Table 7.30 compares two hospitals on the outcomes of patient admissions for severe pneumonia. Although patient status is an ordinal variable, two researchers who analyze the data treat it as an interval variable. The first researcher assigns the scores (0, 5, 10) to the three categories.

The second researcher, believing that the middle category is much closer to the third category than to the first, uses the scores (0, 9, 10). Each researcher calculates the means for the two institutions and identifies the institution with the higher mean as the one having more success in treating its patients. Find the two means for the scoring system used by

(a) the first researcher,

(b) the second researcher. Interpret. (Since conclusions can depend on the scoring system, if you treat ordinal variables as quantitative, take care in selecting scores.)

TABLE 7.30 Patient Status Died in Released after Released after Hospital Lengthy Stay Brief Stay Hospital A 1 29 0 Hospital B 8 8 14