Artículos de revistas
The metrology of uncertainty: A study of vital statistics from Chile and Brazil Metrología de la incertidumbre: Un estudio de las estadísticas vitales en Chile y Brasil
Fecha
2012Registro en:
Cadernos de Saude Publica, Volumen 28, Issue 11, 2018, Pages 2063-2075
0102311X
16784464
10.1590/S0102-311X2012001100006
Autor
Carvajal, Yuri
Kottow, Miguel
Institución
Resumen
This paper addresses the issue of uncertainty in the measurements used in public health analysis and decision-making. The Shannon-Wiener entropy measure was adapted to express the uncertainty contained in counting causes of death in official vital statistics from Chile. Based on the findings, the authors conclude that metrological requirements in public health are as important as the measurements themselves. The study also considers and argues for the existence of uncertainty associated with the statistics' performative properties, both by the way the data are structured as a sort of syntax of reality and by exclusion of what remains beyond the quantitative modeling used in each case. Following the legacy of pragmatic thinking and using conceptual tools from the sociology of translation, the authors emphasize that by taking uncertainty into account, public health can contribute to a discussion on the relationship between technology, democracy, and formation of a participatory public.