Week 5

During the week I met with Chuck in order to go over some of my data and my approach to analysis. After talking with Chuck and determining what type of approach I would take in data analysis, I quickly saw that there was not enough data available for the specific regions I had in mind. Thus, as I stated in the presentation this presented itself as a limitation for my project.

After presenting on Friday I received quite a bit of helpful questions and suggestions. As suggested, I will now try to look at obesity over 5 year increments (of the data is available) for all California counties instead of just San Joaquin valley. Thus, I will be attempting to do a comparison of the specified variables between different regions or groups of counties. In doing this I will be able to see if there is a trend and better establish whether or not there is a relationship between obesity and prostate cancer.

Another insightful suggestion I received was to look at whether there was more than just a linear relationship between the two variables. Obesity is a complex disease and it is likely that the relationship with cancer (if it exist) is more complicated than thought to be. I will continue to meet with my mentors and see if I can establish a better plan of analysis and hopefully depict clearer and more in depth results.


Overall, it was interesting to see how everyone's projects are going along. It was also a relief to hear that others were experiencing some difficulties as there projects progressed as well.