Implicit Value Judgments in the Measurement of Health Inequalities
Implicit Value Judgments in the Measurement of Health Inequalities
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DOI：
10.1111/j.1468-0009.2010.00587.x
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发表时间：
2010-03-01
影响因子：
6.6
通讯作者：
Lynch, John
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Harper, Sam;King, Nicholas B.;Lynch, John
研究方法：我们讨论了五个示例，其中规范性判断在测量过程本身中发挥作用，通过选择一种测量策略而排除其他策略，或者选择分配给被测量变量的类型、重要性或权重。结果：总的来说，我们发现，许多常用的不平等衡量标准都是价值负载的，这些衡量标准中隐含的规范性判断具有重要意义。解释和应对健康不平等的后果。结论：由于健康不平等措施的产生隐含的价值观可能会导致从根本上不同的解释相同的基础数据，我们敦促研究人员明确考虑和透明地讨论他们的措施的规范性判断。我们还敦促决策者和其他健康不平等数据的消费者密切关注他们评估当前和未来卫生政策所依据的措施。
Methods: We discuss five examples in which normative judgments play a role in the measurement process itself, through either the selection of one measurement strategy to the exclusion of others or the selection of the type, significance, or weight assigned to the variables being measured.Findings: Overall, we find that many commonly used measures of inequality are value laden and that the normative judgments implicit in these measures have important consequences for interpreting and responding to health inequalities.Conclusions: Because values implicit in the generation of health inequality measures may lead to radically different interpretations of the same underlying data, we urge researchers to explicitly consider and transparently discuss the normative judgments underlying their measures. We also urge policymakers and other consumers of health inequalities data to pay close attention to the measures on which they base their assessments of current and future health policies.