See an example of a Infant and Child Health Table, Trendline, and Bar Chart 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 four DHEC regions and their associated live birth frequencies and rates by year for the years 1999 through 2003. 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, ethnicity, age of the child, birthweight, region, or child health indicators. For this example, Region was chosen. STEP 2 Step Two defines the variable whose levels will occupy the columns of the table. Users can select year, race, ethnicity, age of the child, birthweight, region, or child health indicators. For this example, Year was chosen. STEP 3 Step Three specifies the years of interest. If year is the chosen 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 all years, 1999 through 2003. STEP 4 Step Four is an optional step. In this example, we specified "White" as the race of the child along with all of the other default selections. If we were interested in seeing this same information for any other particular combination of race, ethnicity, birthweight, or age of child, this is the step where those levels would be defined. STEP 5 Step Five specifies the output level for the table. Users can select zip codes, counties or DHEC regions. For our example, we selected DHEC Region. 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 regions. To select a county simply click on the chosen county in the "Region" box and then use the down arrow button so that the selected counties move to the "Selected Region" box, or double click on the chosen region. Multiple regions can be selected only when region is chosen as a row or column variable. For this example, we selected four DHEC regions Region 1, Region 2, Region 3, and Region 4. STEP 7 Step Seven specifies the "Infant and Child Health" indicator of interest. In this example we are interested in the number of Live Births. The user can select multiple indicators as long as "Infant and Child Health Indicators" is selected as a row or column variable. To select an indicator simply click on the chosen indicator and then use the down arrow button so that the selected indicator moves to the "Selected" box, or double click on the chosen indicator. STEP 8 Step Eight specifies the numeric output for the table. Users can select from frequencies only, frequencies and rates, frequencies and percents by column, or frequencies and percents by row. For this example, Frequencies and Rates were 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. TRENDLINE AND BAR CHART In order to generate a Trendline the user must select Year as a column variable in step 2, and must also select consecutive years in step 3. Below is an example of trendline and bar chart from the same variable selection as above. 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 that Region 2 has the highest overall live birth rate of the four regions selected with a rate of 13.1 per 1000 live births, this rate has fluctuated slightly in the past five years dropping to 12.9 in 2003 from 13.4 in 1999. All other Regions selected have similar rates with Region 1 having the lowest single year rate of 11.7 in 2002. 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.