Browsing by Author "Allison, David B."

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Entertaining the Public to Educate the Public at Conner Prairie: Prairietown 1975-2006
    (2010) Allison, David B.; Robertson, Nancy Marie, 1956-; Scarpino, Philip V.; Bingmann, Melissa
    The nexus of presenting an authentic environment and engaging audiences has been at the core of debate around living history museums since their inception in the 1960s. Conner Prairie's transition from a folklife model to a learning theory and research-based organization is traced in this thesis.
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    From Model Organisms to Humans, the Opportunity for More Rigor in Methodologic and Statistical Analysis, Design, and Interpretation of Aging and Senescence Research
    (Oxford University Press, 2022) Chusyd, Daniella E.; Austad, Steven N.; Brown, Andrew W.; Chen, Xiwei; Dickinson, Stephanie L.; Ejima, Keisuke; Fluharty, David; Golzarri-Arroyo, Lilian; Holden, Richard; Jamshidi-Naeini, Yasaman; Landsittel, Doug; Lartey, Stella; Mannix, Edward; Vorland, Colby J.; Allison, David B.; Anatomy, Cell Biology and Physiology, School of Medicine
    This review identifies frequent design and analysis errors in aging and senescence research and discusses best practices in study design, statistical methods, analyses, and interpretation. Recommendations are offered for how to avoid these problems. The following issues are addressed: (a) errors in randomization, (b) errors related to testing within-group instead of between-group differences, (c) failing to account for clustering, (d) failing to consider interference effects, (e) standardizing metrics of effect size, (f) maximum life-span testing, (g) testing for effects beyond the mean, (h) tests for power and sample size, (i) compression of morbidity versus survival curve squaring, and (j) other hot topics, including modeling high-dimensional data and complex relationships and assessing model assumptions and biases. We hope that bringing increased awareness of these topics to the scientific community will emphasize the importance of employing sound statistical practices in all aspects of aging and senescence research.
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    Toward more rigorous and informative nutritional epidemiology: The rational space between dismissal and defense of the status quo
    (Taylor & Francis, 2023) Brown, Andrew W.; Aslibekyan, Stella; Bier, Dennis; da Silva, Rafael Ferreira; Hoover, Adam; Klurfeld, David M.; Loken, Eric; Mayo-Wilson, Evan; Menachemi, Nir; Pavela, Greg; Quinn, Patrick D.; Schoeller, Dale; Tekwe, Carmen; Valdez, Danny; Vorland, Colby J.; Whigham, Leah D.; Allison, David B.; Health Policy and Management, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health
    To date, nutritional epidemiology has relied heavily on relatively weak methods including simple observational designs and substandard measurements. Despite low internal validity and other sources of bias, claims of causality are made commonly in this literature. Nutritional epidemiology investigations can be improved through greater scientific rigor and adherence to scientific reporting commensurate with research methods used. Some commentators advocate jettisoning nutritional epidemiology entirely, perhaps believing improvements are impossible. Still others support only normative refinements. But neither abolition nor minor tweaks are appropriate. Nutritional epidemiology, in its present state, offers utility, yet also needs marked, reformational renovation. Changing the status quo will require ongoing, unflinching scrutiny of research questions, practices, and reporting-and a willingness to admit that "good enough" is no longer good enough. As such, a workshop entitled "Toward more rigorous and informative nutritional epidemiology: the rational space between dismissal and defense of the status quo" was held from July 15 to August 14, 2020. This virtual symposium focused on: (1) Stronger Designs, (2) Stronger Measurement, (3) Stronger Analyses, and (4) Stronger Execution and Reporting. Participants from several leading academic institutions explored existing, evolving, and new better practices, tools, and techniques to collaboratively advance specific recommendations for strengthening nutritional epidemiology.
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    Urban Park Development and Pediatric Obesity Rates: A Quasi-Experiment Using Electronic Health Record Data
    (MDPI, 2016-04-08) Goldsby, TaShauna U.; George, Brandon J.; Yeager, Valerie A.; Sen, Bisakha P.; Ferdinand, Alva; Sims, Devon M. T.; Manzella, Bryn; Cockrell Skinner, Ashley; Allison, David B.; Menachemi, Nir; Department of Health Policy and Management, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health
    INTRODUCTION: Childhood obesity affects ~20% of children in the United States. Environmental influences, such as parks, are linked with increased physical activity (PA). OBJECTIVE: To examine whether changes in Body Mass Index (BMI) z-score were associated with construction of a new park. METHODS: A quasi-experimental design was used to determine whether living in proximity of a park was associated with a reduction in BMI z-score. Children were selected from health clinics within an 11 mile radius of the park. A repeated-measure ANOVA was employed for analysis of the relationship between exposure (new park) and BMI z-score. RESULTS: Participants were 1443 (median age 10.3 range (2-17.9 years), BMI: z-score 0.84 ± 1.09) African American (77.4%) adolescents. Change in BMI z-score was not statistically different for children living at different distances from the park after controlling for age, gender, race, ethnicity, or payer type (p = 0.4482). We did observe a small 0.03 increase in BMI z-score from pre- to post-park (p = 0.0007). There was a significant positive association between child's baseline age and BMI z-score (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This study found proximity to a park was not associated with reductions in BMI z-score. Additional efforts to understand the complex relationship between park proximity, access, and PA are warranted.