Question

Healthy Lifestyles

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, is the government agency responsible for disease-related issues in the United States. The CDC coordinates efforts to counteract outbreaks of diseases and funds a variety of medical and health research studies. The CDC also serves as a central clearinghouse for health-related data.

The CDC conducts the annual Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey. The survey measures a whole series of lifestyle characteristics that relate to health and longevity, such as smoking and use of seat belts. The survey compiles data on a stateby-state basis. Not all states are surveyed.

The data set from the 1990 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey is on the accompanying CD in the file named HEALTHY. All numbers are percentages, and asterisks indicate the missing data for that state.

Your task is to prepare a summary of these data. Your report is to be issued to major news organizations, such as the Associated Press, and will appear in major newspapers around the United States. For this reason, it would be inappropriate to use technical jargon in your report.

Your boss has suggested a few general ideas about what is likely to appeal to your target audience. As you study the data, you might find other things worth including.

Questions

1. Report any interesting (i.e., unexpected, humorous, or odd) differences between states.

2. Devise a weighted index of all seven lifestyle variables. The weighted index is to serve as an overall or composite measure of healthy lifestyles. Apply your weight to the states of Minnesota, Florida, and California as an example of what your weighted index shows.

3. Discuss any noteworthy limitations of the survey or data set.

Answer 1

Although many researchers conclude that the self-reported seat belt use is extremely higher than the observed value of seat belt use, which is also difficult to quantify in actuality because of the differing approaches for data collection; and the inherent bias for these approaches. An early seat belt study by Waller and Barry (1969) compared observed seat belt use and selfreported seat belt use and ascertained seat belt use frequency by asking respondents, Do you use the seat belts in local travel? and Do you use the seat belt on long trips? Respondents had three options for responding to their frequency of seat belt use: (a) always (b) sometimes, and (c) don't use. It was found that of those who answered always for town travel, only 77% were observed wearing seat belts at the time of the study. Among respondents who reported always wearing seatbelts when driving on the highway, only 46% were observed wearing seatbelts on the highway. Similar kind of reporting is done for smoking as well.

2.

Stop Smoking

Eat Better

Get Active

Lose Weight

Manage Blood Pressure

Control Cholesterol

Reduce Blood Sugar

Based on the data you have and haven't provided, an assessment of the weights considers estimated bias, variances, and the mean squared error (MSE) for key health risk indicators. While a direct measure of bias is available for key demographic variables, an indirect or estimated bias is necessary for other variables including health outcomes.

(c)

Based on the results we may see certain connections between different factors which can be explained.