descriptive study

• • Shows frequency and distribution patterns of a disease in a population
• • First type of study conducted involves collection of data including age gender diet occupation physical activity drinking habits and smoking. Commonalities determined to propose a hypothesis about cause of disease
• +

  • Descriptive (including ecological) studies are generally relatively quick, easy and cheap to conduct.
• +

  • Exposure data often only available at the area level.
• +

  Differences in exposure between areas may be bigger than at the individual level, and so are more easily examined
• +

  • Utilization of geographical information systems to examine the spatial framework of disease and exposure.
• -

  • A descriptive study is limited to a description of the occurrence of a disease in a population.
• -

  • have no comparison (control) group,
  • they cannot be tested for statistical associations,
  • they are especially prone to publication bias (especially where case reports/series describe the effectiveness of an intervention).
• -

  • It is unable to test hypotheses.