Methods of the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Four Country Survey
Methods of the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Four Country Survey
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DOI：
10.1136/tc.2005.013870
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发表时间：
2006-06-01
期刊：
影响因子：
5.2
通讯作者：
Laux, F. L.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Thompson, M. E.;Fong, G. T.;Laux, F. L.
本文概述了国际烟草控制 (ITC) 四国调查的设计特点、数据收集方法和分析策略，这是一项针对每个国家 2000 多名纵向受访者进行的前瞻性研究，并每年进行补充。这项调查具有独特的特点，使其在烟草使用和戒烟调查中脱颖而出。这些特征之一是使用理论驱动的概念模型。然而，本文的重点是调查的两个关键统计特征：纵向和“准实验”设计。虽然通常可以通过横断面或纵向研究来解决相同的科学问题，但后者的主要优点是能够将个体随时间的变化与基线人群之间的差异（即年龄和队列效应之间的差异）区分开来。此外，在准实验中，未实施特定新烟草控制政策的国家作为对照组，该国家将其作为对照组。总之，严格的研究方法的应用使这项调查成为丰富的数据资源，不仅可以评估政策，而且可以通过对吸烟者行为的纵向分析，获得对戒烟自然史的新见解。
This paper outlines the design features, data collection methods and analytic strategies of the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Four Country Survey, a prospective study of more than 2000 longitudinal respondents per country with yearly replenishments. This survey possesses unique features that sets it apart among surveys on tobacco use and cessation. One of these features is the use of theory-driven conceptual models. In this paper, however, the focus is on the two key statistical features of the survey: longitudinal and "quasi-experimental'' designs. Although it is often possible to address the same scientific questions with a cross-sectional or a longitudinal study, the latter has the major advantage of being able to distinguish changes over time within individuals from differences among people at baseline ( that is, differences between age and cohort effects). Furthermore, quasi-experiments, where countries not implementing a given new tobacco control policy act as the control group to which the country implementing such a policy will be compared, provide much stronger evidence than observational studies on the effects of national-level tobacco control policies. In summary, application of rigorous research methods enables this survey to be a rich data resource, not only to evaluate policies, but also to gain new insights into the natural history of smoking cessation, through longitudinal analyses of smoker behaviour.