Medical Statistics
Post at least three times to this discussion forum, following the guidelines below. Your posts should include responses to any questions asked, as well as replies to classmates.
Descriptive statistics like mean, median, range, and standard deviation can be used to summarize data. But the value isn’t in knowing how to calculate these numbers, it’s in knowing what they mean—or even which ones to consider. This discussion explores that by asking you to take a strictly hypothetical look at a serious circumstance.
An article you might want to consider in this context is Stephan Jay Gould’s The Median Isn’t the Message.
1. If you were diagnosed with a serious, potentially terminal illness, would you want your doctor to tell you how much time you had left? Why or why not?
2. As the internet now puts much of the world’s best medical research at our fingertips, patients have access to more information than ever before. What statistical information would you seek out to help you assess your situation and plan your treatment? Discuss which measures for average (e.g. mean, median) and variation (e.g. range, standard deviation) would be more useful to you.
3. What are some of the dangers of providing or seeking out these kinds of medical statistics? Describe how matters could be complicated by a patient’s poor understanding of statistics.
