In order to study the effects of pharmaceutical and chemical agents on mucociliary clearance, doctors often use the ciliary beat frequency (CBF) as an index of ciliary activity. One accepted way to measure CBF in a subject is through the collection and analysis of an endobronchial forceps biopsy specimen. However, this technique is a rather invasive method for measuring CBF. In a study designed to assess the effectiveness of less invasive procedures for measuring CBF, Low et al. (1984) considered the alternative technique of nasal brushing. The data in Table 8.10 are a subset of the data collected by Low et al. during their investigation.
The subjects in the study were all men undergoing bronchoscopies for diagnoses of a variety of pulmonary problems. The CBF values reported in Table 8.10 are averages of 10 consecutive measurements on each subject.
Test the hypothesis of independence versus the alternative that the CBF measurements via nasal brushing and endobronchial forceps biopsy are positively associated (and, therefore, that nasal brushing is an acceptable alternative to the more invasive endobronchial forceps biopsy technique for measuring CBF).
