Methodological Challenges in Causal Research on Racial and Ethnic Patterns of Cognitive Trajectories: Measurement, Selection, and Bias
- 26 September 2008
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Neuropsychology Review
- Vol. 18 (3), 194-213
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s11065-008-9066-x
Abstract
Research focused on understanding how and why cognitive trajectories differ across racial and ethnic groups can be compromised by several possible methodological challenges. These difficulties are especially relevant in research on racial and ethnic disparities and neuropsychological outcomes because of the particular influence of selection and measurement in these contexts. In this article, we review the counterfactual framework for thinking about causal effects versus statistical associations. We emphasize that causal inferences are key to predicting the likely consequences of possible interventions, for example in clinical settings. We summarize a number of common biases that can obscure causal relationships, including confounding, measurement ceilings/floors, baseline adjustment bias, practice or retest effects, differential measurement error, conditioning on common effects in direct and indirect effects decompositions, and differential survival. For each, we describe how to recognize when such biases may be relevant and some possible analytic or design approaches to remediating these biases.Keywords
This publication has 83 references indexed in Scilit:
- Does childhood schooling affect old age memory or mental status? Using state schooling laws as natural experimentsJournal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 2008
- Ambient temperature predicts sex ratios and male longevityProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2008
- Invited Commentary: Barker Meets SimpsonAmerican Journal of Epidemiology, 2005
- Commentary: Mendelian randomization, 18 years onInternational Journal of Epidemiology, 2004
- Practice effects on cognitive tasks: a major problem?The Lancet Neurology, 2002
- The association between educational attainment and mental status examinations: Of etiologic significance for senile dementias or not?Journal of Chronic Diseases, 1986
- Statistics and Causal InferenceJournal of the American Statistical Association, 1986
- The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1986
- Selective survival, aging and societyArchives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 1984
- Least absolute deviations estimation for the censored regression modelJournal of Econometrics, 1984