Statistics concepts and applications

¶ … authors, they hypothesized that "part of the reduction in costs from managed care may be due to a lower quality of care" (Gowrisankaran, Town, & Barrette, 2011).

Question 2- What research subjects or data sources did the researchers use in the study?

The research subjects and data sources are important in regards to the study. They "evaluated the impacts of Medicare HMOs on the quality of health care, using data from 1993 to 2000" (Gowrisankaran, et. al., 2011). This is done as a means studying the elderly in depth through the drug coverage of what is offered through Medicare that impacts mortality (Gowrisankaran, et. al., 2011). By studying health benefits, one is able to determine ways in which to help those who are elderly to get the most out of the health care coverage in order to determine better avenues for the individual through this entire process.

Question 3- What are the specific variables of interest, as well as the possible confounds and covariates the researcher should consider? What are the data types and levels of these variables?

Many variables are worth noting in regards to what the researcher should consider. These range from the mortality rate that occurs because of age and death (Gowrisankaran, et. al., 2011). Additionally, "The M+C enrollments by HOM benefit structure and CMS payment data" (Gowrisankaran, Town, & Barrette, 2011); this also includes "Medicaid enrollments by age classification, population estimates program bureau of census predicted population by age and sex categories, Medigap Premiums for plan F" (Gowrisankaran, et. al., 2011).

The confound variables are important as well. These could become the age as well as the population studied. This is because this is subject to change on a daily basis due to mortality death rate dependent upon one's chosen region of living (Gowrisankaran, et. al., 2011). Furthermore, one can find the sources for each variable in a number of locations, such as the "AARP, Bureau of the Census, Center for Medicaid and Medicare, Area Resource Files and National Center for Health Statistics" (Gowrisankaran, et. al., 2011).

Question 4- What statistical tests were used? Were they inferential or correlational? Were they parametric or non-parametric? Give the specific names of these tests. Make sure they are tests mentioned in our text.