Analysis:

For my analysis, I intend to conduct hypothesis testing to verify the claim that pollen from London plane trees lead to asthma attacks. My null hypothesis states that zip codes with more plane trees will have lower asthma discharge counts and rates. I intend to conduct Pearson's test for correlation at the significance level of 0.05 to calculate the correlation coefficient and the p-value to test for non-correlation. From the correlation coefficient, the relationship between the two variables can be identified. A value of 0 will indicate that there is no relationship, whereas a value more than 0 will imply a positive relationship, while a value less than 0 will imply a negative relationship. At the significance level of 0.05, a large p-value will mean that there is insufficient evidence at the existing significance level to reject the null hypothesis. 

Deliverable: 

After my analysis, I expect to have an understanding of the correlation between London plane trees and asthma attacks. Based on my results, if a positive relationship is identified and the null hypothesis is rejected, I will be able to identify areas that are most at risk based on tree count. The project can also be expanded to include other tree types that have been suggested to trigger asthma. On the policy level, my project will suggest the need for more inter-agency cooperation, particularly between the Department of Parks and Recreation, and the Department of Health. Otherwise, if I fail to reject the null hypothesis, additional factors may have to be considered to identify other environmental causes of asthma. These other factors include indoor air pollution, 311 complaint data and construction data. In addition, a more in depth analysis of the distribution of asthma discharges across the city will have to be studied in relation to census data to better understand any underlying factors that may overshadow the actual effect of the plane trees.