RE: Re: Cohen's Fallacy

["Field, R. William" <bill-field@UIOWA.EDU>]

Dr. Cohen,


I would be very willing to write a letter to the Journal of Radiologic

Protection suggesting that the specific cause of your inverse findings is

inter county (group-level) confounding.  We and others have pointed

out that this error is potentially unbounded.  I have already been

told by the past editor of Health Physics that further letters on this

topic are not welcome, although I would try them first again if you like.

I would also suggest that since this is your study, you examine (rather

than making assumptions) directly the correlation between smoking and

lung cancer on the county level by using the technique suggested in

Guthrie's paper, which I already faxed you.  I am making the

assumption that you are sincere about your desire to determine the cause

of your inverse relationship.  If you say, my suggestion is not

specific enough, I think people should really question your sincerity

about determining the cause of the inverse relationship.  


Sincerely, Bill Field

***************************************************************************************
R. William Field, M.S, Ph.D.
College of Public Health
Research Scientist - Department of Epidemiology
Adjunct Professor - Department of Occupational and Environmental Health
Graduate Faculty - College of Public Health
N222 Oakdale Hall
University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa  52242

319-335-4413 (phone)
319-335-4748 (fax)
mailto:bill-field@uiowa.edu

College of Public Health   http://www.pmeh.uiowa.edu/index.html
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