Population Averaged vs. Subject Specific Odds Ratio Population averaged models compare marginal distributions and give an overview of the effect on a whole population. The margins of a contingency table contain the totals, so it makes sense for them to be used to calculate the marginal odds ratio for a whole population. On the other hand, subject-specific models Look at joint distributions: specific conditions or experiences within the model. The joint distributions are used to calculate conditional odds ratios. Marginal Odds Ratio Example (for Population Averaged Models) Michael Radelet studied death sentence data from Florida from 1976-77 Calculate the marginal odds ratio for the race of defendant and whether or not that made a different about if they got the death penalty: Death Penalty Yes Defendant's Race Victim's Race No White White 19 132 White Black 0 9 Black White 11 52 Black Black 9 97