Key points
The Legal Epidemiology Competency Model includes three major domains: 1) general legal epidemiology competencies, 2) legal mapping, and 3) legal evaluation. Domain 3 focuses on legal evaluation including designing projects that study potential associations between health and law.
Figure 1—Domain 3: Competencies for Legal Evaluation Studies
| Competency Statement 1
Identify opportunities for a legal evaluation study to address existing legal, health, or other issues |
Tier 1 |
Tier 2 |
Tier 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1.1a: Identify legal evaluation needs on the basis of gaps in existing evidence (literature, legal data, and other evidence) | 3.1.2a: Assess the utility of legal evaluation strategies to address identified gaps | 3.1.3a: Gather support for legal evaluation from internal and external stakeholders in the field | |
| 3.1.1b: Identify data sources and analytical tools relevant to studying research priorities | 3.1.2b: Determine the relevance of interventional, infrastructural, or intersectional laws to the identified research priorities | 3.1.3b: Establish research priorities on the basis of the potential for improving population health, socioeconomic or cultural disparities, and the public health system | |
| 3.1.1c: Determine prerequisites for study development (e.g., legal mapping datasets, needs for particular expertise) | 3.1.2c: Identify resources in light of the need and the feasibility of the research, including extramural funding and staff and stakeholder involvement | 3.1.3c: Obtain and allocate resources for conducting a legal evaluation | |
| Competency Statement 2
Design a legal evaluation to study potential associations between law and health |
Tier 1 |
Tier 2 |
Tier 3 |
| 3.2.1a: Propose options for a research plan incorporating legal evaluation theory | 3.2.2a: Operationalize key constructs and concepts in a draft legal evaluation research plan | 3.2.3a: Finalize the research plan, including engagement with potentially underrepresented or underprivileged populations | |
| 3.2.1b: Identify legal evaluation study designs with proximal and distal impacts of law | 3.2.2b: Develop a logic model incorporating proposed legal evaluation study designs to inform the legal evaluation research plan | 3.2.3b: Finalize a logic model, incorporating the mechanisms through which the law can deter, encourage, or compel health-related behaviors | |
| 3.2.1c: Follow legal and ethical principles in designing the study | 3.2.2c: Secure approvals for the legal evaluation | 3.2.3c: Develop a fiscally sound budget that will support the activities defined in the research plan and that is consistent with financial and ethical rules | |
| Competency Statement 3
Collect and analyze qualitative and quantitative study data using generally accepted research methodologies
|
Tier 1 |
Tier 2 |
Tier 3 |
| 3.3.1a: Collect data relevant to an issue and appropriately document the process | 3.3.2a: Develop a quality control plan to standardize analytic codes and outputs | 3.3.3a: Determine deadlines and quality targets for analyses | |
| 3.3.1b: Collaborate with team members to review initial results | 3.3.2b: Ensure reliability and adherence to methodology in the collection and management of data | 3.3.3b: Monitor the legal evaluation progress within budget and resource limitations | |
| 3.3.1c: Ensure validity and reliability of the data | |||
| 3.3.1d: Address principles of epidemiology and informatics in data collection and analysis | 3.3.2c: Apply standardized population categories or variables to data analysis | 3.3.3c: Analyze research results using institutional knowledge and experience on the topic, as well as general knowledge of legal principles | |
| Competency Statement 4
Interpret results, draw conclusions, and formulate key findings toward the improvement of public health |
Tier 1 |
Tier 2 |
Tier 3 |
| 3.4.1a: Identify key findings and limitations from the data collection and analysis | 3.4.2a: Make recommendations for the interpretation of data, including, but not limited to, authority, credibility, currency, and authenticity | 3.4.3a: Confirm findings according to geographic, socioeconomic, political, or cultural factors identified through stakeholder engagement | |
| 3.4.1b: Describe patterns or trends in data across sources | 3.4.2b: Interpret point estimates and confidence intervals of measures of central tendency and dispersion, disease or event frequency, and measures of association and impact |