Mason, C.A., Scott, K.G., Chapman, D.A., and Tu, S. (2000). Review of some individual- and community-level effect size indices for the study of risk factors for child and adolescent development. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 60, 385-410.

This article discusses the computation and application of various epidemiological measures of effect in educational and developmental research.  Specifically, epidemiology provides a potentially important perspective for studies identifying risk factors for health child development.  For example, it allows for the examination of both individual-level risk (the impact of risk factors on individuals experiencing them) and community-level risk (the impact of risk factors on the overall number of cases within the population).  In terms of individual-level risk, issues related to the use and interpretation of the risk-ratio, the odds-ratio, and the logistic regression odds-ratio are reviewed.  In addition, community-level measures of effect, such as the population-attributable fraction percentage, are examined.  Implications of the design methodology (cohort study, case-control study, or representative study) on the choice and use of these measures of effect are discussed.  Data from a large-scale ongoing project in developmental epidemiology are presented throughout the article for illustrative purposes..