I. Theoretical Frameworks:
Summarize what is known and not known about the causes of the health problem described in Paper 1. Address causes at two or more levels (e.g., individual, health system, and neighborhood). For the study described in Paper 2, what was or might have been the public health, social science or policy motivation? How could the theory/theories used in Paper 1 inform the question the authors address in paper 2? What other theories might be relevant to the design of related prevention interventions, such as those described in papers 4 and 5? Your response should include discussion of environmental issues as discussed in Paper 3.
II. Methodological Frameworks:
Answer the following questions with regard to the methods and findings in Paper 2. You may answer each question one by one.
- What type of study design is this? Identify three defining design elements of the
- Identify the outcome (e.g., disease) and exposure under How were they operationalized?
- What measures of association (e.g., odds ratio) did the authors use to present their findings?
- Choose a measure of association that is important to the authors’ conclusion and interpret
- Describe how the exposure and outcome were
- Describe: 1) any potential measurement problems for the exposure and outcome, and 2) explain how any measurement problems may have affected the direction and magnitude of the associations. Be sure to explain your logic in detail. If you think there is no evidence of exposure or outcome measurement problems, please explain.
- Discuss presence or absence of design and/or execution problems with this study, such as confounding and selection bias, including how they may have affected the direction and magnitude of the estimate of the association between exposure and disease and/or the interpretation of the results of this
- Overall give an assessment of the validity of any potential causal inferences that could be made from the associations in this study. Please justify your assessment and indicate if there is any other analysis or information which, if provided, would inform the validity of any causal
III. Research Methods:
Describe an outline of a study plan and design (quantitative or qualitative) that you would adopt to investigate the research question in paper 2, please address the weaknesses you described in section II bearing in mind feasibility and ethical issues. Please ensure your study makes effective use of scarce research dollars and will deliver an answer in a timely fashion. Please give sufficient detail so that it is clear what you are proposing to do, for example the level of detail given in a typical paper, although you do not need to do a formal sample size calculation. Give a rationale for your chosen study design and explain its strengths and weaknesses.
Core Competencies for DPH Program
- Identify, develop, evaluate and recommend policy and programmatic interventions to improve population health at individual, community, government and country levels based on empirical evidence of social, political, cultural, biological, economic, historical, behavioral, environmental, and global factors in health and disease.
- Assess the mechanisms and pathways by which factors influence individual and population
- Design and conduct etiological, intervention, policy, implementation science and other empirical studies that contribute to new knowledge about population health
- Synthesize and apply methods, theories and data from multiple disciplines to understand and solve population health
- Generate, translate, communicate, and disseminate population health evidence to diverse audiences
- Demonstrate leadership skills to facilitate the goals of population health research and
- Design and deliver innovative educational experiences that promote learning about population health in academic and practice-based settings
- Implement professional and organizational ethical guidelines in population health research and
- Secure resources to conduct population health research and practice
