Open AccessEtiologic research: needed revisions of concepts and principles
Author(s) -
Miettinen Os
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of work, environment and health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1795-990X
pISSN - 0355-3140
DOI - 10.5271/sjweh.470
Subject(s) - principal (computer security) , object (grammar) , etiology , epistemology , quality (philosophy) , quality assurance , medicine , engineering ethics , pathology , philosophy , computer science , engineering , linguistics , operating system , external quality assessment
Even though etiologic research has been the central concern in academic epidemiology, its concepts have remained confused or malformed, starting from that of etiology itself; and the same applies to its principles, starting from the notion that the principal variants of an etiologic study are the 'cohort' study and the 'case-control' study. This article suggests revisions of some central concepts pertaining to the object (and objective) of an etiologic study, and it posits an updated conception of the essence--singular--the study itself. This is supplemented by some novel, yet merely orientational, propositions in respect to quality-assurance in etiologic research.