Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences

Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman

2017

Managing Research Process and Statistical Analysis

Assignment

Name: Khoo Er Hau

Student ID: 16UMB05703

MBBS Year 2
 1. Make a table of descriptive statistics.
Table 1: Characteristics of work and healthcare-related variable of workers
Characteristics N n (%) Range Mean (SD) Min. Max. Var. Skewness Kurtosis
Age (years) 284 - 37 38.32 (7.69) 21 58 59.086 0.226 -0.702
BMI 284 14.4 26.35 (2.56) 20.28 34.68 6.575 0.354 -0.224
Overweight & Obese 192 (67.6)
Normal 92 (32.4)
Lack of exercise 284 - 0.39 - - 0.155 1.588 0.524
Yes 230 (81)
No 54 (19)

Low back pain 284 - 0.49 - - 0.244 -0.345 -1.895

Yes 118 (41.5)
No 166 (58.5)

Shift of work 284 - 0.43 - - 0.186 -1.183 -0.605

Night 70 (24.6)
Day 214 (75.4)

Heavy physical work 284 - 0.46 - - 0.219 -0.774 -1.411

Yes 91 (32)
No 193 (68)

Lifting & forceful 284 - 0.36 - - 0.131 -1.917 1.689

movement
Yes 44 (15.5)
No 240 (84.5)

Awkward posture 284 - 0.45 - - 0.198 -1.035 -0.935

Yes 77 (27.1)
No 207 (72.9)

Whole body vibration 284 - 0.35 - - 0.124 -2.035 2.154

Yes 41 (14.4)
No 243 (85.6)

Static posture 284 - 0.49 - - 0.243 -0.360 -1.884

Yes 117 (41.2)
No 167 (58.8)

Duration of work 284 29.4 9.66 (6.51) 6 30 42.365 0.891 0.586

>5 hours 186 (65.6)
5 hours 98 (34.5)

Smoking 284 0.50 0.249 0.156 -1.990

Yes 153 (53.9)
No 131 (46.1)
N: Total number, n: frequency, SD: Standard deviation, Min.: Minimum,
Max.: Maximum, Var.: Variance
 2. Find out the association between Heavy Physical Work and Low Back Pain, make
the table and interpret the results.

Null hypothesis (H0): There is no association between heavy physical work and low back
pain.

Alternative Hypothesis (H1): There is an association between heavy physical work and
low back pain.

Table 2: Association between Heavy Physical Work and Low Back Pain
Low Back Pain
Yes No X2 df P value POR
Heavy Physical Work n (%) n (%)

Yes 57 (62.6) 34 (37.4)

24.520* 1 <0.001 3.628
No 61 (31.6) 132 (68.4)

*Pearsons chi-square test was performed, level of significance at p<0.05, POR=

prevalence odds ratio, df = degree of freedom

Interpretation: When degree of freedom is 1, the p value is smaller than 0.05, therefore
the null hypothesis (H0) is rejected. There is a statistically significant association between
heavy physical work and low back pain i.e presence of heavy physical work makes a
difference in the occurrence of low back pain.
From the obtained prevalence odds ratio of 3.628, we can conclude that person who are
involved in heavy physical work are 3.6 times higher risk in getting low back pain
compared to those who does not perform heavy physical work.
 3. Find out the association between lifting and forceful movement and Low Back Pain.
Tasks: write hypotheses, make the table, and interpret the results.

Null hypothesis (H0): There is no association between lifting ad forceful movement and
low back pain.

Alternative Hypothesis (H1): There is an association between lifting and forceful

movement and low back pain.

Table 3: The association between lifting and forceful movement and low back pain.
Low Back Pain
Lifting and forceful Yes No 2 df P value POR
movement
n (%) n (%)
Yes 25 (56.8) 19 (43.2)
4.998* 1 0.025 2.08
No 93 (38.8) 147 (61.3)

*Pearsons chi-square test was performed, level of significance at p < 0.05, POR=
prevalence odds ratio, df= degrees of freedom
Interpretation: When degree of freedom is 1, the p value is smaller than 0.05, hence we
reject the null hypothesis (H0). There is a statistically significant association between
lifting and forceful movement and low back pain.

From the obtained prevalence odds ratio of 2.08, we can conclude that person who are
involved in lifting and forceful movement have 2 times higher risk in getting low back
pain compared to those who isnt involved.
 4. Find out the association between workers Age and Low Back Pain.
Tasks: write hypotheses, make the table, and interpret the results

Null hypothesis (H0): There is no association between age and low back pain among
workers.
Alternative Hypothesis (H1): There is association between age and low back pain among
workers.
Table 4: Association between age and mean of low back pain
Low Back Pain N Age mean (SD) 95% CI t df P value Mean
difference
Yes 118 41.02 (6.994)
2.876-6.382 5.217* 282 p<0.001 4.62
No 166 36.40 (7.598)

*Independent sample t test was performed, level of significant at p <0.05, CI =

confidence interval, df = degrees of freedom

Levene's Test for Equality of of Variances p = 0.385 (p is very large hence equal
variances assumed)

Interpretation:

From the data, we can observe that 118 workers who have low back pain have a mean
age of 41.02 while 166 workers who do not have back pain have a mean age of 36.40.

Since p value is less than 0.001 in this t test with level of significant at p <0.05 and
confidence interval of 2.876-6.382, the difference in mean value is statistically
significant.

Based on the results, we can state the following:

1. There was a significant difference in mean age between workers who have low
back pain and workers who does not have low back pain.
2. The average age for workers who have low back pain is roughly 4 years larger
than those workers who have no low back pain.

Hence the null hypothesis is rejected.

 5. Find out the correlation between workers Age and BMI.
Tasks: write hypotheses, make the table, interpret the results, and make the graph
that represents the correlation.

Null Hypothesis (H0): There is no association between age and BMI among workers.

Alternative Hypothesis (HA): There is association between age and BMI among
workers.

Table 5: Correlations to test association between age and BMI

Mean (sd) N r p value

Age 38.32 (7.687) 284 0.328* <0.001

BMI 26.35 (2.564)

*Pearson correlation analysis was performed, level of significant at p<0.05, r is

correlation coefficient

Figure 1: Scatterplot of correlation between age and BMI among workers

Interpretation:
Based on the results, we can state the following:
1. There is a positive moderate association between age and BMI of workers (from
the r value of 0.328) i.e. greater age among workers is associated with greater BMI.
The direction of the line of the best fit on the scatterplot also confirms the positive
correlation.
2. There is a statistically significant linear relationship between BMI and age as p
value is <0.001.
3. The null hypothesis is rejected.