Epidemiology by Design: A Causal Approach to the Health Sciences Doody's Expert Review Review Questionnaire ISBN: 9780190665760 ISBN-10: 0190665769 Copyright: 2020 Edition: 1st Author: Westreich, Daniel Doody's Expert Review    Score: 96 Doody's Star Rating™ and Doody's Expert Review provide by Doody Enterprises, Inc. Reviewer: Morgan Swanson,  BS  (University of Iowa College of Public Health) Description In addition to providing an introduction to fundamental epidemiological concepts, this book is centered around the framework of causal inference. Purpose The aim is to provide an overview of epidemiological principles interwoven with fundamental assumptions and approaches for causal inferences. It is important to cover current causal inference ideas in an introductory book. The author concentrates on asking a "good question" for both conducting and appraising epidemiological research. Combining work from thought leaders in the worlds of biostatistics and epidemiology, this book provides both an introduction and landmark references and texts for readers to learn more about specific areas of interest. Audience This book is geared toward learners beginning their epidemiologic or clinical investigation/research training. The author is an epidemiologist with impressive research, teaching, and journal/editorial experience. Peer reviewers include many seminal leaders in the field. Features This introductory book provides a first glimpse into the foundations of epidemiology while considering the important implications and assumptions necessary for causal inference. Overall, the book is well organized for cover-to-cover or targeted reading. Some examples and figures are effectively used to supplement the text and aid learning. Chapters include organized sections and subsections with a final summary. The first section, Introduction and Background, provides an easy-to-follow understanding of epidemiology principles including examples. The second section, Epidemiology by Design, reviews three common epidemiological study designs in detail. Each design chapter includes valuable checklists for the review of the type of study (e.g., the cohort study). The final design chapter introduces other study designs and serves as a brief launching point for readers to learn more from referenced texts. The concluding section, From Patients to Policy, highlights important considerations for scaling research findings from study population to target population for policy decisions. Assessment This book adds to the existing collection of epidemiology books by incorporating causal inference while introducing and explaining new topics. This is an ideal text for aspiring health services researchers, clinician-scientists, and epidemiologists looking to begin learning about conducting and appraising health sciences research. Explanations provide a thorough introduction to the field, and references provide pathways to continue study. Review Questionnaire Range Question Score 1-10 Are the author's objectives met? 10 1-10 Rate the worthiness of those objectives. 10 1-5 Is this written at an appropriate level? 5 1-5 Is there significant duplication? (1=significant, 5=insignificant) 4 1-5 Are there significant omissions? (1=significant, 5=insignificant) 5 1-5 Rate the authority of the authors. 5 1-5 Are there sufficient illustrations? 3 1-5 Rate the pedagogic value of the illustrations. 5 1-5 Rate the print quality of the illustrations. 5 1-5 Are there sufficient references? 5 1-5 Rate the currency of the references. 5 1-5 Rate the pertinence of the references. 5 1-5 Rate the helpfulness of the index. 5 1-5 If important in this specialty, rate the physical appearance of the book N/A 1-10 Is this a worthwhile contribution to the field? 10 1-10 If this is a 2nd or later edition, is this new edition needed? N/A ©2024 Doody Enterprises, Inc.