Stephen Cole, of the Department of Epidemiology at UNC Gillings School of Global Health, will present:

“How Do We Ask Better Questions and Get Better Answers?”

Abstract: What is a good question? Provisionally, good questions have proper syntax, are semantically meaningful, and are important. Opinions differ as to whether good questions need be (partially) answerable. Good epidemiologic questions require a clear outcome, including the context; treatments or actions, if causal; and translate unambiguously to a parameter of interest. What is a good answer? Again provisionally, good answers are as robust and as accurate as possible. We present results from a simulation experiment of a minimal nontrivial example, motivated by epidemiology, which illustrates some features of good answers using nonparametric, parametric, and semiparametric estimators. In summary, a semiparametric estimator performed best among candidate estimators that were not omnisciently correct.

A social tea will be held at 3:00 p.m. in A434 Mayo. All are Welcome.