Every student will be assigned to a small group for the project in week three of the course. Each group will select three questions to analyze from an instructor provided list of project questions.Groups will answer the questions through the application of statistical concepts covered in the course. The group will prepare and submit a report about the questions, solutions, and conclusions.

Part 1: Descriptive Statistics & Graphical Displays (see "Assignment Details" section below) Produce a summary statistics table for each project question and discuss the data. Due in Week 5 Part 2: Inferential statistics and completed report (see "Statistical Inference" section below) Apply statistical methods used in class to answer the project questions. Produce a professional report including descriptive statistics Due in Week 9.

Description of the Data and Problem:

You are a group of statisticians who provide consulting services to small biotechnology and life science companies. A client has performed an exploratory pilot study to investigate the relationships between two cholesterol lowering drugs, lifestyle information, and blood lipid levels. Data were collected from each patient at a screening visit and at a follow-up visit three months later. At the screening visit, demographics, lifestyle information, and blood lipid readings were collected. At the follow-up visit, weight and blood lipid readings were collected as well as information as to whether or not the patient experienced stomach pain while taking the cholesterol lowering drug.

These data are contained in the file lipid2.xls:

Column Name Description Patient ID - unique number for each patient Drug - cholesterol lowering drug taken: A or B Stomach Pain - Did the patient experience stomach pain during the study? Yes or No Sex - F or M Age - age in years Height - height in inches Systolic BP - blood pressure - systolic Diastolic BP - blood pressure - diastolic Exercise - minutes of exercise per day Coffee Consumption - cups per day Alcohol Consumption - drinks per week: 0, <2, >2 Weight - weight at screening visit Weight3 - weight at follow-up visit

Cholesterol - cholesterol at screening visit Cholesterol3 - cholesterol at follow-up visit Triglycerides - triglycerides at screening visit Triglycerides3 - triglycerides at follow-up visit HDL - HDL at screening visit HDL3 - HDL at follow-up visit LDL - LDL at screening visit LDL3 - LDL at follow-up visit

The client has requested you to investigate any interesting or meaningful relationships that may exist in these data and create a written report of your results and findings. Your findings will then be used by the client in the planning of future clinical studies.

Assignment Details:

Your group will select three questions of interest and then define an appropriate subset of the data to investigate these questions. Three statistical analyses will determine the questions you create, and they are:

(1) A Hypothesis Test and Confidence Interval for Two Means (Chapter 11) (2) A Hypothesis Test using the Chi-Square Distribution (Chapter 12) (3) Analysis of the Relationship between Two Continuous Variables (Chapters 4 & 14)

Your report will contain the following sections:

(I) Introduction - Provide an overview of the project, the questions that were studied (and why you chose these particular questions), and analyses that were performed. Define the data that were used, details about any transformations performed on the data, and discussion on existing outliers.

(II) Statistical Analysis of Each of the Three Questions - Each question being analyzed should include descriptive and inferential data. Details of each are as follows:

Descriptive Statistics & Graphical Displays (Chapters 2 and 3) - Provide some meaningful descriptive statistics about the data such as mean, median, standard deviation, range, quartiles, IQR, fences, outliers, etc. and put this data in a table. Include charts that will best display the data - usually bar graphs, histograms, regression plots, are effective, but other types of charts presented in the textbook may also be helpful. Make sure your tables and charts are appropriately labeled and clearly discussed in your text. Large data tables showing transformations, if necessary, should be placed in an appendix so as not to interfere with the flow of the report.

Statistical Inference - For each of the analyses state the question of interest which was investigated, analysis method that was used, mathematical/statistical details, your conclusion, and an interpretations statement. Each of these should be presented in the same way as the examples in the book showing the steps - hypotheses, critical values, formulas, test statistics, decisions/conclusions, and summary interpretation statement. It is necessary to show intermittent calculations, and show enough of your work so that numbers can be evaluated. Present

both the "classical" and "p-value" approaches and provide an interpretation statement for the confidence intervals. The p-values can be obtained using the tables (and estimating if necessary) or by using a calculator or software.

The question involving regression should include a scatter plot of the data and the least-squares regression line on a single graph, calculation of the correlation coefficient, and the equation of the least-squares regression line. Comment on the relationship that appears to exist based on the results of the scatter plot and correlation coefficient and coefficient of determination. Interpret the slope and y-intercept of the least-squares regression line. Test whether a linear relationship exists between the explanatory and response variables and calculate a confidence interval for the slope of the regression line. Remember to provide an interpretation statement for your tests.

(III) Conclusion - Summary of your analyses and recommendations for further study.

(IV) Lessons Learned - Thoughts and comments about your group project experience, and suggestions for improving the group project or online statistics course.

(V) Appendix - Place any large amounts of data, data transformations, or long statistical analyses in an appendix so that the report body can flow without interruption.Include summary statistics in the body of the report so the reader does not have to repeatedly refer to the appendix for such information.

It is acceptable to use only certain rows of the data or to perform simple data transformations (changes, % change, etc.) as long as you provide the details in your report so that the results can be independently verified.The goal of this assignment is to simulate a real-world situation of investigating, analyzing, and interpreting data.