Assignment

Now that you've had the experience of designing a research study, you will have the opportunity to review and report on study designs developed by others.

To prepare for this Application Assignment:

To complete the Application Assignment, analyze the articles from different perspectives. With the two articles in mind, use the attached Epidemiologic Study Worksheet to answer the following questions. The final worksheet should be 2-3 pages in length. (ALSO ATTACHING THE WORKSHEET)

What did the researchers want the study to determine?

What health condition(s) did the researchers study?

What factors did the researchers investigate to determine an association with the outcome listed above? There may be more than one.

Who did the researchers study? How many?

What type of epidemiological study design (observational or experimental) does the study describe? Why?

What type(s) or method(s) were used to collect the data for the study?

What were the results of the study? What were the conclusions of the researchers?

Note: Following each abstract, you will find a link to the full article in the Walden Library. If you are interested in exploring the entire article, follow the link to the full article. It is not required to read the entire article, but doing so may deepen your understanding of epidemiological studies.

Be sure to support your work with specific citations from this week's Learning Resources and additional scholarly sources as appropriate. Refer to the Pocket Guide to APA Style to ensure that your in-text citations and reference list are correct.

RESOURCES

Epidemiology for Public Health Practice

Chapter 8, "Experimental Study Designs"The authors continue the discussion about epidemiological studies by explaining the characteristics, strengths, weaknesses, and challenges of experimental study designs.