Study Design: The Basics

In biomedical research, meaningful conclusions can only be drawn based on data collected from a valid scientific design using appropriate statistical methods. Therefore, the selection of an appropriate study design is important in order to provide an unbiased and scientific evaluation of the research questions. In this chapter, the different kinds of experimental studies commonly used in biology and medicine are introduced. A brief survey of basic experimental study designs, randomization, blinding, possible biases, issues in data analysis, and interpretation of the study results are mainly provided.