The Observational Target Trial: A Conceptual Model for Measuring Disparity

Department of Epidemiology Seminar Series

Speaker:

John W. Jackson, ScD
Assistant Professor, Departments of Epidemiology, Mental Health, and Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Abstract:

In this talk I will present a conceptual model for measuring disparity that is based on an observational target trial. This trial is a hypothetical study of naturalistic follow-up (e.g., an inception cohort) with minimal, if any, investigator intervention. First, I will outline the key design features of the target trial and its emulation and note when these differ from the original target trial framework for treatment effects. Second, I will discuss how, conceptually, and analytically, the target trial model and its emulation may deal with the issue of non-random selection into the eligible population and its contribution to disparity. Finally, I will conclude by briefly discussing why such a descriptive model of disparity is of primary interest despite multiple existing conceptual models that frame disparity as some version of causal effect via potential outcomes or structural causal models.