Affiliation:
1. Department of Mathematics Embry‐Riddle Aeronautical University Daytona Beach Florida USA
2. Department of Mathematical Sciences Ball State University Muncie Indiana USA
Abstract
AbstractWe discuss a case study on how misinformation regarding Covid‐19 health outcomes can arise due to confounding. Data from the UK on mortality rates suggest that people who have some level of vaccination and contract the Delta variant of Covid are twice as likely to die than those who are unvaccinated. Age, however, a confounding variable, when accounted for, produces a more complicated picture. The mortality rates for the vaccinated are statistically lower than the unvaccinated for the older but not younger age group. We present several approaches for teaching confounding to help students better understand this underemphasized concept's cause, effects, and origins.
Subject
Education,Statistics and Probability