Understanding when to use a well-designed observation study can make a difference to your writing. When used in conjunction with experimental studies, they together can form powerful evidence for your writing.
Research information from observation studies is sourced from natural environments that give context to experimental medical information. Knowing the meaning behind research help answer medical questions, such as the benefit of a medical therapy for a patient population. Want to learn more about health writing?
The types of contextual information you can obtain from observation studies are: 1 Prevalence 2 Incidence and natural history of a medical condition 3 Causes or risk factors of medical conditions 4 Prognosis 5 Associations between the medical condition and exposure to risk factors or medical interventions 6 Trends 7 Behaviour
There are three main types of observational study designs. The different study designs are based on the research question (hypothesis), sample size and timeline of data collection.