HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2006.105379v1 97/4/592    most recent Submit a response View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Vaughan, R. D. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Vaughan, R. D. Related Collections Other Statistics/Evaluation/Research

Roger D. Vaughan, DrPH, MS

The author is the Journal’s associate editor for statistics and evaluation.

Correspondence: Request for reprints should be sent to Roger D. Vaughan, DrPH, MS, Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, Department of Biostatistics, 722 West 168th Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10032 (e-mail: rdv2{at}columbia.edu).

In the last incarnation of this column, we were reminded of the importance of accuracy, narrowly operationalized as understanding the difference between the population parameter (β) and our estimate of that parameter through regression. Here, we will remind ourselves of the importance of meaning, operationalized as understanding the meaning of the magnitude of the difference in addition to its statistical significance.