A Critical Analysis of Statistical Approaches in Journal Articles

A Critical Analysis of Statistical Approaches in Journal
Articles

Abstract
Two journal articles have been reviewed by the scholar, and the results from
statistical analyses have been discussed. The first paper was a journal article by Lam, Liang,
Chikritzhs, & Allsop (2014) on “Alcohol and other drug use at school leavers' celebrations”,
and the second one was the research on “The rising tide of diabetes mellitus in a Chinese
population” by Wong, Leung, Tsang, and Griffiths (2013). The hypotheses of the studies,
sampling methodologies, and descriptive as well as inferential analyses have been discussed in
the present review article. A special attention has been set on the odd ratios (OR) of the
research papers, and an effort has been made to interpret the results based on OR. Finally,
limitations of both the articles have been discoursed.
2

Table of Contents
Abstract......................................................................................................................................2
A. Review of “Alcohol and other drug use at school leavers' celebrations” (Lam, Liang,
Chikritzhs, & Allsop, 2014).......................................................................................................4
1. Hypotheses and Variables...............................................................................................4
2. Sampling Methodology and its Advantages, Disadvantages..........................................5
3. Demographic Characteristics with Descriptive Statistics...............................................5
4. Inferential Statistics of the Study....................................................................................6
5. Explanation of Odds Ratio (OR).....................................................................................6
6. Arguments about Generalization of Results...................................................................7
B. Review of “The rising tide of diabetes mellitus in a Chinese population: A population-
based household survey on 121,895 persons” (Wong, Leung, Tsang, Griffiths, 2013)............7
1. Objectives and Variables.................................................................................................7
2. Demographic Characteristics from the Descriptive Statistics.........................................8
3. Elucidation on Inferential Statistics................................................................................8
4. Adjusted Prevalence Rates of Diabetes...........................................................................9
5. Odds Ratios for Self-Reported Diabetes.........................................................................9
6. Impact of the Limitations..............................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................11
3

A. Review of “Alcohol and other drug use at school leavers'
celebrations” (Lam, Liang, Chikritzhs, & Allsop, 2014)
The primary objective of the studied article was to examine the influence of alcohol
and drug (AOD) consumption, focusing on the final year school students who were
attending the school leaving celebration. The focus was based on two objectives, the first
being the analysing the difference between AOD abuse in any social event and school
leaving celebration. Secondly, relation between harm-minimization policies and actual
consequences of AOD abuse was studied. Two set of hypotheses for the two objectives
were constructed with related variables.
1. Hypotheses and Variables
Objective A: Difference between AOD abuse in any social event and school leaving
celebration.
Null hypothesis: H0: Identical AOD abuse was present in students celebrating any
social event (peer-based) and school leaving celebration.
Alternate hypothesis: HA: Significantly dissimilar AOD abuse was found between
students celebrating any social event (peer-based) and school leaving celebration.
Independent Variable: Celebration type (any social event, school leavers’
celebration).
Dependent Variable: AOD usage
Objective B: Relation between harm-minimization policies and actual consequences
of AOD abuse was studied.
Null hypothesis: H0: There existed no relation between harm-minimization policies
and actual consequences of AOD abuse.
Alternate hypothesis: HA: Significantly relation existed between harm-minimization
policies and actual consequences of AOD abuse.
Independent Variable: Assignation in harm-minimization policies
4