HSCI 330 Study Guide - Comprehensive Final Exam Guide - Cohort Study, Tobacco Smoking, The Investigators (U.S. Tv Series)

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Health Sciences
• Course: HSCI 330
• Professor: Scott Venners

Document Summary

Epidemiology: is primarily concerned with identifying the important factors or variables that influence a health outcome of interest. Issues to consider when planning an epidemiological research study: Define a question of interest and key variables. What to measure and how; (e) exposure, (d) disease, (c) control variables. Variables known to predict health outcome = control variable (c) What study design and sampling frame? (select design and devise sampling plan) Depends on feasibility and cost as well as variety of characteristics of pop. and study purpose. Provides quantitative information about how often a health outcome occurs in subgroups of interest. Flaws in study design, collection, or analysis (could lead to spurious conclusions about exposure-disease relationship?) Take into account other previously known risk factors for health outcome. Failing to do so can distort the results and lead to incorrect conclusions. The study question needs to be stated clearly and early, particularly to indicate the variables to be observed/measured.