203856 A statistician's reply: Comments on the history and sociology of statistics

Tuesday, November 10, 2009: 9:20 AM

Janet E. Rosenbaum, PhD, AM , School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
  
At every stage of research, statisticians are painstakingly careful not to allow their conclusions to overreach their data. Peer review examines every nuance of manuscripts to ensure that conclusions are limited to those that can be reasonably supported by the data. Once the research has been published, there remains one final stage of research: dissemination of findings to influence the field and policy. In research dissemination, researchers are called to answer questions that not only overreach their data, but involve entirely different subjects that are at best tangentially related to their own research. This talk discusses the balance between maximizing the effectiveness of dissemination and maintaining statistical correctness, using examples from Igo's and Epstein's books and the author's own research on virginity pledges.

Learning Objectives:
To comment on the statistical aspects of Igo's The Averaged American and Epstein's Inclusion: The Politics of Difference in Medical Research.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: My research is on methodology and statistics in public health.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: A History of U.S. Statistical Citizens: From the Politics of Average to the Politics of Difference
See more of: Statistics