Math 203 – Statistics Report(40 points – due November 14, 1997)For this report, you are to form yourselves into groups of size up to four. Theexact size and composition of the group is up to you.Goal: To find, read, understand, and critique a statistical study on a medical topic.Topics: More than one group may share the same topic but no sharing whatsoeveris allowed between groups. The following topics are suggested; other topics maybe chosen with approval of the instructor. If in the process of searching for infor-mation about one of these topics, you find information about a closely related (butdifferent) topic (which interests you), you may use it. In any event, the precisestatement of your topic will depend on the article you find.Does being overweight increase one’s risk of cardiovascular disease?Does reducing ones caloric consumption prolong one’s life? (Some studieshave been done on animals other than humans.)Is marijuana smoking addictive?Is tobacco smoking addictive?Does use of chewing tobacco cause oral cancer?Does having an abortion increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer?Does regular exercise decrease one’s risk of cardiovascular disease?Does consumption of dietary fiber reduce one’s risk of cardiovascular dis-ease?Does taking vitamin A pills reduce one’s risk of getting cancer?Does daily consumption of aspirin decrease one’s blood pressure?Does daily consumption of aspirin decrease one’s risk of colon cancer?Does daily consumption of a modest amount of alcohol decrease one’sblood pressure?Is dietary aluminum intake associated with Alzheimer’s disease?Does daily consumption of vitamin C pills reduce one’s incidence (or sever-ity) of the common cold or influenza?Does home fluoride application improve one’s dental health?Does excessive fluoride intake damage one’s bones?Does low frequency electromagneticradiation (e.g. from proximityto powerlines) have any negative health effects?Does consumption of alcohol by pregnant mothers reduce the birthweightof their children?Does the smoking of tobacco by pregnant mothers reduce the birthweightof their children?Does passive smoking have negative health effects?Does increasing one’s calcium intake reduce one’s risk of osteoporosis?Does exposure to asbestos increase one’s risk of getting lung cancer?What type of article should the group look for? You must find an article whichreports on a statistical study. The article must be a primary source! Surveys(which comment on other people’s work) are not acceptable as your main article,but you could refer to them as secondary resources. Indeed this might make yourjob much easier. Do not use metastatistical studies (which merge data from severalsources). Almost invariably such studies are bad science.How should the group find an article? I recommend the following approach.Start by querying a web search engine. If you do not know how to use theWorld Wide Web, now is a good time to learn. You can go to Love Libraryand use the computers there; the reference librarians will be happy to helpyou. I will too if you come to my office.–If you do your work early in the morning, the computer will respondfaster.– Start with the National Library of Medicine’s search engine, whoseURL (formal computer address) ishttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/.(The trailing period is not part of the URL.) You can also try a generalsearch engine, such ashttp://www.altavista.com/.– Give the search engine a list of keywords which you think will get youto an article. The librarian can give you some guidance here.– Look at some of the documents found by the search engine. Some skillis involved in choosing those that are likely to yield the informationyou are looking for.– Based on what you have found, revise your list of keywords (if needbe) and try again.Make sure that your reference(s) are complete before proceeding.Go to the library computer(using the URL “http://iris.unl.edu/)”and find the journal or journals which you need. Find out which libraryhouses them.Go get the journal or:– If the journal is housed in C. Y. Thompson Library, you may wish tosubmit a request for the library to fetch the article and deliver it.– Use Interlibrary Loan if need be.One advantage of going to get the article yourself is that the volume it isin may contain other relevant articles, e.g. commentaries on the article youhave selected.Make sure you have a copy of your main article. This will need to be turnedinwith your report.Make sure that you really have a primary source. Otherwise, you could end upwasting a huge amount of time.Carefully read the article. You are obligated to understand the article in its en-tirety, with the exception of technical statistical remarks which are beyond thescope of Math 203. Look up words you do not know, but your understandingshould be deeper than simply being able to repeat the meanings of the words.Analyze the article. Ask lots of questions. Look carefully at the data itself. Somethings to consider are:What was the population and what was the sample? How was the samplechosen and how big was it?It is very, very important to understand as much as possible about how thedata was gathered. Have the authors told you enough about this?Look at the data yourself. Can you discern a pattern?How might bias have occurred in the sampling? The more bias you canidentify, the better. Were there confounding variables? Do not confuse biaswith sample size or sampling variability.In the case of an experiment, was there a control group? Were the subjectsrandomly assigned? Was the study double-blind?Discuss confidence intervals. Make your own independent calculation ofthem.What are the conclusions of the study? Do they seem justified? How mightthe study have been improved? Can you suggest a completely differentapproach to the same problem?Prepare your report. Your critique should take the form of a well written, coher-ent, grammatically correct essay. Above all, your job is to pose intelligent ques-tionsabout the methodology of the paper. Your paper should flow smoothly,andin particular should not repeat questions given above. The essay should besingle-spaced,typewritten, and roughly three pages in length. Exceptionally goodreports (which might be longer) may be rewarded with more than points. In-clude careful citations for those articles you have read. Be sure to include yourarticle(s) with your report when you turn it in.Meet with your instructor for an oral