based on the hypothesis tests and simple regression analyses performed? Justify your response. III. Conclusions and Recommendations A. How do the findings help answer your overall health question? Remember to use brief, non-technical language to ensure audience understanding. B. Recommend areas for further research based on your findings. Remember to use brief, non-technical language to ensure audience understanding.