Please use the following data set to obtain and interpret descriptive statistics. You can complete the analysis however you like, including use of Excel or other programs. Each of the scores is a pain rating from a VAS in milimeters. Your write up should include:
- measures of central tendency (mean, median and mode and a 1 sentence summary describing what each of these means).
- measures of variability including the range and standard deviation and a 1 sentence summary describing what each of these means.
- one display of a frequency distribution (such as a histogram, box plot, line plot or stem and leaf plot).
- Calculate the z score and area under the curve for an individual whose data point is 30 mm.
Now for some background about the data set. For the past 12 years I have given my classes as case description of a person with low back pain. I then ask the students to complete a visual analog scale to rate how they perceive the pain of the person in the case. A visual analog scale is a 100 mm line with anchors of no pain and most intense pain. Since it is measured in mm we can treat the data as a ratio level measurement. The students then measure their mark to obtain the pain rating in mm. One purpose in giving this assignment is to demonstrate that different persons will perceive the amount of pain differently. As you can see in the dataset, there were some individuals who scored the pain lower and some who scored it very high. Other purposes are to use the aggregate data for descriptive statistics and inferential statistics.
