My Research Related To How Much College Students Really Know About Keeping Themselves Healthy

Biostatistics in public health can be addressed and used in various ways. Throughout this semester we’ve learned in many ways how biostatistics can be utilized in the medical field. For one, it helps us summarize the data we have collected, it can help us better understand how medicine effects and works inside our body, and lastly it can help us make inferences based off valid tests. Biostatistics can promote important decisions when it comes to medical issues, from our concept practices we have learned how to conclude a decision based on the data given. Biostatistics can be very influentially in our decisions, concluding whether or not we had enough evidence to make a decision. This would allow public health officials to make the right decision based off the evidence given.

In the beginning of the semester I was introduced to excel, I had never used it before and had no idea how it worked. Throughout all our concept practices, I learned something new in excel each and every time. Excel has been very useful in organizing the data needed and been very applicable for the research study. In our concept practice 9, we were able to see the difference in logins and hemoglobin change. Specifically, when we had to make a scatterplot to see the changes through linear regression and correlation. Excel makes the data very easy to read and I think this is important in public health because it allows the researchers to efficiently read and understand the data presented.

From one sample t-tests, concept practice 1, we’ve been able to see how the effects of drinking herbicide exposed water had on maternal health outcomes. This can be applied to public health because this example shows that we can better understand the effects of medicine or other substances and how they react with our body. The data collected shows which types of water had what effects on these pregnant women. This could be useful for other medicines and drugs because we would be able to see how those substances would help or hurt our body. Doctors and other physicians would be able to properly prescribe these medicines to the right patients, giving them what they think will do best for them.

In concept practices 5 and 6, we collected data on the students in our own classes to see if their sleeping habits depended on the level of difficulty of their classes. We were asked, on an average, how many hours of sleep we got per night. After putting that data in an excel sheet, we were able to make an inference on whether students sleep habits depended on the level of difficulty of their class. This can be used in public health because we can take data from the research and infer from the results. Given that the data is valid, it allows researchers to implement the data and conclude decisions.

Biostatistics has allowed us to correctly read a statistical article and what to look for in those studies. I have decided to critique a study on the research of college students eating habits and how much they know about their nutritional requirements. The purpose of this study was to find out how much college students really know about keeping themselves healthy. I like this study because it is very relatable to us now, as we are in college, and we do get the freedom of choosing how we want to eat. The sample size for this study was very small, there were 121 college student participants. In a study like this, I think the sample size should’ve been bigger to get a better idea on how much college students really know about the nutritional value of the food they eat. If the sample size were bigger, I think they would’ve gotten a better idea on how much students really know.

As far as the study design, I thought the researchers did a very good job. Asking a variety of questions about what these college students do to stay healthy. Researchers were able to conclude that these students have a good amount of knowledge about the nutritional requirements to stay healthy. Although they came to find out that students are putting convenience and taste before choosing something healthy.