ABSTRACT
An epidemiological study is made up of research on the distribution and cause of disease as well as interventions that treat and prevent disease. The study relies on a research design that lays out predetermined procedures and methods that researchers utilize during a study. A study can be descriptive, analytic, or experimental. An epidemiological study of a descriptive nature focuses on the distribution of disease and other health-affecting conditions. A descriptive study is concerned with and designed to describe existing distributions of variables without regard to causal or other hypotheses. Examples would include a community health survey used to determine the health status of the people in a community, or perhaps analyses of cancer registry data to measure risks. A small-scale descriptive study is seen during the investigation of an outbreak. Recall how epidemiologists study the problem-the distribution of disease cases according to person, place, and time characteristics. Other efforts at descriptive research are seen when epidemiologists conduct surveys to determine the nature of the population affected by a particular disease, also noting person, place, and time characteristics.
