Enabling Objectives: By the end of this week, you will be able to:

• Find a study with statistical concepts that are incomprehensible to you now.

• At the end of the semester, you will re-examine the article and be amazed by how much you know.

Locate:

Go to your nearest public or professional library and find a research study that relates to your present job or career objective. Cumulative indexes, professional journals, computerized databases, and graduate dissertations are good places to begin your search. Check with your reference librarian for assistance in locating studies that are relevant to your particular professional specialty or field of interest.

The research study you select should meet the following criteria:

• It should relate to a problem or question that is relevant to you and your present job or career objective.
• It should be based on a survey or experimental approach using more than 10 subjects, rather than a historical or philosophical approach. The authors should be reporting on their own research study.
• It must be the entire article, not just an abstract not an advertisement, not an announcement of a research article, not a qualitative study, not a "pilot study," not a news article about a study, and not a literature review. Research studies will usually have sections such as: Subjects (or Participants, or Patients), Method (or Procedures or Design), Results, and/or Discussion (or Conclusion).
• The findings should be reported through statistical procedures. Note: If the study calls itself a "qualitative study" it probably is not quantitative and would probably not be a good article for this course. A statistical analysis uses terms like: significant, p-value, t-test, z-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), correlation (r), regression, Standard Error, Standard Deviation, confidence intervals (CI), multivariate, chi square, odds ratio (OR), relative risk (RR), and/or test sensitivity.

Do not be concerned at this point if the statistical methodology is unfamiliar to you. In fact, an additional criterion for selection should be the inclusion of statistics that may seem obscure to you at this time.

When you have selected a research study that meets this criteria, make two copies (one for you and another for the instructor) Take a few minutes to skim through it. Note directly on the study any statistical methods and analyses that you do not completely understand. If they are clearly identified, list the names of these statistical procedures in the space below. Mail one copy of the article and the form below to:

Dr. Frank Rust
1016 Cliff Dr. #212
Santa Barbara, CA 93109-1707.

When you have completed this course, you will have another chance to review this study and see how many of the statistical references you noted are no longer unfamiliar. The true test of your knowledge of statistics will be your ability to gain insight from the data presented in such studies or the media at large. Please make sure you keep a copy of the article and the Learning Activity page - you will need them at the end of the semester. Remember to put your copy in a safe place - a place you will find at the end of the semester.

Name:_______________

Date:_______________

1. Title of study:




2. Purpose of study:







3. Statistical methods and analysis used in study:











4. How would you rate your understanding of the statistical methods used in this study and the results of the research? (Choose one)
        Minimal            Moderate            Adequate



5. What other questions did this study raise for you?

Now, I know that you have all met the math prerequisites necessary to take this class. But some of you are returning students and took the qualifying courses some time ago. So, next you should read pages 372 to 379 of your textbook to review some basic math skills. You won’t be learning these skills for the first time, these are skills you already have. We’ll just pull them out of hiding and brush the dust off of them so they will be available to you when we are learning the new topics. This is brief enough that those of you that just finished your third semester of calculus won’t have a chance to totally fall asleep, but long enough to help those of you whose last mathematics professor wrote the lessons on the cave wall. Following this review, come back to the web to learn how to use your calculator.