POPM 3240 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Sampling Frame, Serology, Tylenol (Brand)
8 Dec 2016
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This unit focuses on how epidemiologists investigate whether one intervention (e. g. , treatment, vaccine, etc. ) is better, or more efficacious, than another. Another example might be a comparison between the flu vaccine vs. no vaccine for preventing the flu. These are the types of questions that epidemiologists aim to address with intervention studies. As gordis (2014) outlines, while we often refer to these types of studies as randomized clinical. Trials, they do not in fact have to take place in a clinical setting. As a result, it is more accurate to refer to these studies as randomized trials. Importantly, randomized trials are part of a larger classification of studies, called experimental. In this grouping of studies, the investigators are responsible for assigning study participants to groups and intervening in some way (i. e. , exposing them to an exposure of interest, administering a treatment of some form) Recall that analytical observational study designs (cross-sectional, case-control, cohort) are studies where we watch/observe.
