Home About us Editorial board Ahead of print Current issue Archives Submit article Guidelines Contacts Login 
ISSN: Print -2349-0977, Online - 2349-4387
RESEARCH METHDOLOGY
Year : 2014  |  Volume : 1  |  Issue : 2  |  Page : 154-159

Types of observational studies in medical research


1 Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, University College of Medical Sciences, Delhi, India
2 Department of Community Medicine, University College of Medical Sciences, Delhi, India

Correspondence Address:
Dr. Amir Maroof Khan
Department of Community Medicine, University College of Medical Sciences, Dilshad Garden, Delhi
India
Login to access the Email id

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


DOI: 10.4103/2349-0977.137860

Rights and Permissions

Study design forms a core component of research, mainly determined by the study objectives, and it in turn further decides the type of statistical analyses to be carried out. Observational studies are devoid of the investigator's control over assignment of a subject to the treated or control group, in contrast to interventional studies Even though randomized controlled trials are seen as the best study design, evidence shows that properly conducted observational studies give similar results, and is relevant in medical research where ethics and feasibility concerns assume great significance. Observational studies point out towards possible causal associations, are less resource intensive than trials and have a better external validity. This review article discusses various types of observational study designs such as case reports, cross sectional, cohort, case-control and nested case-control studies with real literature examples.


[FULL TEXT] [PDF]*
Print this article     Email this article
 Next article
 Previous article
 Table of Contents

 Similar in PUBMED
   Search Pubmed for
   Search in Google Scholar for
 Related articles
 Citation Manager
 Access Statistics
 Reader Comments
 Email Alert *
 Add to My List *
 * Requires registration (Free)
 

 Article Access Statistics
    Viewed19922    
    Printed300    
    Emailed1    
    PDF Downloaded1557    
    Comments [Add]    
    Cited by others 1    

Recommend this journal