- Section 1 The development of the discipline of public health
- Section 2 Determinants of health and disease
- Section 3 Public health policies, law, and ethics
- Section 4 Information systems and sources of intelligence
- Section 5 Epidemiological and biostatistical approaches
- 5.1 Epidemiology: the foundation of public health
- 5.2 Ecological variables, ecological studies, and multilevel studies in public health research
- 5.3 Cross-sectional studies
- 5.4 Principles of outbreak investigation
- 5.5 Case–control studies
- 5.6 Cohort studies
- 5.7 Methodology of intervention trials in individuals
- 5.8 Methodological issues in the design and analysis of community intervention trials
- 5.9 Community intervention trials in high-income countries
- 5.10 Community-based intervention trials in low- and middle-income countries
- 5.11 Clinical epidemiology
- 5.12 Genetic epidemiology
- 5.13 Validity and bias in epidemiological research
- 5.14 Causation and causal inference
- 5.15 Systematic reviews and meta-analysis
- 5.16 Statistical methods
- 5.17 Measuring the health of populations: the Global Burden of Disease study methods
- 5.18 Mathematical models of transmission and control of infectious agents
- 5.19 Public health surveillance
- 5.20 Life course epidemiology and analysis
- Section 6 Social science techniques
- Section 7 Environmental and occupational health sciences
- Section 8 Major health problems
- Section 9 Prevention and control of public health hazards
- Section 10 Public health needs of population groups
- Section 11 Public health functions
(p. 411) Ecological variables, ecological studies, and multilevel studies in public health research
- Chapter:
- (p. 411) Ecological variables, ecological studies, and multilevel studies in public health research
- Author(s):
Ana V. Diez Roux
- DOI:
- 10.1093/med/9780199661756.003.0104
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, the psychologistic(or individualistic) fallacy and the sociologistic fallacy are also reviewed. The chapter then discusses 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.
Access to the complete content on Oxford Medicine Online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts for each book and chapter without a subscription.
Please subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.
For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
- Section 1 The development of the discipline of public health
- Section 2 Determinants of health and disease
- Section 3 Public health policies, law, and ethics
- Section 4 Information systems and sources of intelligence
- Section 5 Epidemiological and biostatistical approaches
- 5.1 Epidemiology: the foundation of public health
- 5.2 Ecological variables, ecological studies, and multilevel studies in public health research
- 5.3 Cross-sectional studies
- 5.4 Principles of outbreak investigation
- 5.5 Case–control studies
- 5.6 Cohort studies
- 5.7 Methodology of intervention trials in individuals
- 5.8 Methodological issues in the design and analysis of community intervention trials
- 5.9 Community intervention trials in high-income countries
- 5.10 Community-based intervention trials in low- and middle-income countries
- 5.11 Clinical epidemiology
- 5.12 Genetic epidemiology
- 5.13 Validity and bias in epidemiological research
- 5.14 Causation and causal inference
- 5.15 Systematic reviews and meta-analysis
- 5.16 Statistical methods
- 5.17 Measuring the health of populations: the Global Burden of Disease study methods
- 5.18 Mathematical models of transmission and control of infectious agents
- 5.19 Public health surveillance
- 5.20 Life course epidemiology and analysis
- Section 6 Social science techniques
- Section 7 Environmental and occupational health sciences
- Section 8 Major health problems
- Section 9 Prevention and control of public health hazards
- Section 10 Public health needs of population groups
- Section 11 Public health functions