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Observational Studies | 
 enlarge | Author: Paul R. Rosenbaum
Publisher: Springer
Category: Book
List Price: $109.00
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Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 268896
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 2nd
Pages: 375
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.1 x 1
ISBN: 0387989676
Dewey Decimal Number: 519.53
EAN: 9780387989679
Publication Date: January 8, 2002
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Product Description
An Observational study is an empiric investigation of the effects caused by a treatment, policy , or intervention in which it is not possible to assign subjects at random to treatment or control, as would be done in a controlled experiment. Observational studies are common in most fields that study the effects of treatments on people. The second edition of l Studies is about 50 percent longer than the first edition, with many new examples and methods. There are new chapters on nonadditive models for treatment effects (Chapter 5) and planning observational studies (Chapter 11) and Chapter 9, on coherence, has been extensively rewritten. Paul R. Rosenbaum is Robert G. Putzel Professor, Department of Statistics, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a fellow of the American Statistical Association.
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| Customer Reviews:
best book on observational studies January 23, 2008
Michael R. Chernick (Holland PA)
23 out of 23 found this review helpful
Many years ago the famous statistician Ronald Aylmer Fisher criticized analyses that linked lung cancer to smoking. He argued that these studies had hidden biases because they were not controlled experiments. He proposed that smokers could be different from non-smokers because of a genetic propensity to desire cigarettes and that this genetic trait could be correlated with a higher incidence of lung cancer. Thus it would be possible to see a higher frequency of lung cancer among smokers because of this genetic trait rather than because the smoking itself causes the cancer. As far-fetched as this argument may seem to us today, it is based on sound statistical principles and points out some of the potential problems that occur with observational studies.
Although randomized control trials are the best way to determine differences in treatment effects, they are not always practical or ethical. It would be wrong to randomly choose subjects and force some of them to smoke.
Getting around issues of bias in observational studies was first addressed by Cochran who published a book on the subject in 1983. Rosenbaum came out with his own book in 1995 and this second edition expands and updates that popular text.
In Chapter 1 he present examples of observational studies and raises many important issues. Chapter 2 explains the principles of randomized controlled experiments. In Chapter 3 he covers overt bias and some of the basic methods to adjust for it. The sensitivity of observational studies to hidden biases is covered in Chapter 4.
This book is well written, authoritative and contains numerous references and examples. It also includes a chapter on how to plan an observational study.
Such studies are very important to epidemiologists who want to discover the cause of an epidemic or a disease. With large data base it is possible to remove or adjust biases by matching subjects using propensity scores. Rosenbaum effectively describes how propensity scorng and stratification can be used to make observational studies behave more like randomized control trials.
up-to-date account of methods for observational studies February 20, 2002
Michael R. Chernick (Malvern, PA)
25 out of 26 found this review helpful
Many years ago the famous statistician Ronald Aylmer Fisher criticized analyses that linked lung cancer to smoking. He argued that these studies had hidden biases because they were not controlled experiments. He proposed that smokers could be different from non-smokers because of a genetic propensity to desire cigarettes and that this genetic trait could be correlated with a higher incidence of lung cancer. Thus it would be possible to see a higher frequency of lung cancer among smokers because of this genetic trait rather than because the smoking itself causes the cancer. As far-fetched as this argument may seem to us today, it is based on sound statistical principles and points out some of the potential problems that occur with observational studies.Although randomized control trials are the best way to determine differences in treatment effects, they are not always practical or ethical. It would be wrong to randomly choose subjects and force some of them to smoke. Getting around issues of bias in observational studies was first addressed by Cochran who published a book on the subject in 1983. Rosenbaum came out with his own book in 1995 and this second edition expands and updates that popular text. In Chapter 1 he present examples of observational studies and raises many important issues. Chapter 2 explains the principles of randomized controlled experiments. In Chapter 3 he covers overt bias and some of the basic methods to adjust for it. The sensitivity of observational studies to hidden biases is covered in Chapter 4. This book is well written, authoritative and contains numerous references and examples. It also includes a chapter on how to plan an observational study. Such studies are very important to epidemiologists who want to discover the cause of an epidemic or a disease. With large data base it is possible to remove or adjust biases by matching subjects using propensity scores. Rosenbaum effectively describes how propensity scorng and stratification can be used to make observational studies behave more like randomized control trials.
great overview of the topic March 17, 2006
Carolina (College Park, MD)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
The book is very well written. It gives a great overview of the fundamental problems of causal inference in observastional studies. It has a lot of examples, homeworks and extensive references in every chapter.
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