Assessment ltem-2 Briefing
Description
This assignment is about research data analysis and interpretation — you will be provided with a
dataset, and you are required to investigate quantitative methods for analysing this data using
inferential statistics, design an appropriate methodology, conduct your own data analysis and reflect
upon the results. The assessment involves writing a brief report (max 1000 words). Your task is to
design and implement an appropriate methodology for analysing the given dataset/problem on the
next page. You will need to identify a research question (or questions) or hypothesis to test.
Please note that you must apply inferential statistics to draw conclusions about the population under
consideration from the sample data, for example, by applying techniques introduced in the module
such as confidence intervals or statistical tests (t-Test, etc). Your analysis must be non-trivial — for
example, just applying descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation would not be
sufficient. Descriptive statistics can be sed to justify the choice of techniques.
Take care to justify the choice of research techniques in your report. You should make sure to explain
and describe the techniques applied with sufficient clarity to allow other researchers to replicate your
findings if desired. Consider how to best present you results, e.g. using tables, graphs, etc. Discuss
the results obtained and the conclusions inferred with respect to the original research hypothesis or
question.
Wite a concise report with a maximum of 1000 words, excluding references. Appendices or additional
pages are ot allowed. The report should be written in your own words. The report should have the
following sections:
« Definition of the null and alternative hypothesis.
« Methodology, including a description of the techniques applied.
« Results
« Conclusion, including further discussion of the results and your conclusions with respect to the
original research hypothesis or question
« References
Submission
This assessment is an individually assessed component. Please make sure you have a clear
understanding of the grading principles for this component. If you are unsure about any aspect of this
assessment component, please seek the advice of a member of the delivery team
For your report, you must submit a single PDF file. When submitting, name your PDF file using this
format: LastName_FirstName_StudentiD (for example: Zolghami_Massoud_12345678). You will
find a submission link in the Assessments area of the Blackboard course menu.
Description of the problem/datasef
A novel drug (Uelostatin) was tested for its cholesterol-lowering properties by carrying out an
experiment using 50 volunteers. First, plasma cholesterol concentrations were measured to establish
a pre-treatment value.
The volunteers were then given the drug once daily for one month, after which time their plasma
cholesterol concentrations were again measured. The cholesterol concentrations from the 50
volunteers before and after the treatment are provided in the enclosed Excel spreadsheet.
You are required to investigate the following
« The pre-treatment value was assumed to be at least 6 mmol/L. At the 95% level of confidence,
does he have enough evidence to disprove this assumption?
« Selecta suitable statistical test to assess whether the drug had a significant effect on plasma
cholesterol levels.
