Painting 1

Matthew Painting
Matt Wilson
Writing 2
7 December 2016
WP2 Revision
Drinking alcohol is a very common activity throughout the world that people participate
in to socialize, celebrate, or to simply quench their thirst. Even though it is legal and most
people view drinking as a fun activity, drinking alcohol is actually extremely harmful and has led
to many problems with the law and health of many. Determining what kinds of people drink the
most and what the effects are of this drinking on the human body is the first step to an improved
society without these problems. Epidemiology and statistics are two academic disciplines that
have had a lot of research on the topic of alcohol consumption and have made progress in finding
solutions to making alcohol consumption safer. In statistics, researchers rely on analyzing
behavior and translating it into numbers to logically show a relationship between adolescent
alcohol consumption and parental behavior among alcohol while in epidemiology, researchers
conduct experiments to find a chemical-biological interaction with regards to alcohol to
objectively show how the consumption of alcohol influences the cause of cancer and other health
risks among humans with the similar goal of making alcohol consumption safer worldwide.
In my first discipline, statistics, the goal of the experiment was to answer whether or not
there is an association between adolescent alcohol consumption and their parents behavior
towards alcohol. To begin this experiment, the researchers identify the population and method
for their experiment. In the article I read, the population was shown by, This involved
distributing a survey to adolescents in their final two years of second level education and at least

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one of their parents (Murphy et al) explaining that the population for this experiment was
teenagers and their parents within this specific town. The method was shown by This survey
included: alcohol use, self- reported height and weight, smoking status, mental health
(Murphy et al). After data on the topic is attained, researchers conduct certain statistical tests and
analyses on the data such as reported being hazardous drinkers (34.2 %), more males (39.6
%; 95 % CI 31.947.3 %)) than females (29.9 %; 95 % CI 23.536.2 %)) (Murphy et al). This
is the part of statistical experiments that requires knowledge specific to the discipline because it
includes the advanced calculations as well as the jargon unique to statistics and might confuse
any reader that is not educated in the discipline. The researchers use the evidence they initially
collected from the surveys, and turn this evidence into specific percentages among which they
can calculate different tests and results.
After all of this is done, the researchers will create their conclusion which uses the results
calculated and explains the relevance of them and how they answer the driving question as a
whole. The researchers reflect on their process on what was good or bad, and then simply turn
the numbers into words so that everyone can understand the results such as The findings of this
research notes a liberal attitude to alcohol and increased levels of consumption by the parent are
linked to hazardous adolescent drinking behavior (Murphy et al). By stating this, the reader is
left understanding that there is a relationship between parental behavior and attitudes on alcohol
with their childrens behavior when it comes to alcohol. Throughout this process, the researchers
were able to rely on math and logic to show the reader how they went about each step to avoid
any confusion and leave the intended audience of researchers and parents understanding that
anyone trying to reduce adolescent drinking should focus their efforts on the parenting aspect
because they have a strong influence. Due to this disciplines research and logical flow, a big

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step is made in the process of reducing underage drinking.
Outside of statistics, another academic discipline that has shaped the topic of
alcohol is epidemiology, the study and analysis of causes and effects of certain health conditions.
In the monograph I read, the researchers are testing whether or not alcohol influences the
development of cancer in humans. This is a question that requires extensive background
knowledge such as the chemical makeup of certain drinks and the differences between alcohol
types so the researchers must answer these questions before they can accurately conduct this
experiment. For this experiment, since the researchers could not test humans and cause cancer,
the majority of the experiment is done by analyzing prior research and individuals. To do this,
the researchers looked over numerous studies and subjects to evaluate their drinking behavior in
addition to their prior health situation to better analyze how alcohol influences cancer in different
ways and on different parts of the body. One short analysis of the effects of alcohol on the body
from this research was Physical health problems include, notably, cirrhosis of the liver, cancers
at various sites (IARC). The researchers add all of the data they have collected from the
separate experiments together to have a better understanding of both alcohol and the human
body.
After conducting this research, the researchers now put all of the evidence they have
collected together to form their results. One example of the results found in this study was
These studies have consistently shown a strong correlation of esophageal cancer with the index
of alcohol consumption (IARC). Here, the researchers are translating what they found
throughout their study of the chemical-biological interactions into simpler words. Even so, the
writing will remain professional and in 3rd person. By doing this, the writer eliminates the few
biases that might have been present with one of the researchers writing and leaves the reader to

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form their own opinions and takeaways from the stated results.
One thing that makes this specific discipline unique is the structure and writing of
the text. There is much more background information than usual to ensure the reader
understands the process and has no doubts or confusion. For example, there are sections about
the production of alcoholic beverages and biological data explaining everything that the reader
might need to know to understand the rest of the experiment. In addition to this structure, the
advanced, scientific jargon such as carcinogenicity and xenobiotics makes it clear that the
intended audience is those that are familiar with the discipline prior to reading the text. As a
whole, the writing follows the objective, logical flow to answer all possible questions and
thoroughly explain to the reader the process and results.
Altogether, even though statistics is based on math while epidemiology is based on
science, both disciplines follow the approach of logic and objectivity in their experiments to
uncover the negative impacts of alcohol on the world and provide solutions. Through the
approach of taking surveys and calculating different results, the statistical researchers were able
to determine a relationship between adolescent and parent drinking in hopes of reducing
adolescent drinking worldwide. On the other hand, through the approach of identifying the
chemical-biological relationship of alcohol on humans by observing past patients and studies,
epidemiology researchers determined alcohol does influence the cause of certain types of cancers
and other health risks in humans with the goal of reducing cancer and improving human health
worldwide. Even with the very different disciplines and research questions, the unique approach
of both disciplines explained the process in which they were able to answer their main research
questions and use that information to uncover the harmful truth of alcohol in hopes of reducing
the negative impact it has on the world moving forward.

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Works Cited
1. Murphy, Eimar, Ian O'Sullivan, Derry O'Donovan, Ann Hope, and Martin P. Davoren.
"The Association between Parental Attitudes and Alcohol Consumption and Adolescent
Alcohol Consumption in Southern Ireland: A Cross-sectional Study." BMC Public
Health, August 18, 2016, 1-8. Accessed October 21, 2016.
http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=cbeb3bc4-dd5c-4afe-ae4310f75e676108@sessionmgr107&vid=4&hid=116
2. IARC. (1988). World Health Organization. Lyon, France: International Agency for
Research on Cancer. Retrieved October 24, 2016, from
https://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Monographs/vol44/mono44.pdf.