title: Population science is science only if you know the population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cancer control efforts have had limited effect in reducing the inequities for minorities and the medically underserved. One factor is the lack of theory-based conceptualization of the terms used to define race, ethnicity, and culture.
  
  
  METHODS
  Guidelines are provided to develop more accurate use of the terms race, ethnicity, and culture to determine standards of comparability across studies of cancer incidence, survival, and quality of life in diverse populations rather than stereotypes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our ability to use theoretically based criteria to differentiate groups of people could increase our ability to more effectively eliminate these disparities.
authors.affiliation: University of California, School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772, USA. mkagawa@ucla.edu
authors.forename: Marjorie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kagawa-Singer
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000592:standards; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D005006:Ethnicity; D006801:Humans; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D008913:Minority Groups; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000592:standards; D044469:Racial Groups; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology