Organ Donation Rates in the GTA

Team 4
Leo
Leo Fok
Fok
Zaid
ZaidAl-Suradi
Al-Suradi
Yaakov
Yaakov Erlich
Erlich
Keyvan
Keyvan Tahmasebi
Tahmasebi
Jennifer Song
Jennifer Song
Statement of Facts
 Organ Donation Rate in GTA is lower than rural
areas in Ontario

Definition
 Organ Donation Rate =

Number of Registered Donors/Population

Context
Reasons to signup Reasons not to signup
Save life Medical reasons
Help others in need Religion
I don’t need it, so why not? Disfigurement
Right thing to do Do not want to
Hypothesis
 Donation rate in the GTA is lower than rural areas
in Ontario:
Wealth Effect

Awareness /
Stress Level
Exposure

Organ
Donation
Rate in
Toronto
Stress Level
 Implication
 Higher stress levels lead to lower rate of registration
 How to Test
 Correlation
 Sample 10,000 People in the GTA and rural areas respectfully
 Use a swap test to measure their cortisol levels (an indication of stress levels)

 Causation
 Sample size of 10,000 individuals
 Clone the original sample
 Record original sample’s response
 Inject stress hormone into the cloned individuals; questionnaire is performed
Wealth Effect
 Implication
Lower perception of wealth leads to lower rate of registration
 How to Test
 Correlation
 Using statistical data, we establish that there is a higher proportion of low income families in GTA compared to
rural area

 Causation
 Two groups of people, 10,000 millionaires, and 10,000 individuals with zero assets. Provide questionnaire and
record their initial response
 Using super powers, we transfer the wealth from the millionaires group to the other group, erase their memory of
the initial survey and then record response again after 5 years
Awareness/ Exposure
 Implication
 Higher Awareness has a positive correlation with registration rates
 Implication
 Correlation
• Administer truth serum to a sample of 10,000 people from the GTA, and 10,000 people from rural areas then ask
them if they were aware or if they ever had the opportunity to sign up as an organ donor.
• Compare the two rates

 Causation
 We take 10,000 people who are representative of GTA population that are currently not aware of the donor
registration program, provide them with the knowledge and then provide them with the opportunity to sign up.
 Compared the test result with the current rate of registration in the GTA
Potential Findings
Although no concrete data was generated, we believe that a
positive/negative correlation between the results of the
aforementioned tests and our hypothesis would help explain
the current low rate in GTA compared to rural areas in
Ontario
Questions and Answers