Question: Contracting Influenza

To answer the questions, use the following table describing the percentage of people who reported contracting influenza by gender and race/ethnicity.

INFLUENZA

CHARACTERISTIC PERCENT (95% CI)

Gender

Men 48.8 (47.1 – 50.5%)

Women 51.5 (50.2 – 52.8%)

Race/ethnicity

Caucasian 52.2 (51.1 – 53.3%)

African American 33.1 (29.5 – 36.7%)

Hispanic 47.6 (40.9 – 54.3%)

Other 39.7 (30.8 – 48.5%)

Total 50.4 (49.3 – 51.5%)

Forty nine states and the District of Columbia participated in the study. Weighted means were used. The sample size was 19,774. There were 12,774 women and 7000 men.

? Explain what (95% CI) means.

? How large is the error for men reporting influenza?

? What is the sample size?

? How does sample size affect the size of the confidence interval?

? Would the confidence intervals be larger or smaller for a 90% CI, using the same data?

? Where does the 51.5% under influenza for women fit into its associated 95% CI?