Download or read book Registries for Evaluating Patient Outcomes written by Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality/AHRQ and published by Government Printing Office. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This User’s Guide is intended to support the design, implementation, analysis, interpretation, and quality evaluation of registries created to increase understanding of patient outcomes. For the purposes of this guide, a patient registry is an organized system that uses observational study methods to collect uniform data (clinical and other) to evaluate specified outcomes for a population defined by a particular disease, condition, or exposure, and that serves one or more predetermined scientific, clinical, or policy purposes. A registry database is a file (or files) derived from the registry. Although registries can serve many purposes, this guide focuses on registries created for one or more of the following purposes: to describe the natural history of disease, to determine clinical effectiveness or cost-effectiveness of health care products and services, to measure or monitor safety and harm, and/or to measure quality of care. Registries are classified according to how their populations are defined. For example, product registries include patients who have been exposed to biopharmaceutical products or medical devices. Health services registries consist of patients who have had a common procedure, clinical encounter, or hospitalization. Disease or condition registries are defined by patients having the same diagnosis, such as cystic fibrosis or heart failure. The User’s Guide was created by researchers affiliated with AHRQ’s Effective Health Care Program, particularly those who participated in AHRQ’s DEcIDE (Developing Evidence to Inform Decisions About Effectiveness) program. Chapters were subject to multiple internal and external independent reviews.

Download or read book Mobile Collection Routing Protocol written by Chŏng-u Yi and published by Stanford University. This book was released on 2010 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dissertation presents an in-depth study of mobile routing protocols, particularly mobile collection protocols through a literature study, a theoretical model, and thorough experimental studies both in simulation and testbeds. A mobile collection service provides data delivery from stationary source nodes to a mobile user (or a sink) over multihop networks. One of the main contributions of this dissertation research is the Whirlpool Adhoc Routing Protocol (WARP), which efficiently routes data to a mobile destination within a static network. The key insight in WARP's design is that, when a destination moves, data traffic can use the existing topology to efficiently probe, repair, and communicate changes with the few control packets. Using simulation, controlled testbeds, and real mobility experiments, we find that using the data plane, rather than control plane, is highly effective due to the incremental nature of mobility updates. WARP leverages the fact that converging flows at the destination makes it the region of highest traffic. The dissertation also provides a theoretical basis for WARPs behavior, defining an update area where the topology must adjust when a destination moves. As long as packets arrive at a destination before it moves outside of the update area, WARP can repair the topology with the data plane.

Download or read book Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions written by Julian P. T. Higgins and published by Wiley. This book was released on 2008-11-24 with total page 672 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Healthcare providers, consumers, researchers and policy makers are inundated with unmanageable amounts of information, including evidence from healthcare research. It has become impossible for all to have the time and resources to find, appraise and interpret this evidence and incorporate it into healthcare decisions. Cochrane Reviews respond to this challenge by identifying, appraising and synthesizing research-based evidence and presenting it in a standardized format, published in The Cochrane Library (www.thecochranelibrary.com). The Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions contains methodological guidance for the preparation and maintenance of Cochrane intervention reviews. Written in a clear and accessible format, it is the essential manual for all those preparing, maintaining and reading Cochrane reviews. Many of the principles and methods described here are appropriate for systematic reviews applied to other types of research and to systematic reviews of interventions undertaken by others. It is hoped therefore that this book will be invaluable to all those who want to understand the role of systematic reviews, critically appraise published reviews or perform reviews themselves.

Download or read book Sharing Clinical Trial Data written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2015-04-20 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Data sharing can accelerate new discoveries by avoiding duplicative trials, stimulating new ideas for research, and enabling the maximal scientific knowledge and benefits to be gained from the efforts of clinical trial participants and investigators. At the same time, sharing clinical trial data presents risks, burdens, and challenges. These include the need to protect the privacy and honor the consent of clinical trial participants; safeguard the legitimate economic interests of sponsors; and guard against invalid secondary analyses, which could undermine trust in clinical trials or otherwise harm public health. Sharing Clinical Trial Data presents activities and strategies for the responsible sharing of clinical trial data. With the goal of increasing scientific knowledge to lead to better therapies for patients, this book identifies guiding principles and makes recommendations to maximize the benefits and minimize risks. This report offers guidance on the types of clinical trial data available at different points in the process, the points in the process at which each type of data should be shared, methods for sharing data, what groups should have access to data, and future knowledge and infrastructure needs. Responsible sharing of clinical trial data will allow other investigators to replicate published findings and carry out additional analyses, strengthen the evidence base for regulatory and clinical decisions, and increase the scientific knowledge gained from investments by the funders of clinical trials. The recommendations of Sharing Clinical Trial Data will be useful both now and well into the future as improved sharing of data leads to a stronger evidence base for treatment. This book will be of interest to stakeholders across the spectrum of research-from funders, to researchers, to journals, to physicians, and ultimately, to patients.

