Reflections on Type III Error: Ethical Implications for Mental Health Research, Public Policy, and Population Health

Abstract

This reflection comments on Type III error—how the misrecognition of causal factors shaping the onset, acuity, and duration of mental health symptoms may lead to the design of interventions that compromise the health of populations. Type III error reveals the ethical challenges of research designs that answer the wrong question. The argument offered by Schwartz and Carpenter in their 1999 article, “The right answer for the wrong question: consequences of Type III error for public health research,” is used as a foil to discuss ethical implications for population mental health.