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From Study Questions to Study Design: Exploring the Full Range of Informatics Study Types

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Evaluation Methods in Biomedical and Health Informatics

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Abstract

This chapter address evaluation studies specifically in biomedical and health informatics. It introduces methods for identifying and expressing the questions that give focus to a study. It then describes ten informatics-specific study types that can guide study teams toward a design that is a best match to the study questions.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    That said, studies of closed-loop devices that function with no direct human intermediation or interaction can employ many of the study types described here, with “users” in a passive role.

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Charles P. Friedman .

Answers to Self-Tests

Answers to Self-Tests

Self-Test 3.1

  1. 1a.

    ii

  2. 1b.

    iii

  3. 1c.

    i

  4. 1d.

    iii

  5. 1e.

    ii

  1. 2a.

    Questions (a) and (e) are appropriately specific study questions.

  2. 2b.

    For Question a:

    • P = researchers

    • I = digital lab notebook

    • C = users vs. non-users of notebook

    • O = identifying salient information

    For Question e:

    • P = medical residents

    • I = information resource designed to improve diagnosis

    • C = (implied) before use and after use comparison

    • O = quality of diagnostic hypotheses

Self-Test 3.2

  1. 1.

    Problem impact

  2. 2.

    Usability test

  3. 3.

    Need assessment

  4. 4.

    Design validation

  5. 5.

    Field function

  6. 6.

    Lab function

  7. 7.

    Organizational

  8. 8.

    Field user effect

  9. 9.

    Problem impact.

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Friedman, C.P., Wyatt, J.C., Ash, J.S. (2022). From Study Questions to Study Design: Exploring the Full Range of Informatics Study Types. In: Evaluation Methods in Biomedical and Health Informatics. Health Informatics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86453-8_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86453-8_3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-86452-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-86453-8

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