Chapter 7 Flashcards
The study design selected must be appropriate for:
The goals of the study
Often, the best study approach is:
The analysis of existing quantitative data rather than collecting new data.
What factors should be considered during the decision making of which study approach to use?
1) Expected duration and cost of the study
2) Populations available for inclusion
3) Possibility of existing data
A first critical decision in choosing a study approach is whether you should choose:
A primary study, secondary study, or tertiary study.
Give one pro and con for primary studies.
Pro: Control over details like the selection of a source population and the content and wording of the questionnaire.
Con: Collecting new data is time consuming.
Give one pro and one con for secondary and tertiary studies.
Pro: Can move quickly from the definition of the study question to the analysis of the related data.
Con: Limited number of data sets and publications available for analysis; the sources might not include exact variables or population of interest.
What is the duration of tertiary studies highly dependent on?
Library access and the number of publications that need to be acquired, read, and summarized.
Which study approaches focus on individuals with a specific kind of disease?
Case series and case-control
Which study approaches seek to recruit a study population that is representative of a well-defined larger population?
Cross-sectional and some cohort studies.
Which studies select participants based on disease status?
Case series and case-control
Which studies select particpants based on exposure status?
Cohort studies
Which studies select particpants who represent a population?
Cross-sectional, experimental, and some cohort studies.
All necessary information about the past and present can be collected at one time. Which studies fit this description?
Case-control and cross-sectional studies.
Time requirements depend on the selected study design. Which studies fit this description?
Case series and qualitative studies.
Participants must be followed forward from a baseline exam. Which studies fit this description?
Cohort and experimental studies.
What is the goal of a case series study?
To describe a group of individuals with a disease.
What is the goal of a cross-sectional survey?
To describe exposure and/or disease status in a population.
What is the goal of a case-control study?
To compare exposure histories in people with diseases (cases) and people without diseases (controls).
What is the goal of a cohort study?
To compare rates of new (incident) disease in people with different exposure histories or follow a population forward in time to look for incident diseases.
What is the goal of an experimental study?
To compare outcomes in participants assigned to an intervention or control group.
What is the goal of a qualitative study?
To understand how individuals and communities perceive and make sense of the world and their experiences.
What is the goal of a correlational (ecological) study?
To compare average levels of exposure and disease in several populations
What is the goal of a review/meta-analysis?
To synthesize existing knowledge
