Ethnicity VS Doctor Visits
Deeksha Sriram & Rukmini Waranshiwar (2nd)
Question
Does one's ethnicity have an effect on how many times he/she visits the doctor?
Hypothesis
Ethnicity does affect the number of times one visits the doctor- if one is Asian, they are likely to visit the doctor less than a non-Asian person would.
Type of Investigation
This is a comparative investigation.
Parts of the Experiment
1. Dependent Variable- the number of times (out of 4) that one has chosen to visit the doctor over trying home remedies
2. Independent Variable – ethnicity (Asian VS non-Asian)
3. Control – none
4. Experimental Group- 15 to 17 year old females
5. Two Factors Held Constant- The gender and the (rough) age of the participants constant so that would not become a confounding variable (gender and age could affect the amount of times you visit the doctor due to gender specific issues and old age or common child problems).
Data Table
Bar Graphs
Analysis
Ethnicity does have an effect on the number of times one visits the doctor, but not in a different way. In reality, people that are not of Asian descent are likely to visit the doctor less than people of Asian descent. Upon taking the number of times out of 4 that every female would choose to visit the doctor instead of attempting home remedies, it was found that Asian females would visit the doctor an average of 1.87 times (out of 4) and non-Asian females would visit the doctor only an average of 1.2 (out of 4) times. What was surprising was that the Asian females, on average, said that they would visit the doctors more than non-Asian females said they would. The t-test result for this data was less than 0.05, which shows that the data is statistically significant, but the error bars in the graphed data overlap, which contradicts that point. That discrepancy was probably due to natural error, but nevertheless, the data did show accurate results. With further research, it was discovered that this data was backed up with factual information. Majority of the Asian subjects from this investigation were born in their respective Asian countries, and later came to the US with their parents (whom were in search of a better life). So they had lived in Asia for quite a while. In the world, the two ethnicities least likely to have a personal doctor or medical care are Latinos and Asians (http://www.gallup.com/poll/176039/though-insured-asians-lack-personal-doctor.aspx). So the Asian subjects of this investigation's parents and families must have been suffering through the lack of medical care in Asia, which must have been what caused them to encourage their children to visit the doctor more often than not. From coming from a country with poor medical care, those parents make sure to take advantage of the medical care given here, which must be why they may bring their children (the subjects of this investigation) to the doctor often, no matter how small the injury may seem.
Conslusion
The hypothesis was not supported by the data, but the purpose (to find out whether one's ethnicity affects the amount of times he/she visits the doctor) was indeed achieved. Ethnicity does have an effect on the number of times one visits the doctor- people that are not of Asian descent visit the doctor less than people that are of Asian descent.
Sources of Inaccuracies/Errors
There were not any laboratory mistakes; however, certain aspects of the experiment could have given us inaccurate or unreliable results. In the experiment people around the same age and gender (female & 15-17 years) were used to get a reasonable amount of subjects, so the age discrepancy could have caused a slight variation in data. There was also more data from females of Asian ethnicity, which could have caused slight bias in the results. In addition, the t-test was less than 0.05, proving that the data was statistically significant, but the error bars on the graphed data overlapped, proving that the data was not statistically significant. This must have been through natural scientific error, but nevertheless, the data was still reasonably accurate.
Bibliography
Liu, Diana, and Lindsey Sharpe. "Though Insured, Many U.S. Asians Lack a Personal Doctor." Gallup.com. Gallup, 16 Sept. 2014. Web. 07 Sept. 2015. <http://www.gallup.com/poll/176039/though-insured-asians-lack-personal-doctor.aspx>.