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IJE Advance Access originally published online on January 28, 2009
International Journal of Epidemiology 2009 38(2):370-373; doi:10.1093/ije/dyn354
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Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association © The Author 2009; all rights reserved.

Response: The value of a historically informed multilevel analysis of Robinson's data

SV Subramanian1,*, Kelvyn Jones2, Afamia Kaddour3 and Nancy Krieger1

1 Department of Society, Human Development and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston MA 02115, USA.
2 School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
3 Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston MA 02115, USA.

* Corresponding author. Department of Society, Human Development and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Ave, Kresge Building, 7th floor, Boston MA 02115, USA. E-mail: svsubram@hsph.harvard.edu

Accepted 5 December 2008

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Our story begins where Robinson's classic study ended.1 Could a study of relationship between two variables measured only at the individual-level—emblematic of most epidemiologic and social science research when individual data are available—lead to an impoverished description of the relationship? Using the same data on illiteracy and race that Robinson employed and supplementing it with relevant ecologic data that would have been available at that time, we showed that, in this particular case, studying solely the ‘behavior of individuals’, while ignoring their historical and ecological state context, was both limiting and misleading.2 The comments of the two discussants,3,4 whom we thank for their efforts, underscore the importance of a multilevel approach to scientific research. Neither of their commentaries, importantly, alters the central tenets and conclusions of our study and instead serves only to bolster them.

Firebaugh reiterates the importance of a multilevel conceptual and analytical approach and concurs with our . . . [Full Text of this Article]


   On attributing personal motive to Robinson's study
 

   On the reach and influence of Robinson's study
 

   On methodological individualism and multilevel thinking
 

   On framing and estimating the impact of Jim Crow laws and historical realities
 

   On multilevel models and analysis
 

   On causal inference
 

   Funding
 

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Related articles in Int. J. Epidemiol.:

Commentary: ‘Is the Social World Flat? W.S. Robinson and the Ecologic Fallacy’
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Int. J. Epidemiol. 2009 38: 368-370. [Extract] [Full Text]  

Commentary: Individual, ecological and multilevel fallacies
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Ecological Correlations and the Behavior of Individuals
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