Study Design

What is study design?
A study design is a way to set up a medical, epidemiological or health investigation, such as a clinical trial. There are two types of designs: experimental and observational.

Experimental or Intervention Trials:
Randomised controlled trials (RCTs)
Double-blind
Single-blind
Non-blind
Other intervention studies

Observational Studies

• Case report
• Cross-sectional studies (surveys)
  
• Cohort studies
  
• Prospective cohort
  
• Retrospective cohort
  
• Nested cohort
  
• Case control studies
  
• Ecological studies (geographical comparisons)
  
• Qualitative studies (focus group)

Study design is an essential aspect of research and a quanlified statistician should get involved from the very begining. We can help with:

• Decide what design suits your study.
  
• Determination of sample size
  
• Generation of randomisation codes
  
• Review of study protocol for ethnic committee approval and grant aplication
  
• Preparation of statistical analysis plan (SAP)