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Modern Epidemiologic Study Designs

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Handbook of Epidemiology

Abstract

A fundamental challenge pervasive to all experimental and nonexperimental (observational) research is valid inference of causal effects. Although actions (through undefined mechanisms, but conventionally denoted by treatment, exposure, etc.) and reactions (e.g., disease, remission, cure) must occur by definition in individuals, the realm of epidemiology principally lies in the study of individuals in the aggregate, such as patients enrolled in clinical trials, participants in cohorts, and populations. Until recently, advancements in epidemiological methods developed in the last half-century have hence largely fallen into the domain of the two major observational study designs used: cohort and case-control studies (cf. Chap. I.5 and I.6 of this handbook).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Population Health and Reproduction 1018B Haring Hall School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Philip H. Kass

  2. Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA, USA

    Philip H. Kass

  3. Division of Epidemiology Department of Public Health Sciences, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616-8638, USA

    Ellen B. Gold

Authors
  1. Philip H. Kass
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  2. Ellen B. Gold
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Epidemiological Methods and Ethiologic Research, Bremen Institute for Prevention Research and Social Medicine (BIPS), Linzer Str. 10, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Wolfgang Ahrens  & Iris Pigeot  & 

  2. Division of Biometrie and Data Management, Bremen Institute for Prevention Research and Social Medicine (BIPS), Linzer Str. 10, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Wolfgang Ahrens  & Iris Pigeot  & 

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© 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Kass, P.H., Gold, E.B. (2005). Modern Epidemiologic Study Designs. In: Ahrens, W., Pigeot, I. (eds) Handbook of Epidemiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-26577-1_8

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