The American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute both develop pamphlets and booklets to inform patients with cancer and their families about the nature and treatment of the illness. Written materials are often given to patients to reinforce verbal instructions, or in some cases, given in place of verbal instructions. Unfortunately, published materials may be written at a reading level that is difficult for many patients to understand.<br>The data presented here represent the readabilities of 30 booklets about cancer and the reading levels of 63 patients with cancer. A number of elementary but important statistical issues must be resolved before conclusions can be drawn. To analyze the data, students must be familiar with the notions of scales of measurement, data reduction, measuring center, constructing and interpreting displays, and reaching conclusions in real problems.
The CAUSE Research Group is supported in part by a member initiative grant from the American Statistical Association’s Section on Statistics and Data Science Education