MATH 225N WEEK 6 DISCUSSION, CONFIDENCE INTERVAL

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

 Textbook: Chapter 8

 Lesson

 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).

Confidence Intervals

In everyday terms, a confidence interval is the range of values around a sample statistic

(such as mean or proportion) within which clinicians can expect to get the same results

if they repeat the study protocol or intervention, including measuring the same

outcomes the same ways. As you ask yourself, "Will I get the same results if I use this

research?", you must address the precision of study findings, which is determined by

the Confidence Interval. If the CI around the sample statistic is narrow, you can be

confident you will get close to the same results if you implement the same research in

your practice.

Consider the following example. Suppose that you did a systematic review of studies on

the effect of tai chi exercise on sleep quality, and you found that tai chi affected sleep

quality in older people. If, according to your study, you found the lower boundary of the

CI to be .49, the study statistic to be 0.87, and the upper boundary to be 1.25, this

would mean that each end limit is 0.38 from the sample statistic, which is a relatively

narrow CI.

(UB + LB)/2 = Statistic [(1.25 + .49)/2 = .87]

Keep in mind that a mean difference of 0 indicates there is no difference; this CI does

not contain 0. Therefore, the sample statistic is statistically significant and unlikely to

occur by chance.

Because this was a systematic review, and tai chi exercise has been established from

the studies you assessed as helping people sleep, based on the sample statistics and

the CI, clinicians could now use your study and confidently include tai chi exercises

among possible recommendations for patients who have difficulty sleeping.

Now you can apply your knowledge of CIs to create your own studies and make wise

decisions about whether to base your patient care on a particular research finding.

Initial Post Instructions

Thinking of the many variables tracked by hospitals and doctors' offices, confidence

intervals could be created for population parameters (such as means or proportions)

that were calculated from many of them. Choose a topic of study that is tracked (or that

you would like to see tracked) from your place of work. Discuss the variable and

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