MATH 225 Week 3 Discussion – Central Tendency and Variation

Name

Chamberlain University

MATH-225 Statistical Reasoning for the Health Sciences

Prof. Name

Date

Discussion: Central Tendency and Variation

Holmes, Illowsky, and Dean (2019) define central tendency as the measure of an average, represented by the mean, median, and mode, which summarize the center of a data set. Variation, on the other hand, refers to the extent to which the data is spread out and includes metrics like range, variance, and quartiles.

For this discussion, I collected pulse rates from 10 registered female nurse case manager senior analysts, who make home visits weekly. The pulse rates were as follows: 68, 98, 66, 82, 94, 70, 78, 82, 86, and 92. The mean pulse rate was 81.6, and the median was 82, as determined by arranging the data in ascending order. The mode, which appears most frequently, was also 82. The sample variance was 125.155, and the standard deviation was 11.187. No outliers were observed, with values ranging from 66 to 98.

Wong et al. (2012) highlight that ensuring consistency in data collection, such as measuring pulse rates at the same location, can prevent skewed results. In my case, factors like activity levels or stress might have affected the pulse rates, and a more standardized measurement process could improve the accuracy of the data. Establishing clear criteria for data collection would help ensure comparability, as the saying goes, “compare apples to apples.”

Table: Summary of Statistical Concepts

Concept	Definition	Example
Quantitative Data	Data that can be measured numerically	Blood pressure and weight measurements for diabetes and hypertension patients
Continuous Variables	Variables that can take on any value within a range	Blood pressure readings and weights in a medical study
Stratified Sampling	Dividing a population into subgroups and selecting proportionate samples	Patients receiving surgical versus conventional treatment in a study of diabetes and hypertension
Relative Frequency Table	Table showing the percentage of total occurrences for each category	Injury data from a clinic represented as a horizontal bar chart
Central Tendency	Average of data measured by mean, median, and mode	The mean pulse rate of nurse case managers is 81.6, with a median of 82 and mode of 82
Variation	Measures how spread out the data is (range, variance, standard deviation)	The pulse rate standard deviation was 11.187, indicating how pulse rates varied among the 10 nurse case managers

Concept

Definition

Example

Quantitative Data

Data that can be measured numerically

Blood pressure and weight measurements for diabetes and hypertension patients

Continuous Variables

Variables that can take on any value within a range

Blood pressure readings and weights in a medical study

Stratified Sampling

Dividing a population into subgroups and selecting proportionate samples

Patients receiving surgical versus conventional treatment in a study of diabetes and hypertension

Relative Frequency Table

Table showing the percentage of total occurrences for each category

Injury data from a clinic represented as a horizontal bar chart

Central Tendency

Average of data measured by mean, median, and mode

The mean pulse rate of nurse case managers is 81.6, with a median of 82 and mode of 82

Variation

Measures how spread out the data is (range, variance, standard deviation)

The pulse rate standard deviation was 11.187, indicating how pulse rates varied among the 10 nurse case managers

References

Wong, J., Lu, W., Wu, K., Liu, M., Chen, G., & Kuo, C. (2012). A comparative study of pulse rate variability and heart rate variability in healthy subjects. Journal of Clinical Monitoring and Computing, 26(2), 107-114. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10877-012-9340-6

MATH 225 Week 3 Discussion – Central Tendency and Variation