Devry MATH533 all discussions

Descriptive Stats: ETHICS and Workplace Applications (graded)

Statistics in Action Case "Factors That Influence a Doctor to Refuse Ethics Consultation"

Before getting into analyzing the data, let’s consider the question of the pros and cons of doctors using ethics consultations with doctors, and other ethicists, trained to think and provide advice on ethical issues in healthcare. Take a look on the Internet, or in the Keller Graduate School online library, to find an article or articles on this issue. What is your view? Do you have any personal experiences you are comfortable sharing about medical ethical issues you and your family and/or friends have confronted?

Week 2 discussion

Case: Let's Make a Deal (graded)

A number of years ago, there was a popular television game show called Let's Make a Deal. The host, Monty Hall, would randomly select contestants from the audience and, as the title suggests, he would make deals for prizes. Contestants would be given relatively modest prizes and then would be offered the opportunity to risk that prize to win better ones.

Suppose you are a contestant on this show. Monty has just given you a free trip worth $500 to a locale that is of little interest to you. He now offers you a trade: Give up the trip in exchange for a gamble. On the stage are three curtains, A, B, and C. Behind one of them is a brand-new car worth $45,000. Behind the other two curtains, the stage is empty.

You decide to gamble and give up the trip. (The trip is no longer an option for you.) You must now select one of the curtains. Suppose you select Curtain A.

In an attempt to make things more interesting, Monty then exposes an empty stage by opening Curtain C (he knows that there is nothing behind Curtain C). He then asks you if you want to keep Curtain A, or switch to Curtain B.

What would you do?

Hint: Questions to consider are: What is the probability of winning and the probability of losing the car prior to opening Curtain C? What is the probability of winning and the probability of losing the car after Curtain C is opened? What is your best strategy?

Week 3 discussion

Ethics in Statistics: Readings and Discussion (graded)

1. Why is it important to study ethics in statistics? Have you seen statistics misused? Without naming specific companies or people, can you provide examples?
2. Please find (on the Internet or from the Keller library) and post an article regarding ethics and statistics. Please attach the article, or provide its link in your post, together with a brief summary of the article in your own words. Be sure to use quotation marks around any words taken directly from the article (not to do so constitutes “plagiarism”). Then, in a separate post, review one or more articles posted by other students and provide the other student or students with your reflections (don’t just agree or disagree).

Week 4 discussion

Case: Statistics in Action: Medicare Fraud Investigations (graded)

Read the selection in your textbook pertaining to the Case: Statistics in Action: Medicare Fraud Investigations; load the data set for the case, MCFRAUD, into Minitab; answer the question about the case in the Discussion area; and likewise read and respond to the follow-on selections in the textbook for the case in the Statistics in Action Revisited.

What is a point estimate of the mean overpayment?

Week 5 discussion

Case: Statistics in Action: Diary of a Kleenex User (graded)

Read the selection in your text book pertaining to the Case: Statistics in Action: Diary of a Kleenex^®User; load the data set for the case, TISSUES, into Minitab; answer the question about the case in the Discussion area; and likewise read and respond to the follow-on selections in the textbook for the case in the Statistics in Action Revisited.

How would you briefly summarize the case, and the data that was generated?

Week 6discussion

Case: Statistics in Action: Legal Advertising—Does It Pay? (graded)

Read the Case: Statistics In Action: Legal Advertising—Does It Pay?, and answer the following questions. (The case is included in your textbook, Chapter 10.) The data set for the case study is LEGALADV, and it is available in your textbook resources, so you don't have to enter the data!

Summarize what the case is about, and what the variables represent.

Week 7 discussion

Case: Statistics in Action: Bid-Rigging in the Highway Construction Industry (graded)

Read the Case: Statistics in Action: Bid-Rigging in the Highway Construction Industry, in Chapter 11 of your textbook, and answer the following questions. The data set, FLAG, for the case study is available in the publisher’s website, so you don’t need to enter the data into Minitab by hand.

What is this case about? Describe the key variables.

Week 8 discussion