Article Review: Maternal Smoking
In this article, there were several descriptive statistics examined.The survey that was used to collect the information asked not only yes/noquestions, but also questions about more specific ideas, such as whetherwomen who were not smoking now had smoked in the past and, if so, how much. The purpose of this paper is to discuss what the descriptive statisticswere, as well as provide information about the display of data and whetheror not it was adequate. Analysis of what illustrations would beappropriate will also be included in an effort to discuss how the data Descriptive statistics included several questions that were used tobetter understand maternal smoking behaviors. The surveys that werepresented to the women in question asked the following questions (Pirkle & * Tobacco use during pregnancy (yes/no) and average number of * Cigarette smoking during pregnancy - average number of cigarettes per day for each period (three-month increments). * Which statement best describes your cigarette smoking habits' a?- Smoke daily, about the same as before pregnancy.
The article presented a great deal of good information, andallowing it to be presented in this form took much away from it. a?- Didn't smoke before and don't smoke now. It seemed to the researchers that the broader thedefinition, the more women admitted to being smokers. As for answers to the questions and what they told researchers, thatinformation follows. The data was also explained in the text, which was very helpful andnecessary. a?- Smoke every once in a while. * How many cigarettes did you smoke each day during each month of pregnancy' While many of these questions are very similar, there are subtledifferences in the way that the questions are asked and in the time framesthat are discussed. This was higher thanthe national average of 12. The presentation of the data took the form in the article of a lot ofpercentages that were somewhat lined up in tables, but were still difficultto read. What was not measured in this study, however, was what percentage ofpregnant women actually smoke, as the sample of women was really too smallto determine this effectively. Mixed in with this information were footnotes and thank-yous tovarious people and places that helped with the data. The researchers actually basically conducted twoseparate investigations. In the Pirkle and Berner (1999) study, however, there was nomention of this national average, or of another study that would use a muchlarger sample.
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