Group items tagged

"Using the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health data, we find a statistically and economically significant effect of neighborhood parks and playgrounds on childhood obesity based on covariate matching estimators. The park/playground effect depends on gender, age, race, household income, neighborhood safety, and other neighborhood amenities. The results suggest that adding a neighborhood park/playground may reduce the obesity rate and make children more fit, but relevant interventions must consider socioeconomic status of the targeted children as well as other neighborhood amenities."

"The probability that a research claim is true may depend on study power and bias, the number of other studies on the same question, and, importantly, the ratio of true to no relationships among the relationships probed in each scientific field. In this framework, a research finding is less likely to be true when the studies conducted in a field are smaller; when effect sizes are smaller; when there is a greater number and lesser preselection of tested relationships; where there is greater flexibility in designs, definitions, outcomes, and analytical modes; when there is greater financial and other interest and prejudice; and when more teams are involved in a scientific field in chase of statistical significance. Simulations show that for most study designs and settings, it is more likely for a research claim to be false than true. Moreover, for many current scientific fields, claimed research findings may often be simply accurate measures of the prevailing bias."

"In much of this research, white Americans appeared somehow to be immune to the negative health effects that accompany relentless striving. As Dr. Brody put it when telling me about the Pittsburgh study, "We found this for black persons from disadvantaged backgrounds, but not white persons.""

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