hods- Fall 2001.ppt

Epidemiologic Methods- Fall 2001 Definitions of Epidemiology The study of the distribution and determinants (causes) of disease e.g. cardiovascular epidemiology The method used to conduct human subject research the methodologic foundation of any research where individual humans or groups of humans are the unit of observation Understanding Measurement: Aspects of Reproducibility and Validity Review Measurement Scales Reproducibility importance sources of measurement variability methods of assessment by variable type: interval vs categorical Validity methods of assessment gold standards present no gold standard available Clinical Research Sample Measure Analyze Infer A study can only be as good as the data . . . -Martin Bland Measurement Scales Reproducibility vs Validity Reproducibility the degree to which a measurement provides the same result each time it is performed on a given subject or specimen Validity from the Latin validus - strong the degree to which a measurement truly measures (represents) what it purports to measure (represent) Reproducibility vs Validity Reproducibility aka: reliability, repeatability, precision, variability, dependability, consistency, stability Validity aka: accuracy Relationship Between Reproducibility and Validity Relationship Between Reproducibility and Validity Why Care About Reproducibility? Impact on Validity Mathematically, the upper limit of a measurement’s validity is a function of its reproducibility Consider a study to measure height in the community: Assume the measurement has imperfect reproducibility: if we measure height twice on a given person, we get two different values; 1 of the 2 values must be wrong (imperfect validity) If study measures everyone only once, errors, despite being random, lead to biased inferences in descriptive and analytic work (i.e. lack validity) Why Care About Reproducibility? Impact on Statistical Precision Classical Measurement Theory: observed value (O) = true value (T) +