Essay Predicted Findings for Sedentary Behaviour – Statistics Assignment Help

Assignment Task :

Question 1  

Researchers at the National Energy Recovery Department (NERD) are interested in whether sedentary behaviour (measured by the average number of hours of sitting per day) is different for male and females.  They do a study of workers in a large white-collar organisation and record the average number of hours of sitting per day over a 1-week period.  This data is then separated by gender (male, female). The data below shows the average daily sitting hours of participants in the study.  The researchers are encouraged by their data and decide to focus in on one particularly sedentary group within the same workforce.  The researchers conduct descriptive analyses on the sample and pass on to you some partial SPSS output. Looking at this output, report the actual values of the appropriate summary statistics to describe the number of hours of daily sitting for males and females (separately) in this sample

Question 2  

Based on the below abstract, answer the following questions:

Abstract

Introduction: Interventions to increase physical activity (PA) and reduce sedentary behaviours within University workplaces have been previously investigated. However, the differences between different job types within the University workplace has not been well documented. This study explored the differences in PA, sedentary behaviours and quality of life (QOL) between different staff members in a University workplace. 

Methods: Participants employed as full-time staff members at James Cook University completed an online survey assessing PA, sedentary behaviours and QOL. Differences between academic (n=71) and technical staff (n=81) were examined. It was predicted that academic staff would have greater levels of sedentary behaviour and lower levels of PA than technical staff, with differences in QOL between the 2 groups also predicted. Alpha was set at 0.05 for all results. 

Results: A higher proportion of technical staff (76%) were found to meet the criteria for unhealthy levels of sedentary behaviour than academic staff (55%). The QOL for the two groups were found to be similar, with academic staff (M=12.1, SD= 2.4) having slightly higher scores than technical staff (M=10.9, SD= 3.8). Finally, the 95% confidence intervals for the difference between the two groups in relation to their PA levels was -0.82-1.8. 

1. State the statistical hypotheses for the predicted findings for sedentary behaviour.  
2. Is there a significant difference in unhealthy sedentary behaviours between academic and technical staff? 
3. Is there a significant difference between the QOL in academic and technical staff?   
4. Calculate and interpret the 99% CI for technical staff QOL.

Question 3

A small podiatry clinic in rural Queensland has 5 appointment slots per day. On average, 2 patients require a podiatry appointment per day. For the purposes of this question, assume that podiatry appointments only occur in this clinic, and that each appointment is independent.

1. What is the probability that 3 patients will require a podiatry appointment on one day?  
2. What is the probability that the clinic does not have enough appointment slots on a given day? 

Question 4

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a progressive degenerative disease of the aorta commonly found in elderly male Caucasians and reported to be fatal (Golledge et al 2009, Emeto et al 2014). AAA is defined based on the diameter of the aorta. Researchers develop a diagnostic test that measures degree of aorta expansion called DOE, with higher scores indicating greater risk of AAA. Assume aortic diameter expansion measurements are normally distributed.  In a specific population, the mean DOE measurement is 2.8 cm, with a variance of 1.9 cm. 

1. What proportion of this population has a DOE measurement between 1.3 and 2.4? 
2. According to the researchers, the DOE measurements can also be used to define people with absolutely no risk of AAA.  The researchers suggest that 10.38% of people in this population have absolutely no risk of AAA. What is the cut-off DOE score for determining if people have absolutely no risk of AAA?  

Another group of researchers were also interested in measuring degree of aorta expansion, and created their own unique test called the AGI, with lower scores indicating a greater risk of AAA.  Keeping with the same logic that aortic diameter expansion measurements are normally distributed, the mean AGI measurement is 2.2 cm, with a variance of 1.7 cm.   These researchers got a group of participants to complete both the DOE and AGI measurements for AAA.  Based on z-scores alone, is a person who had a DOE measurement of 3.2 more at risk of AAA then an individual who had a measurement of 3.6 on the AGI?