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Minding the Gap By Toby Spencer, Rio Americano High School, Sacramento, California Introduction: Data Mining What factors are linked to cancer? How can cancer be prevented? Can we use global data to improve our lives and environments? The sheer amount of instantly accessible data presents a new and interesting technological challenge. Rather than lacking research and information, we are inundated by almost limitless data sets. Many researchers now focus on sifting through these disparate data to find new patterns and clues. In this case study, you will use Gapminder, a free online database and analysis tool to compare cancer rates and other data from countries worldwide. You will also use SeeIt, a free online data visualization and analysis tool to determine the strengths of the mathematical relationships you discover. Part 1: Using Gapminder World to Explore Relationships 1. Visit gapminder.org and click on “Load Gapminder World” to launch the Gapminder utility. 2. Gapminder can be viewed as a world map or as a X-Y scatterplot graph. Use the graph. See the tutorial sheet if you need help: http://www.gapminder.org/GapminderMedia/wpuploads/tutorial/Gapminder_World_Guide.pdf 3. On the y-axis, select a cancer indicator from the health menu. Which indicator did you select? _____________________Why?________________________________________ 4. Some indicators are reported as rates and as raw counts. Which is a better for worldwide comparison, rates or raw counts?______________________________________________ Why?____________________________________________________________________ 5. On the x-axis, select an indicator that you think may be correlated to the cancer indicator you selected in Step 3. Which x-axis indicator did you select? ______________________ Why?__________________________________________________________________ 6. In general, is the relationship positive or negative? Justify your claim with graph evidence. _________________________________________________________________________ 7. Print the graph and draw a best fit line along the scatterplot. 8. Write the relationship as a complete sentence, e.g. “Cervical cancer incidence rate increases as rural poverty rate increases.” Be sure to use the word “as.” _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ © 2011-2014 UC Regents. All rights reserved. Part 2: Analyzing Relationships on Seeit 1. To measure the strength of the relationship, or correlation, you will use SeeIt for analysis. To access the data, go to sbcesepa.org/students and click on “SBCE Module 2 Resources” and click on “Case - Minding the Gap”. 2. Your dataset should appear under the “Datasets” menu on the left hand side. If you do not see this menu, select “Show Datasets” in the top left column. You should see a dataset entitled “Gapminder Case Data.” Now you can drag each data set to its axis to recreate the Gapminder scatterplot. 3. Click on the wrench icon to open the graph option menu. 4. Under Draw, click the Show Ellipse checkbox. A red circle will appear. 5. Drag and stretch the ellipse tool to capture as many of the data points as possible. What is the shape of the ellipse? How strong is the relationship? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ 6. Using your graph, summarize your findings in writing. Be sure to explain what your variables are. Using common sense as well as your analysis, is it worth investigating further to see if a change in x-variable contributes to (causes) the change in the other? Do you think the indicator causes cancer, or is it most likely linked to cancer without causing it? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ 7. Present your findings to your class. State the relationship (trend statement), its strength (demonstrated with the ellipse), and any interesting features (outliers, etc.). © 2011-2014 UC Regents. All rights reserved.
