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This dissertation applies quantitative methods to the study of how race and ethnicity are socially constructed in quantitative research. This reflexive application of method reveals the contribution to constructionist theory that is possible from thoughtfully applied quantitative reasoning. In part, this contribution is the elaboration of the specific ways in which racial and ethnic data are constructed, providing details to the broad constructionist rhetoric that has been critiqued for being overly grand and substantively shallow. The dissertation suggests that both theory and method can be improved through the integration of both - by demonstrating how quantitative methods can incorporate constructionist perspectives while also demonstrating specific ways in which race and ethnicity data are constructed.The first substantive chapter tackles racial identification in survey interviews, demonstrating that complexities of specific interactions can shape how individuals identify their own race, revealing the many ambiguities present when relying on a single identification in a survey. The second chapter describes how missing responses are filled in, producing an apparent universality of racial self-identification in the decennial census and American Community Survey. By exploring the patterns in these allocations, this chapter demonstrates how statistical descriptions of communities are reliant upon decisions made by bureaucracies rather than simple aggregations of self-identifications. The final chapter explores the mathematical details of statistical models that have been applied to studying intersectional differences. This chapter reveals that the current gold-standard approaches, while well motivated, unintentionally incorporate assumptions which are anathema to their theoretical perspectives. Finally, the chapter suggests that the application of Gaussian Process models may have similarly favorable mathematical properties, while avoiding contradictory assumptions.

Infections after placement of cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) are associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. There is limited evidence on prophylactic strategies, other than the use of preoperative antibiotics, to prevent such infections.We conducted a randomized, controlled clinical trial to assess the safety and efficacy of an absorbable, antibiotic-eluting envelope in reducing the incidence of infection associated with CIED implantations. Patients who were undergoing a CIED pocket revision, generator replacement, or system upgrade or an initial implantation of a cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator were randomly assigned, in a 1:1 ratio, to receive the envelope or not. Standard-of-care strategies to prevent infection were used in all patients. The primary end point was infection resulting in system extraction or revision, long-term antibiotic therapy with infection recurrence, or death, within 12 months after the CIED implantation procedure. The secondary end point for safety was procedure-related or system-related complications within 12 months.A total of 6983 patients underwent randomization: 3495 to the envelope group and 3488 to the control group. The primary end point occurred in 25 patients in the envelope group and 42 patients in the control group (12-month Kaplan-Meier estimated event rate, 0.7% and 1.2%, respectively; hazard ratio, 0.60; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.36 to 0.98; P = 0.04). The safety end point occurred in 201 patients in the envelope group and 236 patients in the control group (12-month Kaplan-Meier estimated event rate, 6.0% and 6.9%, respectively; hazard ratio, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.72 to 1.06; P0.001 for noninferiority). The mean (±SD) duration of follow-up was 20.7±8.5 months. Major CIED-related infections through the entire follow-up period occurred in 32 patients in the envelope group and 51 patients in the control group (hazard ratio, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.40 to 0.98).Adjunctive use of an antibacterial envelope resulted in a significantly lower incidence of major CIED infections than standard-of-care infection-prevention strategies alone, without a higher incidence of complications. (Funded by Medtronic; WRAP-IT ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02277990.).

Author states that "...the traditional form of family which has been the norm in recent times in the West will persist, but will be forced to "move over" to accommodate other forms of domestic life." (Author)