Week 8

Analysis Check-In

➤ This week we will reflect on the analyes that have, and will be, performed.

Before Class

Exploratory Data Analysis

📖 Exploratory Data Analysis (30 minutes)

👥 Meet with your group and be prepared to answer the following questions about your project:

• Write a list of the research questions your investigator had. For each item on the list, which variables are needed to address the question? Group these variables into exposures vs. outcomes of interest.
• Comment on whether your data was in a format that is acceptable for analysis. Check variable names, variable types, and values within variables. Is the data set free of any extraneous information (e.g., notes, color formatting)? How many observations are there?
• Comment on the distributions of the variables you will use, providing measures of variation and central tendency. Comment on outliers.
• Comment on any missingness in your variables. If present, how extensive is any missingness? Are missing values clearly denoted?
• Comment on any missingness in your variables. If present, how extensive is any missingness? Are missing values clearly denoted?
• Provide information on the relationships among all relevant variables in the form of correlation matrices, scatter plots, and contingency tables, where appropriate.
• Draft a table and a figure that you think illustrates an important preliminary descriptive finding.
• What additional statistical tests will you need to perform in order to analyze the data?

Research Design and Statistical Hypotheses

📖 Choosing the Right Statistical Test (10 minutes)

1. Write out the investigator's research questions in the form of testable statistical hypotheses.
2. Which type(s) of tests will you use to test these hypotheses?