TILE - Observational Studies

Lab Description

Pedagogy
How to Play

Screen Shots

Pedagogy

The main goal in this lab is to introduce the student to the ideas involved in analyzing data from an observational study. The student will be exposed in a metaphorical way to the process of data collection. Once the data is collected the student will read look at rates in bar charts including segmented bar charts and conditional bar charts. The student will explore the difference between association and causation. Confounding factors will be controlled for and the student will see what a difference it makes. The student will consider the effect of intervention with respect to different kinds of variables.

How To Play

This lab is intended to be much like a game. The student operates Fritz, a new hire at a hospital, and is interested in what factors are important in the health of newborn babies. Information can be gleaned through interactive dialogs with various experts, docents, and visitors in the hospital. Plots, documents, and transcripts of dialogs are collected in Fritz's binder, and reports are filled out at various stages in the investigation. The analyst in the hospital guides Fritz by giving instructions and accepting reports.

This page was last updated on 09/26/98. Questions, comments, suggestions.