In Case Study 6.4, which examined maternal smoking and child\'s IQ, one of the r
ID: 3135578 • Letter: I
Question
In Case Study 6.4, which examined maternal smoking and child's IQ, one of the results reported in the journal article was the average number of days the infant spent in the neonatal intensive care unit. The results showed an average of 0.35 day for infants of nonsmokers and an average of 0.58 day for the infants of women who smoked 10 or more cigarettes per day. In other words, the infants of smokers spent an average of 0.23 day more in neonatal intensive care. A 95% confidence interval for the difference in the two means extended from -3.02 days to + 2.57 days. Explain why it would have been misleading to report, "these results show that the infants of smokers spend more time in neonatal intensive care than do the infants of nonsmokers," even though it was true for the infants in this study.Explanation / Answer
The report did not indicate anywhere that the number of ciggerate smoked was 10 or more. Thus the report becomes misleading as it apprently includes infants whose mother smokes occasionally or less than 10 cigarretes.