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Types of study

Discussion in 'General Issues and Discussion Forum' started by David Smith, Nov 23, 2007.

  1. David Smith

    David Smith Well-Known Member


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    Dear all

    Would anyone care to explain the following.

    I have often read what are described as

    1) A Prospective Study

    2) A Descriptive Study

    3) A Cross Sectional Study

    I have an idea what each one is but can anyone post a formal definition?
    What other formal descriptive titles are there for a research study?

    Many thanks Dave Smith
     
  2. Mark Smith

    Mark Smith Member

    Hi David

    From my reading:

    Prospective studies are RCT's in which subjects are selected and then followed forward through time.

    Descriptive studies look to generate a hypothesis

    Cross sectional studies are often survey style and look at a population at one specific time and could be described as a snapshot of the population

    Hope this is helpful in some way - it is my interpretation of what the literature seems to imply.

    A couple of good texts on this subject area that probably describe them better than I can are:

    Greenhaulgh T. 1997. How to Read a Paper: The basics of Evidence Based Medicine. London. BMJ Publishing Group

    And

    Crombie IM. 1996. The Pocket Guide to Critical Appraisal. London. BMJ Publishing

    And

    Bowling A. and Ebrahim S. 2005. Handbook of Health Research Methods. Maidenhead. Open University Press

    Cheers
    Mark
     
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