Health Care Evaluating the research endeavors of someone other than oneself is a task that requires honesty, integrity, and fairness. The one performing the evaluation must be sure that all evaluation opinions are properly evidenced and supported, as there exists an enormous difference between having an opinion about that which has been researched as opposed to being opinionated. In addition the research being evaluated, albeit experimental, descriptive, clinical or a newspaper research report, must exhibit a clear statement of the problem and hypothesis, a fully described method of data collection and analysis, and thorough evidentiary support as to need. Without meeting these conditions the research being conducted is of little value. The remainder of this paper will focus on one particular form of research, namely the newspaper research report, with respect to a health care issue; i.e., teenage health related matters and educational issues and the statistical methods employed to draw conclusions about the data.

The newspaper research report chosen is one published in the Commercial Dispatch authored by Rebecca Ennis (June, 2004) and entitled "State Ranks Last In Kids Count Survey." The overall focus of the research article was a survey assessment of the rate of teen pregnancy 15-17 years of age, percentage of single-parent families, percent of children in poverty, percent of children 16-19 not in school or working, child birth weight mortality rate in the State of Mississippi. Data presented visa via various surveys framed the conclusion that although teen pregnancies in the State of Mississippi from 1998-2002 dropped by 24 per cent, the State continues to remain last in a national decline with respect to the number of teen pregnancies reported. Reported as well was an increase of 2.1% in births to unmarried teens; 15%...

Knowing that statistics is a branch of scientific methodology, as it deals with the collection, classification, description, and interpretation of measurement data, it is essential that the statistical tool employed be robust and able to deliver the necessary value in order to drawn conclusions about the research being conducted and reported. The soundness of the statistical tool is expected for those statistics, and equally applied, that are basic (percentages) as well as for those that are complex (Baye's coefficients). In all research the essential purpose of the statistic employed if to describe and draw inferences about the numerical properties of the chosen sample or population as well as to compare data gathering procedures. Further, the chosen statistical tool is directly aligned, and responsible, for answering the posed research question and testable hypothesis. Without a felt research need, proposed research question and testable hypothesis, the statistical tool has little meaning nor does the resulting data.
The information gathered by Ennis (2004) and reported in her newspaper research report is based upon surveys conducted in Mississippi with respect to certain assessed area-addressing teenagers (i.e., pregnancy, birth child's birth weight, mortality rate of birth child, school lunch usage, poverty, employment of teenagers). All survey information…