In: Statistics and Probability
Confounding is present in each of the following situations. Explain the nature of the confounding and why the conclusions are drawn may not be valid.
a) A study of proofreading compares the percent of missed errors when there is a high rate of errors (1 error in every 5 lines of text) and a low rate (1 error in every 20 lines of text). A document is prepared in which the first part has a high error rate and the second part a low error rate. Twenty people who proofread the document have any average missed error rate which is similar to both parts of the document. It is concluded that there is not a relationship between the error rate in a document and the proofreading accuracy.
b) In a geriatric study sample of people over 65 from a general community and from a retirement community are followed. At the end of two years, it is found that a larger proportion of the people continue to reside in the retirement community than in the general community. It is concluded that the retirement community living allows the elderly to maintain their independence longer than does the general community living.
(a) A study of proofreading compares the percent of missed errors when there is a high rate of errors (1 error in every 5 lines of text) and a low rate (1 error in every 20 lines of text). A document is prepared in which the first part has a high error rate and the second part a low error rate. Twenty people who proofread the document have any average missed error rate which is similar to both parts of the document. It is concluded that there is not a relationship between the error rate in a document and the proofreading accuracy.
Answer:
The conclusion that has been made is not correct the error rate and the proofreading accuracy are two independent things since error rate is dude to the individuals who were involved in the making of the document and proof reading accuracy is totally independent of those people and is dependent on the one who are an independent authority, therefore,here confounding factor doesn't exist.
(b) In a geriatric study sample of people over 65 from a general community and from a retirement community are followed. At the end of two years, it is found that a larger proportion of the people continue to reside in the retirement community than in the general community. It is concluded that the retirement community living allows the elderly to maintain their independence longer than does the general community living.
Answer:
The conclusion is right since, older people in the retirement group being independent for longer since they are provided with the pensions and are availing various other things with come under retirement plan and this could be the reason or could work as a confounding factor for more proportion of elder individuals being in the retirement population.