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BOOK REVIEW ON 'EPIDEMIOLOGICAL RESEARCH: TERMS AND CONCEPTS'

Friday, 11th of May 2012

BOOK REVIEW ON EPIDEMIOLOGICAL RESEARCH: TERMS AND CONCEPTS

Miettinen, OS (ed).

Int. J. Epidemiol. (2012) doi: 10.1093/ije/dys044

 

Epidemiological Research: Terms and Concepts. OS Miettinen (ed). Springer, 1st edn, 2011, pp. 175. €39.95, ISBN: 9789400711709.

1. 1.       Jan Van den Broeck 
   1. 1.       University of Bergen, Centre for International Health, Bergen, Norway
   2. 1.       Jonathan R Brestoff 

+ Author Affiliations

1. 1.       University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
2. E-mail: brestoff@mail.med.upenn.edu

Concepts and terms are the building blocks of our reasoning and communication, respectively, and are therefore crucial in epidemiology. Unfortunately, many epidemiologists today would agree that there is confusion about many concepts and terms within our discipline. Serious theoretical work on this issue, like the work presented in Dr Miettinen's latest book, Epidemiological Research: Terms and Concepts,¹ should therefore be very welcome. This book contains a selection of concepts and terms that he sees as crucial for epidemiological research; some of these concepts and terms are not yet familiar to all epidemiologists, nor are all of his definitions in line with received ideas, and it is partly for these reasons that the book is particularly interesting. This book is the condensation of many decennia of serious reflection and has the potential to advance considerably our understanding of the theoretical dimensions of epidemiology.

One of the striking features of the book is its unusual structure: the concepts and terms are grouped in chapters based on whether they pertain to medicine, science and statistics in Part I, or to epidemiological or clinical (meta-epidemiological) research in Part II. Consequently, looking up terms is not as straightforward as in traditionally formatted dictionaries or glossaries; instead, the use of the index is necessary if one wants to find a term. Alternative definitions of that term are then distributed in different chapters rather than being grouped together. For example, ‘study’ appears under both ‘Terms and Concepts of Medicine’ and ‘Terms and Concepts of Science.’ Miettinen’s intention with this structure is obviously didactical: to encourage users to make the proper distinctions between categories of concepts. Miettinen’s highly laudable passion is to challenge epidemiologists to think and re-think. The chosen structure of the book constitutes such a challenge. It offers a unique and exciting opportunity for learning but may also seem a little daunting. The book is thus much more than just a dictionary. It is also an important book for studying and gaining deeper insight into the theory of epidemiology.

Indeed, studying definitions in this book and comparing them with those found in the International Epidemiology Association (IEA) dictionary² is a very interesting and instructive exercise. Some of the terms will be new for those unfamiliar with Miettinen’s corpus, and it is helpful to have this book at hand when reading Miettinen’s other works, such as his other recent book Up from Clinical Epidemiology and EBM (Evidence Based Medicine)^3,4. The definitions express and clarify Miettinen’s particular views on science and epidemiological research. The definition of ‘study’ under the category of Terms and Concepts of Science is an example that illustrates this point. The definition starts with ‘Study - A piece of research; that is, a project to produce evidence (for inductive judgments) about the abstract truth (unknown) at issue … ’ When reading this definition, one must keep in mind the category of concepts for this particular definition and Miettinen’s framework of thinking to understand that, in this particular definition, ‘study’ only concerns the search for abstract scientific truths and excludes surveys, outbreak investigations or other particularistic investigations. To understand Miettinen’s framework of thinking, it is sufficient usually to read the chapter introductions and accompanying annotations. These explain and clarify Miettinen’s views of the chosen concepts and, especially, how his views are different from mainstream views and commonly held assumptions, mainly as reflected in the IEA dictionary.

Worth mentioning is the rather limited overlap of entries with the IEA dictionary, and this is a supplementary reason why this book is useful. Miettinen has, on multiple occasions, scholarly criticized definitions in the IEA dictionary, leaving many in the field to expect that Miettinen would produce an alternative dictionary or glossary. This book is his response. Although we think this book advances the theory of epidemiology, we note that two dimensions of epidemiological research are receiving comparatively less attention than the theoretical-scientific dimension covered in Miettinen’s book: these are the practical and ethical dimensions of research, although ethical aspects have received some attention.

This book will be particularly helpful for those interested in theoretical epidemiology and concerned with proper usage of concepts and terms. We therefore warmly recommend it to all students of epidemiology and all practitioners of epidemiological research.

Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association © The Author 2012; all rights reserved.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

 

References

1. ↵
   1. Miettinen OS

. Epidemiological Research: Terms and Concepts. Dordrecht: Springer; 2011. p. 1-175.

1. ↵
   1. Porta M,
   2. Greenland S,
   3. Last JM

. A Dictionary of Epidemiology. 5th. New York: Oxford University Press; 2008. p. 1-289.

1. ↵
   1. Miettinen OS

. Up from Clinical Epidemiology and EBM. Dordrecht: Springer; 2011. p. 1-175.

1.  
   1. Van den Broeck J,
   2. Brestoff JR

. Eur J Epidemiol. Book Review: Up from Clinical Epidemiology and EBM by Olli S. Miettinen. In press.