Analyses

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Week 5: Quantitative Analysis Assignment

Instructions: Quantitative Analysis Assignment

For the Week 5 quantitative analysis assignment, you will need to conduct basic

descriptive analyses about the frequency of patient safety incidents during one month

on two medical units in a major urban teaching hospital. To complete this assignment,

you will need the following three documents: (a) Excel Spreadsheet: Quantitative

Patient Safety Data, (b) Codebook: Quantitative Patient Safety Data, and (c) Summary

Data Analysis Form. Below is a description of each of these documents:

(a) Excel Spreadsheet: Quantitative Patient Safety Data: The quantitative data for this

assignment has been entered into an Excel spreadsheet which can be accessed using

the Excel software that is part of the Microsoft Office suite of applications. This type of

spreadsheet is called a rectangular file because it is arranged in columns and rows.

Each column is a different variable in the data set. For example, Column A (ID) is the

identification number variable for patients, and Column B (AGE) is the variable on

patient age in years. Each row has data (or information) for each individual patient for

each of the variables in the columns.

To clarify this, look at the date set for this assignment. You will see that the patient in

row 2 has an ID number 001 (Column A) and is 22 years old (Column B). The patient in

row 44 has an ID number 43 is 75 years old.

(b) Codebook: Quantitative Patient Safety Data: A codebook is used in quantitative

research to define the variables (or columns) in a data set and the response categories

for each of these variable. Looking at the codebook for this assignment, you will see

that the second column in the codebook is the name of variables in the data set.

Usually the variable names are abbreviated (e.g., DX stands for primary diagnosis upon

admission). Next to each variable name is its description and its response categories.

As an example, look at the variable called FALLS. Next to this variable is its description

which is defined as whether or not a patient had an accidental fall during the

hospitalization. The response categories for the variable FALLS is either “0” which

means the patient did not fall or “1” which means the patient did fall.

To further clarify this, take a look at Column G on your Excel spreadsheet which is

labelled as FALLS. The term “falls” can mean many different things, such as a person

accidentally falling at home or a waterfall (e.g., Snoqualmie Falls). The codebook for a

quantitative data set gives the specific definition of a variable. In this assignment, the

variable FALLS means a patient fall that is reported during a hospitalization. Now look

at the numbers in the column underneath FALLS. You will only see the numbers “0” or

2

“1”. In the codebook, these are the response categories for the variable FALLS with 0 =

no fall and 1 = fall occurred.

Now that you know about the rows and columns of a rectangular data set, you are ready

to conduct some basic analyses that summarize (or aggregate) information about the 50

patients in the patient safety data.

(c) Summary Data Analysis Form: This form provides guidelines on how to conduct the

required quantitative analyses for this assignment and how to report your findings.

When you complete your analyses, you need to submit this completed form using the

Week 5 platform for submitting assignments.