What are Observational Studies?
Observational studies are conducted in a natural environment where the purpose is to observe outcomes without enacting change. They can be either qualitative or quantitative. You will find several different types of observational studies in your research.
- Case-Control: Subjects with a disease or condition are compared with those who don’t. There is an effort to match the case and control on different things that may influence the comparison.
- Cohort: A group of participants is chosen and followed over time to look at specific outcomes. Cohort studies can either be prospective, where the group is chosen and followed over time, or retrospective, where the researcher selects a group of participants and looks at a time period in the past.
- Cross-Sectional: It looks at the variables of interest in a group of participants at one point in time. Participants are not followed over time.
Find Observational Studies
One way to find observational studies is to add a keyword of the study type to your search strategy either when using the Search Everything box on the library homepage or the individual databases on the Database A to Z page.
Examples:
- diabetes AND case-control
- hypertension AND cross-sectional
- poverty AND (teen OR youth OR adolescent) AND cohort
There are also filters in specific databases to limit your search results to case reports, case studies, or observational studies only. The next section of this page will explain how to use those filters in these databases.
Use Database Observational Studies Filters
PubMed: Observational Studies Filters
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Database - PubMedPubMed is an online source provided by the National Library of Medicine that features millions of citations for biomedical literature from Medline, life science journals, and eBooks. Citations may include links to full-text content from the Chamberlain Library, PubMed Central, and publisher websites.
To find observational studies in PubMed, follow the steps below.
- Go to the database using the link above.
- Enter your keyword(s) into the search box.
- Select Search.
- Select Additional Filters at the bottom of the filters list on the left-hand side of the page, as shown in the image below.
- In the pop-up window, select Article Type and choose either Case Reports or Observational Study, as shown in the image below.
Medline Complete: Observational Studies Filters
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Database - Medline Complete from EBSCOMedline Complete provides access to journals covering a wide range of topics in the biomedical sciences and medicine.
To find observational studies in Medline, follow the steps below.
- Select the database link above to open the Advanced Search page.
- Enter your keyword(s) into the search boxes.
- Move down to the Limit Your Results section. This is where you can add filters to your search to tell the database that you only want articles that fit specific criteria.
- From the Publication Type menu, select either Case Reports, Case Study, or Observational Study.
- After you have your results, make sure to read through the article abstracts to see which type of study design the researchers are using. There is no guarantee that the database will only generate these types of studies.
Review Observational Studies Examples
Case-Control
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Article - Association Between ABCB1 Gene Polymorphism and Renal Function in Patients with Hypertension: A Case-Control Study.Chen, X., Zhou, T., Yang, D., & Lu, J. (2017). Association between ABCB1 gene polymorphism and renal function in patients with hypertension: A case-control Study. Medical Science Monitor, 23, 3854–3860. https://doi.org/10.12659/MSM.902954
Cohort
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Article - Association of Long-Term Exposure to Transportation Noise and Traffic-Related Air Pollution with the Incidence of Diabetes: A Prospective Cohort Study.Clark, C., Sbihi, H., Tamburic, L., Brauer, M., Frank, L.D., & Davies, H.W. (2017). Association of long-term exposure to transportation noise and traffic-related air pollution with the incidence of diabetes: A prospective cohort study. Environmental Health Perspectives, 125(8), 087025. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP1279
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Article - A Safety Comparison of Metformin vs Sulfonylurea Initiation in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes and Chronic Kidney Disease: A Retrospective Cohort StudyWhitlock, R.H., Hougen, I., Komenda, P., Rigatto, C., Clemens, K.K., & Tangri, N. (2020). A safety comparison of Metformin vs Sulfonylurea initiation in patients with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease: A retrospective cohort study. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 95(1), 90–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2019.07.017
Cross-Sectional
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Article - Preferences for models of peer support in the digital era: A cross-sectional survey of people with cancer.Boyes, A., Turon, H., Hall, A., Watson, R., Proietto, A., & Sanson‐Fisher, R. (2018). Preferences for models of peer support in the digital era: A cross‐sectional survey of people with cancer. Psycho-Oncology, 27 (9), 2148–2154. https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.4781