- Preface to the fifth edition
- Introduction to Volume 1: The scope of public health
- Introduction to Volume 2: The methods of public health
- Introduction to Volume 3: The practice of public health
- List of contributors
- Section 1 The development of the discipline of public health
- Section 2 Determinants of health and disease
- Section 3 Public health policies
- Section 4 Public health law and ethics
- Section 5 Information systems and sources of intelligence
- Section 6 Epidemiological and biostatistical approaches
- 6.1 Epidemiology: The foundation of public health
- 6.2 Ecologic variables, ecologic studies, and multilevel studies in public health research
- 6.3 Cross-sectional studies
- 6.4 Principles of outbreak investigation
- 6.5 Case–control studies*
- 6.6 Cohort studis
- 6.7 Methodology of intervention trials in individuals
- 6.8 Methodological issues in the design and analysis of community intervention trials
- 6.9 Community-based intervention studies in high-income countries
- 6.10 Community-based intervention trials in low- and middle-income countries
- 6.11 Clinical epidemiology
- 6.12 Validity and bias in epidemiological research
- 6.13 Causation and causal inference
- 6.14 Systematic reviews and meta-analysis
- 6.15 Statistical methods
- 6.16 Mathematical models of transmission and control
- 6.17 Public health surveillance
- Section 7 Social science techniques
- Section 8 Environmental and occupational health sciences
- Section 9 Major health problems
- Section 10 Prevention and control of public health hazards
- Section 11 Public health needs of population groups
- Section 12 Public health functions
- Index
(p. 454) Ecologic variables, ecologic studies, and multilevel studies in public health research
- Chapter:
- (p. 454) Ecologic variables, ecologic studies, and multilevel studies in public health research
- Author(s):
Ana V. Diez-Roux
- DOI:
- 10.1093/med/9780199218707.003.0027
This chapter reviews the use of ecologic variables, ecologic studies, and multilevel studies in epidemiology and public health. It begins with a discussion of the ecologic fallacy and the sources of the ecologic fallacy, placing it in the context of other fallacies related to the presence of multiple levels of organization. Other fallacies including the atomistic fallacy, psychologistic (or individualistic) fallacy and sociologistic fallacy are also reviewed. This is followed by a discussion of the uses of ecologic or group-level variables in epidemiology, distinguishing the use of these variables as proxies for individual-level data and as measures of true group-level constructs. The final sections contrast the advantages and disadvantages of individual-level studies, ecologic studies, and multilevel studies. Multilevel analysis is briefly reviewed. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the challenges inherent in multilevel studies and multilevel analysis. The importance of conceptualizing the multiple levels of organization relevant to a particular research question is emphasized throughout the chapter.
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- Preface to the fifth edition
- Introduction to Volume 1: The scope of public health
- Introduction to Volume 2: The methods of public health
- Introduction to Volume 3: The practice of public health
- List of contributors
- Section 1 The development of the discipline of public health
- Section 2 Determinants of health and disease
- Section 3 Public health policies
- Section 4 Public health law and ethics
- Section 5 Information systems and sources of intelligence
- Section 6 Epidemiological and biostatistical approaches
- 6.1 Epidemiology: The foundation of public health
- 6.2 Ecologic variables, ecologic studies, and multilevel studies in public health research
- 6.3 Cross-sectional studies
- 6.4 Principles of outbreak investigation
- 6.5 Case–control studies*
- 6.6 Cohort studis
- 6.7 Methodology of intervention trials in individuals
- 6.8 Methodological issues in the design and analysis of community intervention trials
- 6.9 Community-based intervention studies in high-income countries
- 6.10 Community-based intervention trials in low- and middle-income countries
- 6.11 Clinical epidemiology
- 6.12 Validity and bias in epidemiological research
- 6.13 Causation and causal inference
- 6.14 Systematic reviews and meta-analysis
- 6.15 Statistical methods
- 6.16 Mathematical models of transmission and control
- 6.17 Public health surveillance
- Section 7 Social science techniques
- Section 8 Environmental and occupational health sciences
- Section 9 Major health problems
- Section 10 Prevention and control of public health hazards
- Section 11 Public health needs of population groups
- Section 12 Public health functions
- Index