The population in this context includes all individuals aged 20 years and above and the sample size is 253 participants. Obesity, a disorder involving excess body fat, is among the major medical issues of concern to the society today. An individual is diagnosed with obesity if their BMI is higher than 30. However, BMI does not necessarily imply high amounts of body fat. This medical disorder increases risks of health hazards such as high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes mellitus. Physical activity, dietary changes, medications or even surgery are some ways that could possibly reduce the risks associated with obesity. Due to reduced metabolism in older persons, obesity is more prevalent among older persons ( Ogden, et al., 2015) .Discuss a plan for the use of statistics in data collection and how statistics can be used to provide data to look at the medical issue.
In statistics, data collection is done in two major ways: observational studies and Experiments. While observational studies involve observing and recording the responses of the participants without affecting the subjects, experiments involve direct interaction with the subjects and measurement of the actual responses ( Johnson & Bhattacharyya, 2019). The sample from which the data is collected should be a representative of the population. Several statistical methods of sampling can be used to achieve a random sample and they include simple random sampling, stratified sampling and systematic sampling. The data in this case was collected by experiments, where the researcher selected the participant and then measured their height, weight, body fat and all the other variables; there was a one-to-one interaction with the participants. Discuss how statistics could be used to create a better understanding of the medical issue
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Statistics provides us with a better understanding of the issues at hand by analyzing any existing relationship between variables or by clearly describing the summary in a precise manner. Statistical analysis allows us to make valid conclusions and avoid common myths and pitfalls ( Johnson & Bhattacharyya, 2019) . The issue of obesity has been related to many factors such as age and BMI. Statistics could be used to conduct a linear regression between age and BMI or between age and body fat. This would help identify if there exists any linear relationship between the variables and whether or not we can predict the BMI or body fat of an individual given their age. This would also assist the medical practitioners at identifying which age group to focus on when dealing with the issue. Correlation coefficient could also be used to examine if there is any relationship between BMI and body fat and whether higher BMI indicates high amounts of body fat. Describe whether the data should reflect quantitative or qualitative data or both. Discuss what would be measured related to the medical issue.
Quantitative data is used to identify trends and relationships and mathematical computations can be carried out on this type of data. Qualitative data however, involves data on perception, feeling or facts such as gender, race, and religion ( Peck et al., 2015) . The data in this study is quantitative and several computations can be carried out: weight and age of the participants can be used to calculate the BMI, mean weight, body fat, and height can also be computed and compared for each age group. Analyses such as linear regression and correlation coefficients could also be carried out.
Conclusion
Obesity is increasingly becoming a critical issue in almost every community of the world. The disorder is as a result of excess body fat and is associated with health problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure. The data in this study is quantitative and was collected through experiments. Statistics can be used to provide a better understanding of the obesity problem by identifying the relationship between age and body fat or age and BMI.
References
Johnson, R. A., & Bhattacharyya, G. K. (2019). Statistics: principles and methods . John Wiley & Sons.
Ogden, C. L., Carroll, M. D., Fryar, C. D., & Flegal, K. M. (2015). Prevalence of obesity among adults and youth: United States, 2011–2014.
Peck, R., Olsen, C., & Devore, J. L. (2015). Introduction to statistics and data analysis . Cengage Learning.
