Relationship Between Mothers Age and Birth Weight - Research Paper Example

Relationship between Mother’s Age and Birth Weight and Effect of Smoking on the Birth Weight By + University name City, state MATHEMATICS Aim Does the mother’s age affect baby weight during birth? What about smoking? Does it have an impact on the birth weight? The aim of my investigation is to determine whether birth weight is directly related to mother’s age and the relationship between smoking and birth weight. My Hypothesis: There is a direct relationship between mother’s age and birth weight and smoking also affects the birth weight. The Plan: The first procedure will be to divide the population into two groups: Smoking mothers-represented by 1 and Non-smokers, represented by 0. I will then analyze the data using the following diagrams/plots: Box plot, scatter diagram, Ogive curves and stem and leaf diagram. Sampling The data was large and therefore sampling was mandatory. My preferred mode of sampling was Systemic Sampling. I wanted a sample of around 50 elements for each group. To achieve this, I divided the first population- 695 by 50 and arrived at a number roughly 14. For the next group, I divided 453 by 50 to obtain 9. Therefore, I selected every element at the 14th and 9th positions for the two samples respectively. The resulting sample comprised of 50- No-smoking mothers and 50- Smoking mothers. 1. Box Plot Mothers Who Do Not Smoke (0): Sample-50   Birth Weight(kg) Mothers Age count 50 50 mean 3.404 26.98 sample standard deviation 0.520 6.01 sample variance 0.271 36.14 minimum 2.2 17 maximum 4.4 42 range 2.2 25 1st quartile 3.000 22.25 median 3.550 26.50 3rd quartile 3.700 29.75 interquartile range 0.700 7.50 mode 3.700 29.00 low extremes 0 0 low outliers 0 0 high outliers 0 1 high extremes 0 0 For mothers who smoke, the average birth weight was around 3.4kg while the average age of the mothers was 26 years. The lowest and highest birth weights were 2.5kg and 4kg respectively. On the other hand, the lowest and highest ages of the mothers include: 18 years and 42 years respectively. In comparison the two groups differed slightly when I used the box plot. Their birth weights means differed with 0.1kg magnitude while the weights ranged between 2.3kg and 4.4kg. 2. Scatter Plot It was evident that there was an upward trend between 2 and 4. If I was to draw a line of best fit, then it would pass through these points, giving a straight line. Aside from the outliers- values at the furthest ends of the plots (i.e. 1 and 5), there was an upward trend in both graphs. The two graphs were identical and instances of variation were not recognizable. Therefore, there was a positive correlation in both graphs. 3. Ogive Curve Non-Smoking Mothers   Birth Weight(kg)           cumulative lower upper midpoint width frequency percent frequency percent 2.2 < 2.4 2.3 0.2 1 2.0 1 2.0 2.4 < 2.6 2.5 0.2 2 4.0 3 6.0 2.6 < 2.8 2.7 0.2 3 6.0 6 12.0 2.8 < 3.0 2.9 0.2 6 12.0 12 24.0 3.0 < 3.2 3.1 0.2 3 6.0 15 30.0 3.2 < 3.4 3.3 0.2 7 14.0 22 44.0 3.4 < 3.6 3.5 0.2 3 6.0 25 50.0 3.6 < 3.8 3.7 0.2 14 28.0 39 78.0 3.8 < 4.0 3.9 0.2 6 12.0 45 90.0 4.0 < 4.2 4.1 0.2 1 2.0 46 92.0 4.2 < 4.4 4.3 0.2 2 4.0 48 96.0 4.4 < 4.6 4.5 0.2 2 4.0 50 100.0 50 100.0 The lower quartile birth weight (25%) was around 3kg. The median weight was around 3.75kg while the upper quartile (75%) was approximately 4kg. Smoking Mothers   Birth Weight(kg)           cumulative lower upper midpoint width frequency percent frequency percent 2.2 < 2.4 2.3 0.2 2 4.0 2 4.0 2.4 < 2.6 2.5 0.2 1 2.0 3 6.0 2.6 < 2.8 2.7 0.2 1 2.0 4 8.0 2.8 < 3.0 2.9 0.2 5 10.0 9 18.0 3.0 < 3.2 3.1 0.2 7 14.0 16 32.0 3.2 < 3.4 3.3 0.2 6 12.0 22 44.0 3.4 < 3.6 3.5 0.2 12 24.0 34 68.0 3.6 < 3.8 3.7 0.2 9 18.0 43 86.0 3.8 < 4.0 3.9 0.2 4 8.0 47 94.0 4.0 < 4.2 4.1 0.2 2 4.0 49 98.0 4.2 < 4.4 4.3 0.2 1 2.0 50 100.0 50 100.0 The lower quartile in this case was slightly below 3.3kg. The median weight was around 3.6kg while the upper quartile was slightly below 4kg. There was slight variation between the two groups, however the variations were too small to be considered. 4. Stem and Leaf Diagram   Non-Smoking Mothers     Stem Leaf 1   2 2 4 5 6 7 7 8 8 9 9 9 9 3 0 0 1 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 9 4 1 3 3 4 4 5     Smoking Mothers     Stem Leaf 1   2 3 4 5 7 8 8 8 3 0 0 0 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 9 9 4 1 1 2 5           It was evident in both stem and leaf diagrams that most birth weights were clustered within stem 3. Therefore, both groups were identical as majority of the data was within 3. The mean weight of both groups was around 3. Findings Using all the methods above, I came to the realization that the mean birth weight revolved around 3.5kg with a slight variation of (+/-) 0.1. Conclusion According to the sample I used, I fail to accept the hypothesis that there is a direct correlation between birth weight and mother’s age. There is no sufficient evidence to indicate that as the mother’s age increases, the birth weight also increases. I also fail to accept the second part of the hypothesis that states: There is a direct effect of smoking on the birth weight. This is because there was slight to no variation in all the plots and diagrams in terms of shape and in terms of statistical calculations like mean and median. If smoking affected the birth weight, I expected to have, for example, a higher or lower mean. References Reichman, Nancy E. & Pagnini, Deanna L., December 1997, Maternal Age and Birth Outcomes: Data from New Jersey. Available from . [26 November 2014]. Tyrrell, J. et al., 15 January 2012, A genetic analysis of smoking and low birth weight. Available from . Read More