Field Studies
Year: 2012
Type: other
Abstract: Epidemiologic studies in which data are collected in the field for the purpose of evaluating a specific hypothesis are known as “field studies”, and are to be contrasted with studies that use pre-existing data, principally from health-care databases. Much of pharmacoepidemiology today consists of the latter “database” studies, but field studies continue to play an important role. Strengths of field studies include the ability to rigorously define outcomes, enroll subjects with very rare conditions (although in recent years this is no longer a distinct advantage over databases), and obtain the information needed to study specific research questions that cannot be addressed with pre-existing data, because the study infrastructure and data collection procedures are set up specifically for the purpose of accomplishing these goals. On the other hand, these studies are time consuming and expensive, and as with all epidemiologic investigations, care must be taken to minimize the possibility of selection and information bias. This chapter focuses on the design, setup, and conduct of field studies through the data collection phase. Analytical techniques are generally similar to those used in any type of epidemiologic study, and are thus not covered in detail.
Source: Pharmacoepidemiology
Author: David W. Kaufman
Institution: Boston University
Language: English
Subfield: Statistics and Probability
Field: Mathematics
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,207
OpenAlex ID: W4255532496