Separated at birth: statisticians, social scientists, and causality in health services research

Health Serv Res. 2011 Apr;46(2):397-420. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6773.2010.01203.x. Epub 2010 Nov 24.

Abstract

Objective: Health services research is a field of study that brings together experts from a wide variety of academic disciplines. It also is a field that places a high priority on empirical analysis. Many of the questions posed by health services researchers involve the effects of treatments, patient and provider characteristics, and policy interventions on outcomes of interest. These are causal questions. Yet many health services researchers have been trained in disciplines that are reluctant to use the language of causality, and the approaches to causal questions are discipline specific, often with little overlap. How did this situation arise? This paper traces the roots of the division and some recent attempts to remedy the situation.

Data sources and settings: Existing literature.

Study design: Review of the literature.

Publication types

  • Historical Article
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Causality*
  • Comparative Effectiveness Research
  • Data Interpretation, Statistical
  • Health Services Research / history
  • Health Services Research / methods*
  • History, 20th Century
  • Humans
  • Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
  • Social Sciences / history
  • Social Sciences / methods
  • Statistics as Topic / history
  • Statistics as Topic / methods
  • United States