Translations:Advanced Field Epi:Manual 1 - Disease Investigation/249/en
Observational studies
In observational studies nature is allowed to take its course, and the study aims to collect data by observing what happens without intervention from the investigator. There are basically four types of observational study: descriptive study, cross-sectional study, case-control study and cohort study. Cross-sectional, case-control and cohort studies may also be termed analytic studies because they usually involve some form of statistical testing of various hypotheses.