As a pharmaceutical industry professional, you already know there are a bevy of different types and structures of clinical studies. However, you may need a resource to help you sort them all out. This paper includes a variety of categorical descriptions of types of studies, controls, designs, definitions and examples, including links to authoritative source material.
The learning is easy, here’s an example: interventional (or experimental) designs are those in which an exposure is assigned, while observational studies are those where the investigator simply observes what happens. Retrospective studies are those in which the outcome has already occurred (thus may only be observational), while prospective studies anticipate a future outcome and may be either interventional or observational. Generally, interventional studies may be either parallel or crossover, and observational studies may be either cross-sectional, case-control or cohort in design.
Here’s a link to the paper, An Introduction to Clinical Trials and Resources for Continued and Intermediate Learning.
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