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14 - Interpreting results from different sources of data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2009

Tom Marshall
Affiliation:
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
Véronique Filippi
Affiliation:
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
André Meheus
Affiliation:
University of Antwerp, Belgium
Aysen Bulut
Affiliation:
Institute of Child Health, Istanbul, Turkey
Shireen Jejeebhoy
Affiliation:
The Population Council, New Delhi, India
Michael Koenig
Affiliation:
The Johns Hopkins University
Christopher Elias
Affiliation:
Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, Seattle
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Summary

Diseases and illnesses are matters of classification, and they change as social values about ‘normal’ aspects of age, fitness, and gender change. Yes we all are born and die, and in that sense, biology dominates, but how we use and experience our bodily potential in between those bookends is no more dictated by biology than is the style of our hats. Thinking about the consequences of assigning categories, I am reminded that language does not name reality, it organizes reality. Topics within areas of health, mental health, and sexuality have been subject to repeated renaming and redefinition as social values have changed.

Tiefer (1995).

Introduction

This chapter is concerned with the interpretation of data from quantitative, community-based epidemiological studies. In many developing countries, where the coverage of health services is low and the quality of information from routine statistics variable, such studies are commonly the only way to establish population valid results concerning reproductive health. These studies also have an important role where service coverage and information quality is higher, as there are many questions that cannot be addressed using only health service data.

Morbidity data are gathered using instruments ranging from laboratory assays and tests to clinical examinations and questionnaires. Interpretation depends on the relationship between what is measured and what is required to be known. This relationship can be particularly intricate when responses to questions are used as indicators of disease states and related states.

Type
Chapter
Information
Investigating Reproductive Tract Infections and Other Gynaecological Disorders
A Multidisciplinary Research Approach
, pp. 391 - 418
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2003

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