As data analysis can be a daunting task, the assignment is broken up into the fo
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As data analysis can be a daunting task, the assignment is broken up into the following sections:
Part 1: Getting Started
Part 2: Background and Analysis Plan
Part 3: Results
Part 4: Final Paper
By dividing the assignment into parts, we can give you feedback along the way to strengthen your final paper. Each step helps to build your final paper. We encourage you to read through and understand the entire project before you begin. We also encourage you to start working on this project early and come to office hours for assistance.
Part 1: Getting Started – Selecting Variables and Developing a Research Question
The first step of this project is to decide on a research question you want to investigate. HOWEVER, it needs to be something that one of the available datasets can support with both the questions asked (variables) and the data available. You will need enough observations in the data because your statistical analysis will be using the tests of association covered in Population Assessment 1 (t-tests, chi-square tests, ANOVAs, correlations, etc.).
For this first assignment, you will develop a research question, explore potential variables, and draft a CONSORT or Flowchart of the sample participants used in your analysis.
To complete this assignment:
Review available datasets
In this class, we have access to nationally representative datasets available for this project, which are already in SPSS format. Please take some time to review the description of these datasets and available variables to see which might be of interest to you.Florida BRFSS 2020You can read more about BRFSS here: https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/index.htmlLinks to an external site.
Review the 2020 Survey data and associated documentation: https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/annual_data/annual_2020.htmlLinks to an external site.
Read through the BRFSS questionnaires to see the questions that were asked. This will spark some thoughts. This site also contains citation recommendations: https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/questionnaires/index.htmLinks to an external site.
Download the dataset: Florida_BRFSS_2020.zip Download Florida_BRFSS_2020.zip
NHANES 2017-March 2020 Pre-pandemicYou can read more about NHANES here: https://wwwn.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/Links to an external site.
Specifics for 2017-March 2020 cycle: https://wwwn.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/continuousnhanes/default.aspx?cycle=2017-2020Links to an external site.
Variable search feature: https://wwwn.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/search/default.aspx Links to an external site.– Make sure you have “Limited Access” as Exclude and “Release Cycle” as 2017-2020
Analytic guidelines and background: https://wwwn.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/analyticguidelines.aspxLinks to an external site.
Suggested citations: https://wwwn.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/NhanesCitation.aspxLinks to an external site.
Download the dataset: NHANES_2017_2020.zip Download NHANES_2017_2020.zip
Additional databases may be approved for students with advanced skills. This requires Dr. Beckstead or Corvin’s approval. Datasets must have individual level data and allow you to complete the assignment as outlined. If you would like to use an outside dataset, you must reach out by week 3 for approval.
NHANES has a useful search engine on their website for helping you find the variables that you are looking for while the BRFSS has a PDF that you must search. Whichever database you use, you want to be extremely familiar with the data collected, the format, and response options. Make sure you select a dataset with data that reflect some of your broader interests.
Determine your topic
Maybe something from your literature review in Population Assessment 1 sparked your interest and you want to look into it further. Maybe you started this program with a specific interest in public health that you want to address. Maybe you have no clue where to start—and that is OK too. It is perfectly acceptable start with something more general and you can think about getting more specific if the data allows you to. Perhaps look for a topic with a lot of published studies either supporting or disagreeing; use your analysis to see if your results either support or disagree with those other studies.
Here are a few popular ones that are acceptable:Health and racial disparities with regards to prevalence of a select disease/illness
Racial disparities in maternal health and reproductive health
Smoking differences between groups
Alcohol use among groups
Adverse childhood experiences among different groups
Develop a Draft Research Question
You will use your research topic/problem to develop your research question. The way you frame your question will help to determine your analysis process. Research questions anchor your project, so you want to carefully refine your question.
Dataset and Variables
Once you have carefully selected your dataset and determined your topic/focus, you need to select appropriate variables. It is important that you review carefully the variables and identify the best ones for what your analysis. For example, usually there are multiple race variables or age variables in the dataset, but a variable for “child’s race” will probably be missing for any participant over 18 and “age of diabetes diagnosis” would be missing for any participant not diagnosed with diabetes.
You will need to identify the variables you want to use for your analysis based on your research question. You must submit the following:
Primary exposure or independent variable(s)
Primary outcome or dependent variable(s)
At least 5 demographic or characteristic variables to help you describe the participants in the sample. Codebooks usually have demographic variables clearly identified and sometimes include calculated or imputed versions that have a value for every participant in the sample.
Draft of a CONSORT or Flowchart of the sample participants used in your analysis
This will help you identify if there are enough participants in your final sample for you to complete your analysis. This flowchart will show a reader how you started with the entire dataset and arrive at your final sample. Who is eligible or not eligible to be in your analysis? If your research question has something to do with maternal reproductive health, then you should probably exclude males from your sample. Other exclusions you need to make include looking at your chosen variables excluding participants with missing values. Responses like “don’t know,” “refused,” and “unknown” are usually treated as missing responses and should also be excluded because you cannot always be certain how the participants would truly answer.
To complete this part of the assignment, please review the background information on CONSORT diagram: https://trialsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1745-6215-12-253 Links to an external site..
Figures 1 and 2 (in the assignment instructions document) are examples made within Word using SmartArt. You can edit them or create your own; there are other options like PowerPoint and some other web-based generators. Remember, you need to make sure your final formatted in the appropriate APA 7th edition specifications for a figure. An example figure is downloadable from the APA Style Blog (https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/tables-figures/sample-figures Links to an external site.).
How you create this flowchart is up to you, but it is best to think about it as a series of steps. There is an additional document in Canvas that describes how you can remove participants or observations using the “Select Cases” procedure in SPSS (See Removing Unwanted Responses from SPSS.docx Download Removing Unwanted Responses from SPSS.docx).
Submit to Canvas
Once you complete steps 1-5, you will submit your assignment in Canvas. While you wait for feedback on your assignment, please begin working on Part 2 of the assignment.
Questions on this quiz:
What is the general area your topic falls under?
This question is intended to help us sort the various student projects. If you feel like your topic overlaps several, then choose the one that you think best aligns. If your topic does not fit into one of the groups, then choose “Other” and just make sure that your Research question in #2 is clear. Options are:Health and racial disparities and prevalence of select disease/illness
Racial disparities in maternal and reproductive health
Smoking differences between groups
Alcohol use among groups
Physical activity differences between groups
Sleep differences between groups
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) among groups
Nutritional/dietary intake differences between groups
Vaccine adherence between groups
Group differences using the NHANES Laboratory or Examination data
Other
What is your proposed research question?
Which dataset will you be using in your analysis?
List your primary variables for your analysis that will answer your research question.
Include the variable names and types (continuous or categorical) to aid you in choosing the appropriate statistical methods.
List at least 5 demographic/characteristic variables that you will use to describe your sample.
Include the variable names and types (continuous or categorical) to aid you in choosing the appropriate statistical methods.
What statistical tests do you plan on using in your analysis?
Anything covered in the fall semester is acceptable (i.e.: Chi-square tests, t-tests, ANOVAs, etc.).
Note that a performing a single statistical test or simply presenting descriptives of individual variables is not sufficient rigor for this assignment, so you may be performing multiple or a combination based on the variable types.
Upload your CONSORT/flowchart that shows the exclusions from the entire sample to your final analytic sample.
