Application 4: Descriptive Statistics

Select which model type you will be using in the template Download template

and delete the other options.

Replace the header text with your actual topic or question. Complete the introductory paragraph for this section, including a description of why this topic is interesting or important. Leave the prompt to describe your specific analysis type. We will fill that in later.

Replace the subheading text with the descriptive name of our dependent (outcome) variable.

Describe your dependent (outcome) variable or variables including describing the data source, the question text or measurement method, level of measurement, and level options. If you are using an index variable or otherwise altering your dependent variable, note that here. Provide appropriate descriptive statistics for central tendency and dispersion (you may want to refer to this document Download this document

to guide you). Explain what these descriptive statistics say about the dependent variable.

 

You may want to start thinking about one or more independent variables at this point, but you are not required to describe them.

 

Note that you may have to redo this section in the future if you change your project. That's ok. We will provide formative feedback along the way to help you be more efficient with each new analysis. Also note that descriptive information for your independent variables will be required later (though not in this assignment). If you are pretty sure about what those variables might be, you might consider starting write-ups on them as well to save time later.

Example writeup:

What factors influence youth mental health?

Mental health factors have been increasingly important in the lives of youth in Provo as rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide continue to increase. In order to make decisions about what actions to take to help our youth to be more resilient, we are interested in which factors appear to influence youth mental health the most. In the analysis that follows, we will examine the factors that influence youth mental health in Provo using [this type of analysis]. The factors considered are 1) home life 2) social life 3) personality traits and 4) healthy habits. We are interested in which of these factors has the greatest potential to improve the mental health of youth in Provo.

Youth mental health
We are interested in predicting the overall level of mental health of Provo City youth. Mental health is measured using the question, "In general, I would consider my own personal mental health to be..." where youth have the opportunity to rate their mental health on a 1-5 scale from "very bad" (1) to "very good" (5).

The results of our survey suggest that on a scale of 1-5, the mean score of Provo teenagers (aged 12-18) is 4.3 (between "good" and "very good."). Based on our sample, we expect the actual population score to range between 4.1 and 4.5 (95 percent confidence interval). The median and mode score on this measure is 4 ("good"). Only 30 percent of youth identified their mental health as "neutral" or worse. The minimum value was 1 and the maximum value was 5.

These results suggest that while most youth in Provo consider their mental health to be better than neutral, most do not appear to consider themselves in excellent mental health, and roughly one-third of youth self-identify some level of mental health concern. Further, Provo youth appear to cover the full range of mental health outcomes, including several observations at the lowest end of the scale. This suggests significant room for improvement in the identification and treatment of mental health issues among youth in Provo.