ABSTRACT

This chapter reviews popular quantitative research designs and discusses considerations for future sport-related concussion research. It focuses on observational designs and experimental designs. The chapter discusses cross-sectional, non-randomized groups, cohort, experimental, and quasi-experimental designs. It outlines research design, it did not dedicate significant attention to determining the study design that best fits a given research question or selecting the appropriate analytical approach once data is collected. Sport-related concussions are generating increasingly more attention from the media, sport participants, and researchers, and are becoming an important part of the discussion surrounding player safety of all levels of sport. Due to the magnitude of concussion incidences, extensive research has been conducted to better understand the cognitive and physiological outcomes of a sport-related concussion such as headache, confusion, memory loss, and impaired mental processing, as well as the length of time these symptoms persist.