Nutrition 209a    Final Exam: Take Home Questions    Fall 2003

            You are to analyze the data set contained in this memo. 
        You may refer to books, journals, and your notes, but ALL 
        HUMAN ASSISTANCE IS FORBIDDEN. You may use the Internet and 
        Word Wide Web however you wish EXCEPT that you may not use any 
        site that allows another person to respond directly to 
        questions *you* pose.  For example, you may not go to a 
        bulletin board or newsgroup to ask questions of other 
        individuals.  However, you may search its archive. 
            
             You may not discuss any aspect of the assignment 
        (including how to use SPSS) with your classmates.  If you 
        violate this trust, the minimum penalty will be a grade of F 
        in the course.  Other penalties will likely apply, too. 

            Include only the computer printout you need to support 
        your conclusions.  Do *not* include output that is irrelevant 
        to your final report.  I do not want to see everything you 
        did.  Each question can be answered in no more than one side 
        of a sheet of paper, except for supporting printout that may 
        be attached.  I WILL NOT GRADE INTERLINED OUTPUT, that is, I 
        will not accept a report that is a sheaf of output with 
        comments interspersed, leaving the reader the task of locating 
        relevant information.  The report should begin with or be 
        composed of the one page of text presenting the results in 
        simple English. 

            Do not write your name on your report.  Instead, you will 
        add the number that you select at random at the exam. 


                          (1) Immune System Response

        In preparation for a study of the effect of vitamin E on the 
        immune system, an investigator wishes to see if an immune 
        system response in young subjects is different from that of 
        older subjects.  He gathers his data and brings a file to you 
        for analysis.  The file immune.sav contains three variables. 

            IMMUNE   -- immune system response      
            AGE      -- age (yrs)     
            AGEGRP   -- Young/Old

        Analyze the data and summarize your findings in a few 
        sentences (including appropriate confidence intervals) that 
        might appear in the Results section of a journal article. 


                           (2) Nutrition Education 

        A nutritionist develops some new educational materials to help 
        people improve their nutrient intake through diet rather than 
        supplements.  Eighteen subjects complete 7 day diet records to 
        measure daily intakes of selected nutrients both before and 6 
        months after being exposed to the materials. The file 
        educate.sav contains the subjects' vitamin A (RE, retinol 
        equivalents), C (mg), E (mg) and calcium (mg) intakes before 
        (variables ending in 'pre') and six months later (variables 
        ending in 'post'). 

        She would like to submit a Small Business Innovative Research 
        Grant to the NIH to develop the materials further and bring 
        them to market.  She asks you to analyze the data and help her 
        write up the results in a way that can be understood by 
        reviewers who are not statisticians.