IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aph/ajpbhl/19998981175-1180_9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • Schwartz, S.
  • Carpenter, K.M.

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 cause of interindividual variation and the causes of variation between populations and time periods may be distinct. The problem of examining invariant causes deserves attention.

Suggested Citation

  • Schwartz, S. & Carpenter, K.M., 1999. "The right answer for the wrong question: Consequences of type III error for public health research," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 89(8), pages 1175-1180.
    • Handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:1999:89:8:1175-1180_9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. McAneney, H. & McCann, J.F. & Prior, L. & Wilde, J. & Kee, F., 2010. "Translating evidence into practice: A shared priority in public health?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(10), pages 1492-1500, May.
    2. Schwartz, Sharon & Meyer, Ilan H., 2010. "Mental health disparities research: The impact of within and between group analyses on tests of social stress hypotheses," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(8), pages 1111-1118, April.
    3. Valérie Lederer & Karen Messing & Hélène Sultan-Taïeb, 2022. "How Can Quantitative Analysis Be Used to Improve Occupational Health without Reinforcing Social Inequalities? An Examination of Statistical Methods," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-19, December.
    4. Gittte Kloek & Frank Lenthe & Yvonne Meertens & Maria Koelen & Johan Mackenbach, 2006. "Process Evaluation of a Dutch Community Intervention to improve Health Related Behaviour in deprived neighbourhoods," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 51(5), pages 259-272, November.
    5. Bauer, Greta R., 2014. "Incorporating intersectionality theory into population health research methodology: Challenges and the potential to advance health equity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 10-17.
    6. Bridget O'Laughlin & Moritz Hunsmann, 2016. "Forum 2016," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 47(4), pages 798-817, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:1999:89:8:1175-1180_9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Christopher F Baum (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.apha.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.