Table 5 Purpose categories
From: An overview of the design and methods for retrieving high-quality studies for clinical care
Purpose type | Definition |
|---|---|
Etiology | Content pertained directly to determining if there was an association between an exposure and a disease or condition. The question is "What causes people to get a disease or condition?" |
Prognosis | Content pertains directly to the prediction of the clinical course or the natural history of a disease or condition with the disease or condition existing at the beginning of the study. |
Diagnosis | Content pertains directly to using a tool to arrive at a diagnosis of a disease or condition. |
Treatment | Content pertains directly to an intervention for therapy (including adverse effects studies), prevention, rehabilitation, quality improvement, or continuing medical education. |
Cost | Content pertains directly to the costs or financing or economics of a health care issue. |
Economics | Content pertains directly to the economics of a health care issue. |
Clinical Prediction Guide | Content pertains directly to the prediction of some aspect of a disease or condition. |
Qualitative | Content relates to how people feel or experience certain situations, and data collection methods and analyses are appropriate for qualitative data. |
Something Else | Content of the study does not fit any of the above definitions. |