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Week 4 Discussion

Instructions for week 4 assignment

The average height for all males is 69.3 inches with a standard deviation of 2.8 inches. For females, the average height is 64 inches and the standard deviation is 2.8.  These are population values. For this week’s discussion, you will calculate a z-score based on your own height and determine whether your score is within the 95% normal range or if it is out of that range and considered unusual.

· Measure your height as precisely as possible to a tenth of an inch. For example, 5’2 ¼” would be 62.3 inches tall.

· Calculate the z-score based on population values for males or females.  Use the formula:  z= (x-µ)/σ where x is your height in inches.

· Calculate the normal range by creating the interval that is within 2 standard deviations of the population mean.  Multiply the population standard deviation by 2 and then add/subtract from the population mean.

In your discussion post, include the following, based on your calculations.

· Is your height within the normal range?  Is this what you expected?

· Would your height be considered unusual?  Why or why not.

· Have you encountered any challenges based on your height?  For example, someone who is shorter or taller may have a difficult time finding pants that are an appropriate length.

· How is the concept of normality used in your field?  Example: a patient’s blood pressure is compared to a normal range of values and a financial planner may check the “average” return of a stock.

· How does knowing what is usual help people and corporations and government organizations plan?  For example, how do airplane manufacturers use the normal height to design aircraft seating?

Please be sure to validate your opinions and ideas with citations and references in APA format.

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Responses

Instructions:

Please respond to a minimum of two peers. Include in your response:

· Using the height of your classmate calculate the z-score using the mean and standard deviation for the other gender. That is, if they calculated z for a male, calculate for a female.  Would their height be unusual for a different gender?

· What are some other ways the concept of normality might be used in their field?

· What are some challenges for very tall and short people that were not mentioned? What about their social life?  Do females always want to date someone taller?  Do men want to date someone shorter?

Please be sure to validate your opinions and ideas with citations and references in APA format.

Response one:

Brook: My height is 61.75 inches or 5’1 ¾”. 

Z-score is -0.804.

Normal range 58.4 inches – 69.6 inches. 

My height is within normal range, and this is not what I expected. I have always been one of the shortest, if not the shortest person in my friend group, in most of classes, and at my jobs. I was never considered to be an average height around my peers, but I am within the normal range according to these statistics. My height would be considered usual because a value is only “”unusual” if it is more than 2 standard deviations away from the mean” (Lachow, 2012).

I have encountered a few challenges being the size that I am. I understand that this is considered normal, however, I have shorter legs than some people that are my height.I have always struggled to find pants that fit, dresses that don’t go past my knees, and I even struggle with my compression socks for work because they are too long to fit over just my lower leg, and go above my knees. 

The concept of normality of statistics in my field of medicine is used when measuring lab values and vital signs. We have normal ranges to base our measured values off of and there is always a normal range that is given, meaning you are in good health if you meet those ranges. So for example, the normal range of white blood cells in the body “is 4,500 to 11,000 WBCs per microliter” (UCSF Health, 2020). When we are looking at a patients white blood cell count, if there are in the normal range, we do not worry, but if the value is significantly higher than the normal, we consider that the patient might have an infection. If the value is significantly below the average, we worry that this patient is immunocompromised. 

Car companies can use the normal range of human height to design the seats in a car. Cars have adjustable seats in the front, that can move closer or farther from the dashboard and higher or lower to help with field of view. These companies can use the normal range to design the length of the adjustable seating, where the mean of height would be in the middle of the adjuster, the minimum average would be the front end of the adjuster, and the maximum end would be the rear end of the adjuster. 

References

Lachow, G. (2012, January 6). Z-Scores and Unusual Values. Prezi.Com. 

https://prezi.com/kmrh6mjaeyuq/z-scores-and-unusual-values/#:%7E:text=A%20value%20is%20%22unusual%22%20if,deviations%20away%20from%20the%20mean.&text=A%20z%2Dscore%20of%202,standard%20deviations%20below%20the%20mean (Links to an external site.)

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UCSF Health. (2020, October 7). WBC Count. Ucsfhealth.Org. 

https://www.ucsfhealth.org/medical-tests/003643#:%7E:text=Normal%20Results,provider%20about%20your%20test%20results (Links to an external site.)

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Response two

Lee: My height is 66 inches.

Z score- 0.71

The normal range is 58.4-69.6

My height is considered normal based that it falls within the normal range. I would not consider my height to be unusual I have always felt average. Sometimes I feel talk and sometimes I feel short. I haven’t ever found my height to be a problem, but sometimes when I try to reach to top shelf I can’t. I don’t have issues finding pants the right length. I sometimes feel like I need to be closer to the stirring wheel to drive because I am shorter than my husband who is 6’1. If I compare myself to him, I always feel short. 

· How is the concept of normality used in your field?  Example: a patient’s blood pressure is compared to a normal range of values and a financial planner may check the “average” return of a stock.

This is a concept that I am very interested in and actually have a harder time really making sense of becasue I think we are all so different. For instance blood pressure are considered normal at 120/80. I however, run very low at 90/50 normally, so when I go to the doctor and am in pain, I can be 120/80 and be considered “normal” although that is not my normal.

“The reference interval is an extremely useful means of contextualising a patient’s result but it is wrong to automatically assume ‘normality’ of a result within that interval, just as it is wrong to assume abnormality outside of the interval. Normality is relative and situational. With understanding of the nature of the reference interval, logical decisions can be made that will improve the effectiveness of the clinical consultation.” (Whyte, 2018)

· How does knowing what is usual help people and corporations and government organizations plan?  For example, how do airplane manufacturers use the normal height to design aircraft seating?

I think it is interesting with blood work as well. I love the information I found in the article I researched and it makes me think that we need to do a better job at establishing normal values for our patients. I think that we should be taking standard bloodwork starting at age 18 and repeating bloodwork through out life, not just when we think something is off. We could have a better understanding of each individual and where they land on the normality scale, and follow that through life. 

I do think that having the normal ranges helps give us guidelines to understand where some can fall and helps us in the healthcare profession make decisions based on “normal”, but I think that sometimes we can get into to much of a routine or have to many patients and use the base numbers as full truth for every patient and forget to care for them as an individual. Which may not always be accurate. 

Reference:

Whyte MB, Kelly. (2018) PThe normal range: it is not normal and it is not a rangePostgraduate Medical Journal 2018;94:613-616.