BHS 220 Module 5 Discussion: Correlation and Causation (Essay Sample)

BHS 220 Module 5 Discussion: Correlation and Causation
Name
Course
Instructor
Date
Variables can be categorical (nominal), ordinal or interval. Categorical intervals may have two categories or more, but there is ordering. Ordinal variable are like categorical variable, but there is ordering unlike the categorical variables. An interval variable is similar to the ordinal variable, and there are equal intervals. The nature of independent variables should be well understood as this helps to identify the best statistical analysis to use (UCLA, n.d.)
In Chi-square tests, the nature of dependent variables is typically categorical data, with one dependent variable, since it is the outcome variable. Since the test focuses on two categorical variables, the test helps to determine where any association exists between the two variables. In order to get more robust results, the test procedure focuses on studies which rely on simple random sampling. Kim et al (2009) conducted a study to identify prenatal smoking trends between Alaska Native and white women, focusing on both smokeless tobacco and cigarette smoking. The researchers relied on the chi-square test to determine prevalence of tobacco use between the two groups, with data collected covering 1996- 2003.
For the one sample t-test, the nature of dependent variables is interval and normal variables, with the outcome variable being one. This test focuses on assessing whether samples come from a population, where there is a specified mean. Even though, the researcher may to be aware about the population mean, there can be a hypothesized mean (Peat & Barton, 2008). Similarly, in the paired t-test, the nature of dependent variables is both interval and normal variables. The paired t- test is conducted when there are two related observations, and there is a need to know whether the two means of the variables are different from one another (Peat & Barton, 2008). The test is typically conducted when there are two continuous variables which are relate...