Skip to main content
NCBI home page
American Journal of Public Health logoLink to American Journal of Public Health
. 1999 Aug;89(8):1175–1180. doi: 10.2105/ajph.89.8.1175

The right answer for the wrong question: consequences of type III error for public health research.

S Schwartz 1, K M Carpenter 1
PMCID: PMC1508697  PMID: 10432902

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the impact of assessing the causes of interindividual variation within a population when the research question of interest is about causes of differences between populations or time periods. This discrepancy between the research focus and the research question is referred to as a type III error, one that provides the right answer for the wrong question. METHODS: Homelessness, obesity, and infant mortality were used to illustrate different consequences of type III errors. These different consequences depend on the relationships between the causes of within- and between-group variation. CONCLUSIONS: The causes of inter-individual variation and the causes of variation between populations and time periods may be distinct. The problem of examining invariant causes deserves attention.

Full text

PDF
1175

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Blumenthal D., Campbell E. G., Anderson M. S., Causino N., Louis K. S. Withholding research results in academic life science. Evidence from a national survey of faculty. JAMA. 1997 Apr 16;277(15):1224–1228. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Breakey W. R. It's time for the public health community to declare war on homelessness. Am J Public Health. 1997 Feb;87(2):153–155. doi: 10.2105/ajph.87.2.153. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Ching P. L., Willett W. C., Rimm E. B., Colditz G. A., Gortmaker S. L., Stampfer M. J. Activity level and risk of overweight in male health professionals. Am J Public Health. 1996 Jan;86(1):25–30. doi: 10.2105/ajph.86.1.25. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Cohen C. I. Down and out in New York and London: a cross-national comparison of homelessness. Hosp Community Psychiatry. 1994 Aug;45(8):769–776. doi: 10.1176/ps.45.8.769. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Herman D. B., Susser E. S., Struening E. L., Link B. L. Adverse childhood experiences: are they risk factors for adult homelessness? Am J Public Health. 1997 Feb;87(2):249–255. doi: 10.2105/ajph.87.2.249. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hewitt J. K. The genetics of obesity: what have genetic studies told us about the environment. Behav Genet. 1997 Jul;27(4):353–358. doi: 10.1023/a:1025687930765. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hogue C. J., Buehler J. W., Strauss L. T., Smith J. C. Overview of the National Infant Mortality Surveillance (NIMS) project--design, methods, results. Public Health Rep. 1987 Mar-Apr;102(2):126–138. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Kleinman J. C., Kessel S. S. Racial differences in low birth weight. Trends and risk factors. N Engl J Med. 1987 Sep 17;317(12):749–753. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198709173171207. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Koegel P., Melamid E., Burnam m. A. Childhood risk factors for homelessness among homeless adults. Am J Public Health. 1995 Dec;85(12):1642–1649. doi: 10.2105/ajph.85.12.1642. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Koopman J. S. Interaction between discrete causes. Am J Epidemiol. 1981 Jun;113(6):716–724. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a113153. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Koopman J. S., Weed D. L. Epigenesis theory: a mathematical model relating causal concepts of pathogenesis in individuals to disease patterns in populations. Am J Epidemiol. 1990 Aug;132(2):366–390. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a115666. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Kuczmarski R. J., Flegal K. M., Campbell S. M., Johnson C. L. Increasing prevalence of overweight among US adults. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, 1960 to 1991. JAMA. 1994 Jul 20;272(3):205–211. doi: 10.1001/jama.272.3.205. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Rose G. Sick individuals and sick populations. Int J Epidemiol. 1985 Mar;14(1):32–38. doi: 10.1093/ije/14.1.32. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Rosenheck R., Fontana A. A model of homelessness among male veterans of the Vietnam War generation. Am J Psychiatry. 1994 Mar;151(3):421–427. doi: 10.1176/ajp.151.3.421. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Rowley D. L. Research issues in the study of very low birthweight and preterm delivery among African-American women. J Natl Med Assoc. 1994 Oct;86(10):761–764. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Schwartz S., Susser E., Susser M. A future for epidemiology? Annu Rev Public Health. 1999;20:15–33. doi: 10.1146/annurev.publhealth.20.1.15. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Sclar E. D. Homelessness and housing policy: a game of musical chairs. Am J Public Health. 1990 Sep;80(9):1039–1040. doi: 10.2105/ajph.80.9.1039. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Susser E., Moore R., Link B. Risk factors for homelessness. Epidemiol Rev. 1993;15(2):546–556. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.epirev.a036133. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Susser M., Susser E. Choosing a future for epidemiology: I. Eras and paradigms. Am J Public Health. 1996 May;86(5):668–673. doi: 10.2105/ajph.86.5.668. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Susser M. What is a cause and how do we know one? A grammar for pragmatic epidemiology. Am J Epidemiol. 1991 Apr 1;133(7):635–648. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a115939. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from American Journal of Public Health are provided here courtesy of American Public Health Association

RESOURCES