Race/Ethnicity and the 2000 Census, Article Critique Example

This article is based upon one particular theme: While race is important generally, it plays a critical role in clinical and public health studies. This is due to predominance of evidence that race is a factor (some would say a key factor) in certain health outcomes. The authors argue that health disparities play a key role in the probability of exposure to certain illnesses: HIV infection among blacks is 8 times that of whites and 2 times among Hispanics. The authors further argue that in order to understand why this is the case, one must monitor changes in both demography and population. Finally, that there must be a better job of measuring these changes via national surveys and other demographic questions.

Overall, health disparities are definitely a problem, and the authors are right to point out that such a problem exists, particularly in difficult to treat diseases such as HIV/AIDS. However, measurement is just one issue, and likely not the most important one in understanding why health disparities exist in the first place. To a certain extent, surveys exist as an accounting exercise that allows us to understand where the problem exists. However, understanding where the problem exists tells us very little about the causal reason it exists. In order for that to happen, greater emphasis needs to be placed on race and ethnicity as a moderator for why individuals might live in certain neighborhoods, and perhaps more important, how do questions of inequality contribute to the problem in the first place.

You will review an article and prepare a critique. Each critique will be 2-3 paragraphs in length. The first paragraph will draw attention to substantive issues of the work and the second paragraph is to be an in-depth critique of the methodological considerations of the journal article. This should not be a simple overview of the article, but a thoughtful analysis of the scholarly work. You will post each critique to the appropriate Assignment submission link.

Article to Critique:

Sondik, E. J., Lucas, J. W., Madans, J. H., & Smith, S. S. (2000). Race/ethnicity and the 2000
census: Implications for public health. American Journal of Public Health, 90, 1709-1713.