A description of a public health example from your own experience. Then, discuss the problem with multiple comparisons. Finally, compose an argument against the practice of data fishing using the public health example you described. Around 300 words
One example of public health that I have witnessed firsthand during my clinical rotations in oncology is that of lung cancer caused by a patient history of smoking. During one research study that I was a part of we studied the numbers of lung cancer patients that had a history of smoking and those that developed lung cancer. By comparing the data of those that had a history of smoking and those that did not smoke we could see that the majority of patients were smokers, but not all of them. In order to figure out the cause of the non-smokers developing lung cancer we would have to compare other factors in the data which might yield other causes of disease such as genetic, or other environmental causes. Data fishing for some types of data research may give us wrong conclusions, while in others such as in out study it can help us finds answers to unanswered questions.