Causation and Epidemiology
Scientific Proof
The methodology evaluates all available evidence types together, weighing their quality and consistency to reach a conclusion about causation. It is used by regulatory agencies and by experts in litigation.
Its structure and rigor vary widely in application.
Alternative Names:
Weight of Evidence, WOE Analysis
Why it Matters?
The methodology's flexibility is both its justification and its vulnerability, since a structured integration of diverse evidence is scientifically appropriate while an unstructured one permits assembling whatever supports a conclusion. Courts have excluded weight of the evidence testimony where the expert could not articulate how the evidence was weighted or why contrary evidence was discounted. Demanding that articulation is the productive examination.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
What makes weight of the evidence testimony vulnerable?
Is the methodology legitimate?
