Royal Canadian Mounted Police, High River, Alberta, T1V 1W2, Canada.
J Med Entomol. 2012 Jan;49(1):1-10. doi: 10.1603/me10229.
Forensic entomology is an inferential science because postmortem interval estimates are based on the extrapolation of results obtained in field or laboratory settings. Although enormous gains in scientific understanding and methodological practice have been made in forensic entomology over the last few decades, a majority of the field studies we reviewed do not meet the standards for inference, which are 1) adequate replication, 2) independence of experimental units, and 3) experimental conditions that capture a representative range of natural variability. Using a mock case-study approach, we identify design flaws in field and lab experiments and suggest methodological solutions for increasing inference strength that can inform future casework. Suggestions for improving data reporting in future field studies are also proposed.
法医昆虫学是一门推理科学，因为死后间隔估计是基于对现场或实验室获得的结果进行推断得出的。尽管在过去几十年中，法医昆虫学在科学理解和方法实践方面取得了巨大的进展，但我们审查的大多数现场研究都不符合推理的标准，这些标准包括 1）充分复制，2）实验单位的独立性，以及 3）能够捕捉自然变异性的代表性范围的实验条件。我们采用模拟案例研究的方法，确定了现场和实验室实验中的设计缺陷，并提出了增加推理强度的方法解决方案，为未来的案例工作提供信息。还提出了改进未来现场研究数据报告的建议。
