Snow’s Natural Experiment [WLOs: 3, 4] [CLOs: 1, 2, 3, 4]
As you learned in your readings this week, a natural experiment refers to a naturally occurring situation in which the experimenter does not manipulate the study factor. An example is John Snow’s investigation of a cholera outbreak in London during the mid-1800s. In your initial post for this discussion, identify a recent example of natural experiment in a Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible SourceLinks to an external site. media source. For example, legislation enacted to change unhealthy behaviors or public services that affect a demographics’ health. Your post should include
- A link to the article (preferably one that is publically available without providing personal information in order to sign in to a Web site).
- The criteria you used to determine this was a natural experiment.
- The reasons that you thought the example was worth sharing with your peers.
Guided Response: After reviewing the posts of a number of your peers, choose two or more to analyze. In your analysis, trace parallels between Snow’s famous natural experiment and the modern experiment described by your peer. Discuss how key epidemiological components (i.e., determinants, distribution, morbidity, and mortality) are similar and how they are different. Are the differences brought about by advances in epidemiology or merely by technology? Support your opinion based on whether the differences appear to extend the development of the historical advances in epidemiologic concepts, or represent changes in an entirely different direction.
