3.36 Time series plot of organ donations: The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) is a nonprofit organization that compiles data from a range of institutions—from governmental organizations to hospitals to universities. Among the many topics that interest public health specialists is the problem of low levels of organ donation. Medical advances have led to ever-increasing rates of transplantation, but organ donation has not kept up with doctors’ ability to perform more sophisticated and more complicated surgeries. Data reported by CIHI (https://secure.cihi.ca/free_products/2015_CORR_AnnualReport_ ENweb.pdf, 2015) provide Canadian transplantation and donation rates for 2001 to 2010. Here are the donor rates per million in the population; these numbers include only deceased donors.

Year Donor Rate per Million People 2001 13.4 2002 12.9 2003 13.3 2004 12.9 2005 12.7 2006 14.1 2007 14.7 2008 14.4 2009 14.4 2010 13.6

a. Construct a time series plot from these data. Be sure to label and title your graph.

b. What story are these data telling?

c. If you worked in public health and were studying the likelihood that families would agree to organ donation after a loved one’s death, what research question might you ask about the possible reasons for the trend suggested by these data?