Depressed Dads

1. The study was done by researchers from the University of Michigan.
2. In the article, there is no evidence of who sponsored the research. In the full online report of the study in the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the authors have said that there is no financial relationship relevant to this study to disclose.
3. There is the possibility that the sponsor of this study could have an interest in finding this particular result: “more than 40 percent of depressed fathers spanked their children, compared with 13 percent of fathers who weren't depressed.” The results could easily lead to an increase in job in fields related to depression, family care, health care and violence.
4. The methodology used by the researchers was to collect data from “1,746 new fathers in 20 cities”. However, it does not include information such as how the 20 cities were chosen, how the 1, 746 fathers were selected, when was the survey done, and the questions asked to the fathers.
5. The study’s results are not communicated very well in the article as the main focus of the article is to show that researchers are calling attention to depressed fathers. However, the use of percentages helps to understand the information a little bit more.
6. There were no graphs, but it would have been really beneficial to use such a visual aid.

References:

Author: Tara Parker-Pope

Article title: Time to Focus on Sad Dads

Publication Title: The New York Times

Date: Thursday, March 31, 2011

Link: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/time-to-focus-on-sad-dads/

External Resources:

Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/peds.2010-1779v1

Changing Trends of Cancer diagnoses

1. The data presented within this article was gathered by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Center for Disease Control (CDC), and the American Association of American Cancer Registries (AAACR). The data related to mortality rates was provided by the National Center for Health Statistics. 2. The sponsor of this research was not explicitly stated in the article however it based on data received and analyzed each year. The compilation of this data is a group effort by the NCI, CDC, NAACR, and the American Cancer Society. The primary source of this data is the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 3. I believe that the sponsor of this study does not have a particular result that they are trying to find that might create a bias within the data. Rather, I think that the sponsor of this research is more interested in analyzing the changes in cases of cancer incidents. The article mentions the changing trends and the decrease in cases of certain types of cancers while noting the increase in other types of data. 4. The research analyzes incidence data ranging from 1992 through 2007. Also, from the number of American medical organizations listed who collaborated on this project, i would guess that the data is a collection of cases within the United States of America, and does not include a global-wide research study, however the report does not state that assumption. 5. The results are communicated in an informative manner. However this article is a selction of the data composed in the primary source document who's title is "Annual report to the nation on the status of cancer, 1975-2007, featuring tumors of the brain and other nervous system." Thus the author of this article chose certain pieces of information to expose within his article. The title of this smaller secondary source article labels lung cancer. Thus I think that the author wants to target readers who have particular interest in lung cancer rates, particularly since lung cancer is one of the more popular forms of cancer, and thus will bring in a larger body of readers to his own internet article. In conclusion, i think that the information presented in the articel was not compiled from a biased research but i do think that the author of this article reporting on the research study presented in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute had a bias when when deciding how to taret his audience. 6. There are no graphs used in the report of this data. Reference details: Author: Charles Bankhead, staff writer Article Title: Cancer Incidence, Deaths Down, Report Shows Publication Title: MedPage Today Date: March 31, 2011 Link: http://www.medpagetoday.com/Oncology/OtherCancers/25658

Lung Cancer Deaths In Women Decline

1. The data was assembled through a group effort by the National Cancer Institute, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries and the American Cancer Society.

2. The report was sponsored by the government.

3. I doubt that the government would be particularly interested in skewing the results of the data however findings that point to a decrease in cancer and cancer related deaths over time may shed a better light on the government and the institutions involved. On the other hand negative findings or an increase in cancer would probably increase public interest and investment for the institutes.

4. There is not a lot of information given by the Tribune article on the specifics of the study however it is clear that it includes both men and women and the data is compiled from at least 40 years of information which came from the Center for Disease Control’s National Center for Health Statistics. Also included is a link to the official report by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute which probably has a fuller description of the methodology and findings.

5. The complete results of the study are not given in a clear manner. The focus of the article was a decrease in lung cancer deaths in women but there was no information on how much the decline was or if contracting lung cancer was also in decline. The other findings of the study were represented in an informative way however overall the article took a positive spin on the findings when there were plenty of negative findings as well. This article would probably be alright for readers interested in the very basic information but not for more details.

6. There were no graphs included

Maugh II, Tomas H. “Lung Cancer Deaths in Women Decline for the First Time in 40 Years.” Chicago Tribune. March 31, 2011. http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/la-heb-cancer-death-rates-03312011,0,1525750.story

phone security

Blog assignment #1

1 & 2 YouGov does the survey on behalf of SecurEnvoy.

3 The survey shows that only a third of mobile phone owners would realize they had lost their phone within 15 minutes. The sponsors of this study have an interest in this result, as SecurEnvoy makes products of protecting data on smartphones. With this survey, probably more people will consider that it is necessary to buy “some form of data encryption and secure authentication for their phone”. Besides, it will let more people know about SecurEnvoy, which is a special way of advertisement. Before reading this article, I have no idea about the company. Besides, it shows to the reader how much the product can do for the customers and the dangerous without having this product.

