Why and How Epidemiologists Should Use Mixed Methods.
Why and How Epidemiologists Should Use Mixed Methods.
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DOI：
10.1097/ede.0000000000001565
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发表时间：
2023-03-01
期刊：
影响因子：
5.4
通讯作者：
Paniagua-Avila, Alejandra
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Houghton, Lauren C.;Paniagua-Avila, Alejandra
流行病学领域目前的重点是因果推理遵循定量方法，并将研究问题限制在那些严格可量化的问题上。流行病学家如何研究他们无法轻易量化的生物社会文化公共卫生问题？混合方法提供了一种可能的解决办法，将定性的社会文化因素以及所研究人口的观点和背景纳入定量研究。在多元因果推理的视角之后，本文为有兴趣将混合方法应用于因果识别和解释的观察性研究的流行病学家提供了指南。我们首先回顾当前指导定量、定性和混合方法的范例。然后，我们描述了收敛和顺序混合方法设计在流行病学概念中的应用，包括混淆、中介、效应修正、测量和选择偏差。我们提供了流行病学家如何使用混合方法来回答复杂的生物社会文化健康结果的研究问题的具体例子。我们还包括一个在观察性研究设计中使用混合方法的案例研究。我们描述了混合方法如何增强流行病学家如何定义潜在的因果结构。我们将混合方法研究设计与流行病学概念结合起来，解决了当前流行病学教育中的一个主要缺口——流行病学家如何系统地确定因果结构中的内容？
The field of epidemiology’s current focus on causal inference follows a quantitative approach and limits research questions to those that are strictly quantifiable. How can epidemiologists study biosociocultural public health problems that they cannot easily quantify? The mixed-methods approach offers a possible solution by incorporating qualitative sociocultural factors as well as the perspective and context from the population under study into quantitative studies. After a pluralist perspective of causal inference, this article provides a guide for epidemiologists interested in applying mixed methods to their observational studies of causal identification and explanation. We begin by reviewing the current paradigms guiding quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methodologies. We then describe applications of convergent and sequential mixed-methods designs to epidemiologic concepts including confounding, mediation, effect modification, measurement, and selection bias. We provide concrete examples of how epidemiologists can use mixed methods to answer research questions of complex bio-socio-cultural health outcomes. We also include a case study of using mixed methods in an observational study design. We describe how mixed methods can enhance how epidemiologists define underlying causal structures. Our alignment of mixed-methods study designs with epidemiologic concepts addresses a major gap in current epidemiology education— how do epidemiologists systematically determine what goes into causal structures?
影响因子：
3.7
作者：
Houghton LC;Cooper GD;Booth M;Chowdhury OA;Troisi R;Ziegler RG;Katki HA;Hoover RN;Bentley GR
通讯作者：
Bentley GR