Topic 2: What is a normal weight for a baby?

Objectives

When you have completed the reading and participated in the taught components for this week, we hope you will be able to

  • Explain the concept of a “normal” range in the context of health and populations;
  • Appraise presentations of data in published reports;
  • Choose data presentations for your own data that are appropriate and informative.

Lecture

If everybody is different, can we still make generalisable statements about them? How should we describe variability, and what do we mean when we say a measurement is “normal”? Using the example of weights of babies, this lecture will look at quantitative approaches to understanding and describing variation within populations.

Seminar

By looking at examples of how quantitative information is presented visually, students will be given the opportunity to discuss what can make a visual presentation of data special, and what can make it fall flat. They will also get some useful, everyday tips on presentation, to help them produce tables and graphs in a simple, readable and informative style in print.

Preparation for the week

In preparation for the lecture, read the article by Tim Cole, “Babies, bottles, breasts: is the WHO growth standard relevant?” Significance March 2007, pp6-10. The book chapters in Bland below provide you with reference material for the ideas covered in the lecture: you may want to look at this reading between the lecture and the seminar in order to consolidate these ideas.

Lecture notes and powerpoints

Set Reading


BOOK CHAPTERS

ARTICLE USED IN THE LECTURE

  • Wilcox AJ. On the importance – and the unimportance – of birthweight. Int J Epidemiol 2001;30:1233-1241

Additional Reading and Resources

BOOK CHAPTERS

 BOOKS

  • Freeman JV, Walters SJ & Campbell MJ (2008) How to display data. BMJ Blackwell (Oxford) (Read it here)
  • Tufte ER (2001) The visual display of quantitative information (2nd ed). Graphics Press (Cheshire, Connecticut) (Read it here)
  • Tufte ER (1990) Envisioning information. Graphics Press (Cheshire, Connecticut) (Check library availability or buy it here)

WEBSITES