MINUSVS-tomswebpage.docVIP

MINUS VS. DIVIDED BY Thomas R. Knapp ? 2008 Introduction You would like to compare two quantities A and B that have been measured on the same scale. Do you find the difference between the quantities or their quotient? If their difference, which gets subtracted from which? If their quotient, which quantity goes in the numerator and which goes in the denominator? The research literature is somewhat silent regarding all of those questions. What follows is an attempt to at least partially rectify that situation by providing some considerations regarding when to focus on A-B, B-A, A/B, or B/A. Examples 1. You are interested in the heights of John Doe (70 inches) and his young son, Joe Doe (35 inches). Is it the positive difference 70 - 35 = 35, the negative difference 35 - 70 = -35, the quotient 70/35 = 2, or the quotient 35/70 = 1/2 = .5 that is of primary concern? 2. You are interested in the percentage of smokers in a particular population who got lung cancer (10%) and the percentage of non-smokers in that population who got lung cancer (2%). Is it the “attributable risk” 10% - 2% = 8%, the corresponding attributable risk 2% - 10% = -8%, the “relative risk” 10%/2% = 5, or the corresponding “relative risk” 2%/10% =1/5 =.2 that you should care about? 3. You are interested in the probability of drawing a spade from an ordinary deck of cards and the probability of not drawing a spade. Is it 13/52 - 39/52 = -26/52 = -1/2 = -.5, 39/52 - 13/52 = 26/52 = 1/2 = .5, (13/52)/(39/52) = 1/3, or (39/52)/(13/52) = 3 that best operationalizes a comparison between those two probabilities. 4. You are interested in the change from pretest to posttest of an experimental group that averaged 20 on the pretest and 30 on the posttest, as opposed to a control group that averaged 20 on the pretest and 10 on the posttest. Which numbers should you compare, and how should you compare them? Considerations for those examples 1. The negative difference isnt very useful, other than as