SCAN users should ask themselves, "What question am I trying to answer?" or "What am I researching?" Answering these questions will help the user to determine which variables should be selected during each step of the table creation process.

For this example, we were interested in seeing a comparison of the frequencies and percents of 3 different blood lead levels (<10 ug/dl, >10 ug/dl, and >20 ug/dl) and how they compose the overall number of test cases on a yearly basis for the years 1999 through 2004. In order to generate the above table that answers our research interests, the following step-by-step process was followed on the "Create a Table" page.

STEP 1

Step One defines the variable whose levels will occupy the rows of the table. Users can select year, race, age, sex, test type, region, and blood lead level. For this example, Blood Lead Level was chosen.

STEP 2

Step Two defines the variable whose levels will occupy the columns of the table. Users can select year, race, age, sex, test type, region, and blood lead level. For this example, Year was chosen.

STEP 3

Step Three specifies the years of interest. If year is the chose as the row or column variable, the years you select in this step will occupy the rows or columns of your table. If year is neither a row nor column variable in your table, all years selected in this step will be summed together and shown in your table. For this example, we selected the default of all years, 1999 through 2004.

STEP 4

Step Four is an optional step if the user is interested in seeing on a particular demographic. For this example, we selected Black males of all age groups and all test types.

STEP 5

Step Five specifies the output level for the table. Users can select county or DHEC regions. For our example, we selected the default of Counties.

STEP 6

Step Six defines the geographic region to tally for your table. Users can select the entire state, a single county, any group of counties, or any group of DHEC regions. If trendline or bar charts are desired, users may select up to 15 counties or DHEC regions. To select a county simply click on the chosen county in the "Regions" box and then use the down arrow button so that the selected counties move to the "Selected Regions" box, or double click on the chosen region. Multiple regions can be selected by holding down the left mouse button and scrolling over the desired regions. Multiple regions can only be selected when region is chosen as a row or column variable. For this example, we did not change the default of All Counties in South Carolina.

STEP 7

Step Seven the user can specify blood lead level(s) that is desired. For this example, we selected 3 different blood lead levels (<10 ug/dl, >10 ug/dl, and >20 ug/dl) and the "All Levels" option.

STEP 8

Step Eight specifies the numeric output for the table. Users can select from frequencies, frequencies and percents by column, or frequencies and percents by row. For this example Frequencies and Percent by Column was selected.

STEP 9

Step Nine allows the user to select the output presentation format. The user can select any of the listed options: Table, Trendline and/or Bar Chart (Table is always generated). Some options will not be appropriate depending on the variables that users have selected in the previous steps. For this example Table, Trendline, and Bar chart was selected.

SUBMIT REQUEST

Submit the request after completing the step-by-step process. An output table will be promptly returned to the user based upon the specifications. Once the table is returned, the user can view, print, or download the table. The rotate option on the table allows the row and column variables to rotate. All specifications from the step-by-step process are defined in the table's title and labeling. Double-check this information to make sure you've obtained the information to answer your research objective. **Note: To generate the table in the above eample the user had to click the "rotate table" option.

TRENDLINE

In order to generate a Trendline the user must select Year as a column variable in step 2, and must also select at least 2 consecutive years in step 3. Below is an example of trendline from the same variable selection as above, again we chose Blood Lead Level as the row variable and Year as the column variable.

BAR CHART

To create the bar chart the Table, Trend-line, and Bar Chart option was selected as the output preference.

INTERPRETATION OF DATA

Interpretation of the table is the user's responsibility. Thorough labels are provided to make interpretation more intuitive. For this example, we see for all the blood level tests done in South Carolina on Black males less than 6 years old from 1999 to 2004, 96.6% of the test cases were less than <10 ug/dl.

WHEN USING THE TABLE

Please reference any data extracted from the SCAN system as follows: Source:Division of Biostatistics and Health GIS, PHSIS, SC DHEC.