• Methods Mol. Biol. · Jan 2009

    Review

    On framing the research question and choosing the appropriate research design.

    • Patrick Parfrey and Pietro Ravani.
    • Department of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Canada.
    • Methods Mol. Biol. 2009 Jan 1; 473: 1-17.

    AbstractClinical epidemiology is the science of human disease investigation with a focus on diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. The generation of a reasonable question requires the definition of patients, interventions, controls, and outcomes. The goal of research design is to minimize error, ensure adequate samples, measure input and output variables appropriately, consider external and internal validities, limit bias, and address clinical as well as statistical relevance. The hierarchy of evidence for clinical decision making places randomized controlled trials (RCT) or systematic review of good quality RCTs at the top of the evidence pyramid. Prognostic and etiologic questions are best addressed with longitudinal cohort studies.

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