Key to Chapter 16 Review Questions
�16.1 Introduction
- Without accurate knowledge of
cause, 'the effort which have been made to oppose [the problem will have]
a contrary effect' (paraphrasing Snow's quote, p. 289).
- When discovery of effective
preventive measures pre-date identification of the definitive cause.
- Causal inference is the
process of deriving cause-and-effect conclusions from fact and knowledge.
- No, but a statement of proof
can be strong and overwhelming.
- True
- The two types of
epidemiologic decisions are (1) those having to do with scientific hypotheses
and (2) those having to do with public health actions. The former requires
rigorous skepticism. The later may require
making a reasonable choice based on available information.
- See Table 16.1, p. 290.
- Induction is the process of
deriving general law from particular observations. The Problem of
Induction is the philosophical quandary
that observed sequences do not prove cause and effect (post hoc propter
hoc).
- True. Refutationists
believe that a theory is not scientific unless it is falsifiable. (Note
that not all scientists are Refutationists.)
- Because the next swan you see
may not be white. See "The Problem of Induction."
- No number of observations can
prove a hypothesis, but one strong disproof can nail it shut.
�16.2 Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General on Smoking and Health
- 1964
- False, of course
- True
- Consistency; Strength;
Specificity; Temporality; Biological coherence
�16.3 Hill's Framework
- Ratio measures, like the RR,
SMR, and OR
- Strong associations are less
likely to be explained by confounding. (See the comment by Hill in the
middle of page 294 for an elegant discussion of strong vs. weak
associations.)
- No. There are many occasions
in health when slight associations are true.
- No. They may all be
"incorrect".
- True. The cause must always
precede the effect. Proper temporality is (perhaps) the only required
criteria.
- See Fig 16.2: merely replace T.
canis with "environmental lead".
- Alcohol consumption and
cardiovascular disease risk (i.e., moderate levels decrease CVD risk; high
levels increase CVD risk).
- Coherence holds that
all sources of evidence "stick together". Plausibility
holds that relations can be explained by current knowledge.
- In vitro, in vivo animal
models, in vivo physiologic studies, community/clinical/field
trials.
- Analogy
- Biological gradient
- Consistency, Strength,
Specificity, Temporality, Biological Gradient, Plausibility, Coherence,
Experimentation, Analogy
- (1) = e, (2) = f, (3) = a,
(4) = b, (5) = d