Identifying and Interpreting Statistics in Research Articles Name: Institution: University of Maryland

Running header: Statistics 1
Identifying and Interpreting Statistics in Research Articles
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Institution:

Statistics 2
Paper 1
Question 1: State the two hypothesis and the explain the variables
Notably, the hypothesis of a study is derived from the aim and objectives of the research,
thus primal objective of the study is to the difference in the level of alcohol and other drugs
usage among the adolescents that attend the teenage celebratory events and the end of school
celebration (Lam, Liang, Chikritzhs, & Allsop, 2013). On the other hand, the study seeks to
exhibit the relationship between harmful experiences among the adolescents during the events
due to the use of alcohol and other drugs, and the adoption of harm-minimization strategies. As a
result, two hypotheses are generated from the objectives, which include
1. Null Hypothesis: The use of alcohol and other drugs among adolescent in the teenage
celebratory events does not differ from the end of school celebration.
Alternative Hypothesis: The consumption of alcohol and other drugs among
adolescent at teenage celebratory events differs from the end of school celebration.
The response variable associated with the above hypothesis is the quantity or amount of
alcohol or drug consumed whereas the explanatory variable is the events, which include end of
school celebration and teenage celebratory events.
2. Null hypothesis: There is no association between the harmful experiences due to the
consumption of alcohol and other drugs, and the intervention of harm-reduction
methods.
Alternative hypothesis: Presence of association between the harmful experiences due
to the consumption of alcohol and other drugs, and the intervention of harm-
minimization strategies.

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Explanatory variables linked to the above hypothesis include the protective behavior
strategy, mean use of alcohol and other drugs, and accommodation whereas response variables
include regrettable sexual encounters, vandalism, hangover, accidents or injury, and emotional
outburst among others.
Question 2: Sampling method used, its advantages and disadvantages
The study used the convenience sampling strategy, whereby the sample is drawn from the
population on the basis of opportunity. Notably, this is a non-probabilistic technique that
depends on subjects conveniently available for the research (Özdemir, Louis, & Topbaş, 2011).
There are various advantages associated with this method, which include high flexibility, less
costly, and applicable in a limited time schedule (Clark, et al., 2014). Moreover, the method aids
in providing efficient qualitative information. On the other hand, there are numerous
disadvantages linked to this technique, which include biasness, generalization of the entire
population, and inability to access precision and reliability of the data (Kivunja, 2015). Besides,
the subjectivity of the methods inhibits the measurement of changes with time (Hedt & Pagano,
2011).
Question3: Demographic Characteristics of the Sample
Demographics are attributes of a given sample, which include ethnicity, gender, age,
race, geographical area, educational attainment, and income level, among others (NM-IBIS,
2018). Therefore, the demographics exhibited in the study include age whereby 91% of the
respondents were aged 17 whereas 9% were aged 18 years; moreover, gender was incorporated
in the research, whereby 56% were female and 46% were males (Lam, Liang, Chikritzhs, &
Allsop, 2013). Besides, it is evident that the daily mean of Australian SDs linked to males and
females was 18.44 and 13.24 respectively. Notably, the study factored both education attainment

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and geographical area whereby the participants planned or attended the 2009 school leavers’
celebrations on Rottnest Island.
Question 4: Inferential Statistics
Inferential statistics is a component of statistics that uses the characteristics of the sample
to draw or make conclusions about the population, particularly when the population is
inaccessible or too big (Stephanie, 2014). There are two particulars of inferential statistics, which
include hypothesis testing and parameter estimation. As evident, the study used the Wilcoxon
signed rank test to compare use of alcohol and other drugs between end of teenage celebratory
events and the end of school celebration (paired sample). Notably, Wilcoxon signed rank test is a
non-parametric test that uses the average of two response variables to explore any significant
difference (McDonald, 2014). Moreover, the test is an alternative technique for other tests, which
include t-test for dependent sample, paired students’ t-test or a matched paired t-test in cases
whereby the population is asymmetric (McDonald, 2014). Furthermore, the test is applicable
when the data is transformed to assume a normal distribution.
Consequently, the study incorporated a logistic regression model that exhibited the
effects of the six factors on the likelihood linked to the seventeen harmful experiences. The
above regression model is applicable in cases whereby the response variable is categorical;
moreover, the technique is effective when the research incorporates more than two explanatory
variables (Swaminathan, 2018).
Question 5: Odds Ratio
Odds ratio is a measure exhibiting the level of association between an outcome or event
and exposure. The measure represents the odds that an outcome will occur at a given condition
compared to the odds of the event in the absence of the condition (Szumilas, 2010). Notably,