March 16, 2014
1. What demographic variables were measured at least at the interval level of measurements? Age, income, length of labor, return to work, and number of hours working per week
2. What statistics were used to describe the length of labor in the study? Were these appropriate? Mean and standard deviation were used to describe the length of labor. Yes, these were appropriate because a mean (M) can only be used to calculate on interval (and ratio) level data. Hence the length of labor in interval data.
3. What other statistics could have been used to describe the length of labor? Provide a rationale for your answer. Sample Variance could have been used as well because the sample variance is the sample standard deviation squared (S^2).
4. Were the distribution of scores similar for the experimental and control groups for the length of labor? Provide a rationale for your answer. The SD scores were not that significantly different for both groups in that for the experimental group the SD is 7.78 and for the control group was 7.2; a difference of .58. Hence, there is a difference in the Mean of both groups; the mean for the experimental group was 14.63 and for the control group is 12.79; a noticeable difference of 1. 84. However, according to the narrative from the study, the groups were not significantly different for any of the demographic variables.
5. Were the experimental and control groups similar in their type of feeding? Provide a rationale for your answer. Yes, they were similar with the percent of participants who breast feed (40.6 in the experimental group and 41.7 in the control group); a difference of 9/10 percent (.9%). And, the percent of both breast and bottle was .7 (7/10%). Hence, according to the narrative from the study, the groups were not significantly different for any of the demographic variables.
6. What was the marital mode for the subjects in the experimental and control groups?