Study Design Overview

Dr. Petitti introduced the topic of study designs in such a way clearly outlined the purpose of each type.  As with programming, the hardest part of research is actually evaluating the problem and creating a design.  The hard part is never the implementation and testing.  Creating the idea and coming up with the appropriate steps to answer the problem in a consistent way always seems to take more effort.  This lecture defined the characteristics of each type of study design, including causality, time frame, and point of view.  I really liked the fact that specific study examples were provided with each type of design.  This really caused me to take a close look at what separates each type.  Some studies seemed similar in nature, but once we broke down the pieces of the design , they followed the rules that we were given and fit in the appropriate category.  I found myself thinking of my days involved in clinical trials versus my work in post-marketing surveillance and how these two environments contained similar types of data but were structured so differently based on the nature of each environment.  The causality and time frame really define the type of study in this case.  However, not all designs are this clear cut.  I will be taking a closer look at studies in articles and why the researchers chose that particular design.

Posted by Annie