Measurement and data analysis in research addressing health disparities in substance abuse.
This article describes concrete strategies for conducting substance abuse research with ethnic minorities. Two issues associated with valid analysis, measurement and data analysis, are included. Both empirical (e.g., confirmatory factor analysis, item response theory, and regression) and nonempirical (e.g., focus groups, expert panels, pilot studies, and translation equivalence) approaches to improve measures are described. A discussion of the use of norms and cutoff scores derived from a different ethnic group along with the effects of the ethnicity of the interviewer or coder on measurement is included. The section on data analysis describes why the use of race-comparison designs may lead to misleading conclusions. Alternatives to race-comparison analysis including within-group and between-group analyses are described. The shortcomings of combining ethnic groups for analyses are discussed. The article ends with a list of recommendations for research with ethnic minorities.
Burlew
Ann Kathleen
AK
Department of Psychology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA. rkburlew@juno.com
Feaster
Daniel
D
Brecht
Mary-Lynn
ML
Hubbard
Robert
R
D015982:Bias; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic / Q000592:standards; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000628:therapy*; D014481:United States