Exploratory Research Flashcards
what is exploratory research
making comparisons within groups
what are the uses of exploratory research
systemic investigation of relationships among two or more variables
commonly used in healthcare to investigate relationship between exposure and disease status
what are the characteristics of exploratory research
data collection can be prospective or retrospective, as well as longitudinal or cross-sectional
prospective
future
variables measured through direct recording in the present
observations made as variables progress through time
what is the major limitation of prospective studies
time consuming
risk for attrition
retrospective
past
examination of data previously collected
often obtained via EMR, databases, surveys, etc
major limitation of retrospective studies
unable to control variables or quality of data collection
longitudinal design
subject followed over time
data collected in time sequence of repeated measurements at prescribed intervals
major advantages of longitudinal design
researchers able to describe patterns of change
major disadvantages of longitudinal design
huge commitment
attrition easy to see
cross sectional design
study of stratified group of subjects at one point in time
compares characteristics/variables in one moment of time
major advantages in cross sectional design
much more efficient design
not as threatened by testing effects
major disadvantages in cross sectional design
can be difficult to discern if results are effects of age or passing of time vs effects of extraneous sampling variables
longitudinal prospective research
follow same subjects over a period of time
longitudinal retrospective research
look at a period of time over data that was already collected
cross sectional prospective research
one slice of time in a bigger data set
cross sectional retrospective research
one point in time in the past
types of exploratory research
cohort
case control
cohort study
researcher selects subjects without outcome of interest and monitor if outcome develops over time
is a cohort study prospective or retrospective
prospective
is a cohort study exploratory or explanatory
can be both
major advantages of a cohort study
able to identify temporal sequence between exposure to risk factors and development of outcome
>1 disorder can be evaluated
*framingham heart study
major disadvantages of a cohort study
less useful for rare disorders
prone to attrition
case control study
aims to determine if frequency of exposure to certain variable varies between those with and without disease
case: has disease
control: no disease
is a case control study prospective or retrospective
retrospective
major advantages of a case control study
helpful for determining prognosis-centered research questions
easy to collect data
especially helpful for analyzing disorders with long latency periods and rare disorders
major disadvantages of a case control study
difficult to gauge temporal relationships
bias: selection and/or observation bias, risk for misclassification