4 The sample is made by 2,000 mobile phone owners (men, women, young and old). But it didn’t mention how they choose these participants. And it doesn’t mention how many men, women, young or old are in this survey. In the middle of the article, it shows that the reaction between men and women and the reaction between young and old will act differently in the survey. So if more than half of the participants here are women, the result has been exaggerated. If not, the situation is much worse than what is shown in this research. The research has the same problem with young and old. If the survey could use the same amount of each group, the result will have more persuasion.

5 & 6 No graphs are used in this article. However, this article uses clearly data to show the result. Such as “Men are more likely to notice their mobile phone missing in less than 15 minutes than women--40 percent of men compared to 29 percent of women.” Furthermore, they make the reasonable hypothesis to explain the collected data. The survey does the same analysis with young and old. As the article mentions about the percentage during the comparison, I suppose the pie chart will give an intuitive impression in this situation.

Reference,

Auther: Tony Bradley

Article title: “Would You Realize If You Lost Your Smartphone?”

Publish title: http://www.pcworld.com/

Publish date: March 30, 2011 11:29pm

Link:http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/223844/would_you_realize_if_you_lost_your_smartphone.html

Hotel occupancies at highest level in three years

Blog Assignment #1

The rates of hotel occupancies in Thailand’s major tourist cities reached its high in three years throughout January to April (reservations) of this years. Political Turmoil and violence in the past few years scared tourists away. The easing of political conflict combined with the hotels’ previously decreased prices in response to lower demand attracted much higher tourist attraction this year.

1. Thai Hotel Associations (THA)

2. Probably Prakit Chinamourphong, the president of THA

3. The results of this research would benefit his organization

4. The sample group contains all hotels in Thailand’s biggest tourist cities: Pattaya, Phuket, Bangkok, Chiang Mai

5. Yes, the percentage increases in hotel occupancy from the same period last year shows a clear point.

6. There are no graphs in this article.

Author: Chadamas Chinmaneevong

Article Title: Hotel occupancies at highest level in three years

Publication Title: Bangkok Post

Date: March 30^th, 2011

Link: http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/tourism/229287/hotel-occupancies-at-highest-level-in-three-years

County Health Rankings

Article Information
Author - Molly Hennessy-Fiske
Title - Marin County named healthiest in California in new study; L.A. County ranks 26th
Publication title - Los Angeles Times
Date - March 30, 2011
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/03/marin-county-named-healthiest-in-california-in-new-study.html

Questions about the article
1 & 2) The study was conducted and sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.

3) No because the study was done nationwide by collecting data based on several different health factors in every county in the United States. The only possible bias could be the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute trying to promote the health of its home state, Wisconsin.

4) The approach of the experiment was to examine two factors - the mortality (length of life) and the morbidity (quality of health during life). The health factors and programs and policies were broken down into four categories - Health behaviors, Clinical care, Social and economic factors, and the Physical environment. Health behaviors included tobacco use, diet & exercise, alcohol use, and unsafe sex. Clinical care was based on the access to care and the quality of the care. The social and economic factors were education, employment, income, family & social support, and community safety. The two factors regarding physical environment were environmental quality and the built environment. Data was collected by polling a certain number of people from each county and percentages and numbers were calculated based on the results from the polls. Unfortunately, no data was given regarding the backgrounds of the people polled like age, sex, or income.

5) Yes, each of the four categories (health behaviors, clinical care, social and economic factor, and physical environment) were broken down in a way that was both logical and easily understandable. By analyzing the numbers and figures of the data, the surveyors were able to rank the counties in every US state based on how healthy the population was.

6) No graphs were used.

Just Look at This Place. What’s Not to Love?

The survey was carried out by the U. S Census Bureau which was sponsored by the U.S government.
New York is the "the city of the Yankees and Broadway, of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, of sky-high buildings and never-ending parks." There are more than enough attractions to draw people towards the city. As a result, the Census Bureau was expecting a significant population increase in such a city after a decade since the last population census.
Almost all New york inhabitants were issued census surveys even though 63% returned the survey to the Bureau. The information is clearly communicated with previous census and predicted values provided to enhance the conclusion drawn in the census.
A line graph was used to represent the estimated and actual population values of New York since 2000. The graph depict that the gap between the estimated and actual values has been widening since 2000 with estimates being higher than the actual values. The graph clearly informs the reader on the population census of New York.

Article Title: New York City's Slow Growth Undercuts Its Image
Publication Title: Just Look at This Place. What's Not to Love?
Hernandez, Javier C. New York Times - New York City's Slow Growth Undercuts Its Image. 30 3 2011. 31 3 2011
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