Methodology

This page gives links to some useful short reports on methodological topics. The page does not attempt to be comprehensive but gives a selection of relevant publications. Further useful publications can be found in the reference sections of the documents below. We welcome comments and ideas about what topics to include.

Standardisation

ISD has produced a guide to standardisation along with an excel tool which allows you to standardise your own data.

The English Eastern Regional Public Health Observatory report INphoRM 6: Standardisation also describes and compares the different methods of standardisation.

Information on calculating confidence intervals for standardised rates can be found in the Association of Public Health Observatories (APHO) technical briefing 3: Commonly used public health statistics and their confidence intervals.  The accompanying excel spreadsheet tool allows you to calculate standardised rates and confidence intervals on your own data.

Confidence intervals

The APHO Technical Briefing 3: Commonly used public health statistics and their confidence intervals includes how to calculate confidence intervals for rates, proportions, means and age-standardised rates and ratios. It also describes the use of confidence intervals i.e. what they are and when they are used, and presents the APHO preferred methods for calculating the intervals for the type of statistics described. An excel spreadsheet tool allows you to calculate confidence intervals on your own data.

Process control charts

APHO Technical Briefing 2: Statistical process control methods in public health intelligence gives a good overview of this topic.  Excel spreadsheet tools are available to download which allow you to produce funnel plots using your own data (using counts, crude rates, proportions and percentages, or directly and indirectly standardised rates).

Health inequalities

The ScotPHO report on measurement techniques to help interpret health inequalities covers the different methods for measuring inequalities in health, and has an accompanying downloadable excel spreadsheet tool which allows you to perform the different tests on your own data.

The ISD report on measuring deprivation compares the Carstairs and SIMD measures.

The Public Health Observatory Handbook of Health Inequalities Measurement focuses on the measurement and interpretation of health inequalities.

The Scottish Executive Measuring Inequalities Working Group report (2005) sets out recommendations made by the Working Group on Measuring Inequalities in Health in Scotland.

The Scottish governments annual Long-term monitoring of health inequalities report  includes the most up-to-date government recommendations for measuring and reporting inequalities in Scotland.

Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy

See the references in healthy life expectancy section.

The English Eastern Regional Public Health Observatory report INphoRM 3: Life expectancy sets out some of the issues relating to the construction, interpretation and uses of life tables and life expectancy estimates.

Developing indicators

For a good overview see The Good Indicators Guide: Understanding how to use and choose indicators (535 KB) produced by APHO.

Target setting

APHO technical briefing 4: Target setting in a multi-agency environment looks at key issues to consider when setting targets in a multi-agency environment, including the choice of appropriate methodologies, indicators and statistics, and consideration of the wider political and ethical context.

Health Impact Assessment (HIA)

Information about HIA and a large number of HIA reports are available at the APHO HIA gateway. 

Prevalence modelling

See APHO technical briefing 8: Prevalence Modelling.

Other methodological resources that may be of interest:

Further technical briefings from the UK Association of public health observatories on:

• Measuring sustainable development
• Geodemographic segmentation
• Using small area data in public health intelligence
• Measuring smoking prevalence in local populations

The ScotStat Analytical Network electronic library of analytical guidance material. 

The BMJ have published on:

• How to read a paper
• Epidemiology for the uninitiated
• Academic medicine
• Statistics at square one

The Evidence-Based Medicine "What is....?" series provides short bulletins explaining the key concepts behind evidence-based medicine.