Brief Assignment 1: How Does Connecticut’s Substance Use Compare with the Nation

Brief Assignment 1: How Does Connecticut’s Substance Use Compare with the Nation

Brief Assignment 1: How Does Connecticut’s Substance Use Compare with the Nation and a Randomly Selected State?
For this assignment, you will be using data from the 2021-2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health to examine differences in drug use and alcohol/drug use disorders between Connecticut, the nation, and a randomly selected state.
The file containing the 2021-2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health is in this folder. To complete this assignment you will need to look at 8 of the tables in the document. Tables 2, 7, 9, 11, 12 & 13 contain the results of nationally representative data on the frequency of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, hallucinogen, methamphetamine, and prescriiption pain reliever misuse over the past year. Data includes the nation as a whole (Total U.S.) as well as each individual state. For all of these Tables except Table 9, focus on the first column of data (frequency of use in those aged 12 or older); for Table 9focus on the third column (frequency of use in those aged 18 or 25). Tables 23 & 25 contain the results of nationally representative data on the frequency of an alcohol use disorder and a drug use disorder in the nation as a whole and in each individual state. Again, focus on the first column of data (aged 12 or older).
Step 1: Compare Connecticut to the Nation
For each Table, compare the frequency for Connecticut with the Total U.S.
Classify the difference between the two as Very small, Small, Moderate, or Large using the following “percent of the percent” system: Take the higher of the 2 frequencies and divide it by the lower one. If the resulting value ranges from 0 to 1.0, classify the difference as Very small; if the value ranges from 1.1 to 2.0, classify the difference as Small; if the value ranges from 2.1 to 3.0, classify the difference as Moderate; if the difference is greater than 3.1,classify the difference as Large.
Construct a paragraph describing how Connecticut compares to the Total U.S. on the eight tables. You can integrate your data/calculations into the text of your response or place them in a separate table that you create. Conclude your paragraph noting the degree to which the results surprised you: Did you think Connecticut was going to be higher or lower in substance use and substance use disorders than the nation as a whole?
Step 2: Compare Connecticut to a Randomly Selected State
After you’ve compared Connecticut to the nation, choose an individual state to compare Connecticut with that begins with the same letter as your first or last name (e.g., if your last name is Smith you could select South Dakota or South Carolina). Run the same kind of analysis as you did in Step 1 and construct a paragraph describing how Connecticut compares to that state. As before, you can integrate your data/calculations into the text of your response or place them in a separate table that you create. Conclude your paragraph noting the degree to which the results surprised you: Did you think Connecticut was going to be higher or lower in substance use and substance use disorders than this other state?

Format:
Uploaded as an MS Word document or pdf
1” margins on all sides
Double spaced
12-point Times New Roman
Page numbered, with page number in the upper right or left hand corner
No formal citations/reference page needed

Due: 
Upload the assignment to Blackboard by end of the day on 2/4.