Winkler Inga T, Bobel Chris, Houghton Lauren C, Elhadad Noémie, Gruer Caitlin, Paranjothy Vanessa
Institute for the Study of Human Rights, Columbia University, New York City, NY, USA.
Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA, USA.
Womens Reprod Health (Phila). 2020;7(4):227-243. doi: 10.1080/23293691.2020.1820240. Epub 2020 Oct 6.
Data determine what we know about the menstrual cycle; they inform policy and program decisions; they can point us to neglected issues and populations. But collecting and analyzing data are complicated and often fraught processes, because data are political and subjective, decisions on what data we collect and what data we do not collect are not determined by accident. As a result, despite the significant potential of the current rise in attention to menstruation, we also see risks: a lack of a solid evidence base for program decisions and resulting sensationalization; concerns about data privacy; an overreliance on participants' recall, on the one hand, while not involving participants adequately in decision making, on the other hand; and a lack of contextualized and disaggregated data. Yet better communication, contextualization, and collaboration can address many of these risks.
数据决定了我们对月经周期的了解；它们为政策和项目决策提供依据；它们能让我们关注到被忽视的问题和人群。但收集和分析数据是复杂且往往充满困难的过程，因为数据具有政治性和主观性，决定收集哪些数据以及不收集哪些数据并非偶然。因此，尽管当前对月经问题的关注度显著提高有巨大潜力，但我们也看到了风险：项目决策缺乏坚实的证据基础，从而导致耸人听闻的现象；对数据隐私的担忧；一方面过度依赖参与者的回忆，另一方面又未让参与者充分参与决策；以及缺乏情境化和分类的数据。然而，更好的沟通、情境化和协作可以应对其中许多风险。
