Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

• OpenStax Textbook: Chapter 1
• Lesson 1 Reading
• Minimum of 1 scholarly source

In your reference for this assignment, be sure to include both your text/class materials AND your outside reading(s).

Initial Post Instructions

1. Present two different types of data, or variables, used in the health field. Examples could be blood pressure, temperature, pH, pain rating scales, pulse oximetry, % hematocrit, minute respiration, gender, age, ethnicity, etc.
2. Classify each of your variables as qualitative or quantitative and explain why they fall into the category that you chose.
3. Also, classify each of the variables as to their level of measurement–nominal, ordinal, interval or ratio–and justify your classifications.
4. Which type of sampling could you use to gather your data? (stratified, cluster, systematic, and convenience sampling)

Follow-Up Post Instructions

Respond to at least one peer. Further the dialogue by providing more information and clarification.

Your responses to other students can explain additional analyses that could be done with the variables they selected. Consider confounding variables, discrete or continuous data, the effects of outliers, etc.

Writing Requirements

• Minimum of 2 posts (1 initial & 1 follow-up)
• APA format for in-text citations and list of references

SOLUTION

My choice of variables for this discussion are Blood pressure and gender.

Blood pressure is a quantitative variable, in that, it can take multiple numerical forms because they have measurable attributes in quantity. For instance, an individual can have the blood pressure of 120/80 mmhg. In regard to gender, the variable is considered a qualitative variable because measurement of an individual in terms of gender cannot be done but rather can be categorized into the sexes of either male or female (Arghode, 2012)..

Blood pressure is a ratio measurement because it has units of equal magnitude which can be ranked in order on a scale with absolute zero, and no negative value. Gender falls under the category of nominal measurement (Holmes et al., 2017). This is because for instance a population of a given community has individuals of different genders who can be normally measured by using numbers to simply categorize the attributes of gender as male or female. The number assigned in gender does not have a quantitative meaning but can be used to ascertain that in that community for instance, 10 were males while 20 were females.  To gather data, systematic random sampling can be used to select mothers in pregnancy visiting the antenatal clinic in an outpatient setting for blood pressure monitoring, while stratified sampling method can be used to ensure representativeness of both males and females in regard to gender by allocating either proportional or disproportional number of individuals to the study.

References

Arghode, V. (2012). Qualitative and Quantitative Research: Paradigmatic Differences. Global Education Journal, 2012(4).

Holmes, A., Illowsky, B., & Dean, S. (2017). Introductory to Business Statistics. Openstax. Retrieved from https://openstax.org/details/books/introductory-business-statistics