Examples of Hypothesis Testing in Public Health
Hypothesis testing in public health is as crucial as any other discipline. Such is the case given its efficacy in establishing causal-effect relationships. Its application by healthcare professionals working in the public health ranges in various activities. A befitting example of such activities includes but limited to outbreak investigation. In essence, a description of instances that hypothesis testing is applicable in public health is central to this discussion.
Firstly and most importantly, evaluation of hypothesis is inevitable in outbreak investigation. According to the Center for Disease Control (2016), validation of hypotheses in disease outbreaks is attainable in two ways. One is through analysis, in which the case-control and cohort study designs are integral in determining the causal-effect relationship of a disease. For instance, the validating the linkage of gastroenteritis to food consumed in hotels is possible by use of these analytic methods.
The other way is by comparing the hypothesis with the already proven facts through clinical, environmental and epidemiologic information. A case in point of this second method of hypothesis testing is the 1991 hypervitaminosis epidemic in which the cases did not require any analytical methods since they were victims due to milk consumption from a particular source (CDC, 2016). Apparently, these two instances indicate the indispensability of hypothesis testing in public health.
Lastly, hypothesis testing is evident in the determination of the relationship between cholesterol and hypertension. Establishing such an association is dependent on the use of analytical methods such as retrospective cohort studies, where one calculates the risk ratios (Hedges & Williams, 2014). Evidently, this illustrates the inevitability of hypothesis testing in public health.
In conclusion, hypothesis testing is indeed a vital element of public health practice given its efficacy in proving the relationship between the cause and effect. Thus, it is necessary for all medical personnel to understand this important truth for public health practice to become effective.
References
CDC.,(2016). Principles of Epidemiology: Lesson 6, Section 2|Self-Study Course SS1978|CDC. Cdc.gov. Retrieved 27 October 2016, from http://www.cdc.gov/ophss/csels/dsepd/ss1978/lesson6/section2.html
Hedges, C. & Williams, B. (2014). Anatomy of research for nurses.
