Question

This question is from Exercise 12 Questions to Be Graded in Statistics for Nursing Research 2nd Edition, A Workbook for Evidence-Based Practice. Are you able to help?

Smith and colleagues (2014, p. 68) developed the following question to guide their study: “What are the relationships among the variables of perceived stress, sleep quality, loneliness, and self-esteem among obese young adult women?” The variables were measured with multi-item Likert scales, and the data were considered at the interval level. What inferential statistical technique did these researchers conduct to analyze their study data? Provide a rationale for your answer.

Source: Smith, M. J., Theeke, L., Culp, S., Clark, K., & Pinto, S. (2014). Psychosocial variables and self-rated health in young adult obese women. Applied Nursing Research, 27(1), 67–71.

Answer 1

Answer

One of the techniques would be ANOVA [Analysis of Variance] to see if the variables have significant effect on the response variable, and if so, adopt some standard post-hoc analysis to identify the dominant ones from dormant ones.

Another possibility is the use of multiple correlation and regression to establish and also quantify the relationship among the variables.

Yet another possibility is the application of Chi-square test for association.

At a preliminary stage, a simple graphing technique like multiple line graph can serve as a good and quick guide to evaluate if at all some relationship is visible and then take up the above intrinsic tools.

DONE