Study design

Abstract

Several study designs are available to the researcher and have been briefly presented in this chapter. The most important issue when deciding on what study design to chose for a survey is to have a distinct hypothesis and a thorough rationale behind it. Then several study designs will naturally be excluded. The available resources, financial, technical and personal as well as time will further help choosing the optimal study design. The main characteristics of the various study designs, including their advantages and limitations, are summarized. The second important message from this chapter is that, regardless of study design chosen, a thorough planning is needed before conducting the survey in question.