Download or read book The National Children s Study Research Plan written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2008-08-16 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The National Children's Study (NCS) is planned to be the largest long-term study of environmental and genetic effects on children's health ever conducted in the United States. It proposes to examine the effects of environmental influences on the health and development of approximately 100,000 children across the United States, following them from before birth until age 21. By archiving all of the data collected, the NCS is intended to provide a valuable resource for analyses conducted many years into the future. This book evaluates the research plan for the NCS, by assessing the scientific rigor of the study and the extent to which it is being carried out with methods, measures, and collection of data and specimens to maximize the scientific yield of the study. The book concludes that if the NCS is conducted as proposed, the database derived from the study should be valuable for investigating hypotheses described in the research plan as well as additional hypotheses that will evolve. Nevertheless, there are important weaknesses and shortcomings in the research plan that diminish the study's expected value below what it might be.

Download or read book Developing a Protocol for Observational Comparative Effectiveness Research A User s Guide written by Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (U.S.) and published by Government Printing Office. This book was released on 2013-02-21 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This User’s Guide is a resource for investigators and stakeholders who develop and review observational comparative effectiveness research protocols. It explains how to (1) identify key considerations and best practices for research design; (2) build a protocol based on these standards and best practices; and (3) judge the adequacy and completeness of a protocol. Eleven chapters cover all aspects of research design, including: developing study objectives, defining and refining study questions, addressing the heterogeneity of treatment effect, characterizing exposure, selecting a comparator, defining and measuring outcomes, and identifying optimal data sources. Checklists of guidance and key considerations for protocols are provided at the end of each chapter. The User’s Guide was created by researchers affiliated with AHRQ’s Effective Health Care Program, particularly those who participated in AHRQ’s DEcIDE (Developing Evidence to Inform Decisions About Effectiveness) program. Chapters were subject to multiple internal and external independent reviews. More more information, please consult the Agency website: www.effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov)

Download or read book The Guide to Community Preventive Services written by Task Force on Community Preventive Services and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005-02-17 with total page 543 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The gold standard for evidence-based public health, The Guide to Community Preventive Services is a primary resource to improve health and prevent disease in states, communities, independent, nonfederal Task Force on Community Preventive Services, The Guide uses comprehensive systemic review methods to evaluate population-oriented health interventions. The recommendations of the Task Force are explicitly linked to the scientific evidence developed during systematic reviews. This volume examines the effectiveness and efficiency of interventions to combat such risky behaviors as tobacco use, physical inactivity, and violence; to reduce the impact and suffering of specific conditions such as cancer, diabetes, vaccine-preventable diseases, and motor vehicle injuries; and to address social determinants oh health such as education, housing, and access to care. The chapters are grouped into three broad categories: changing risk behaviors; reducing specific diseases, injuries, and impairments; and methodological background for the book itself.

Download or read book The Behavioral and Social Sciences written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1988-02-01 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores the scientific frontiers and leading edges of research across the fields of anthropology, economics, political science, psychology, sociology, history, business, education, geography, law, and psychiatry, as well as the newer, more specialized areas of artificial intelligence, child development, cognitive science, communications, demography, linguistics, and management and decision science. It includes recommendations concerning new resources, facilities, and programs that may be needed over the next several years to ensure rapid progress and provide a high level of returns to basic research.

Download or read book Introducing Linguistic Research written by Svenja Voelkel and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-09-09 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past decade, conducting empirical research in linguistics has become increasingly popular. The first of its kind, this book provides an engaging and practical introduction to this exciting versatile field, providing a comprehensive overview of research aspects in general, and covering a broad range of subdiscipline-specific methodological approaches. Subfields covered include language documentation and descriptive linguistics, language typology, corpus linguistics, sociolinguistics and anthropological linguistics, cognitive linguistics and psycholinguistics, and neurolinguistics. The book reflects on the strengths and weaknesses of each single approach and on how they interact with one-another across the study of language in its many diverse facets. It also includes exercises, example student projects and recommendations for further reading, along with additional online teaching materials. Providing hands-on experience, and written in an engaging and accessible style, this unique and comprehensive guide will give students the inspiration they need to develop their own research projects in empirical linguistics.

Download or read book Simple Data Collection Protocol written by Samuel Edoho-Eket and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: "The need to periodically collect data from disparate sources continues to grow as government agencies seek to preempt terrorism efforts and new applications of distributed data collection continue to emerge. However these kinds of surveillance activities may require the collection of data deemed private or confidential. As result [sic], some or all of the data holders may not participate, rendering the collected data much less useful or completely useless. This thesis provides proof that one can conduct useful surveillance using current standards and technologies while providing provable guarantees of both privacy and confidentiality. First, this thesis work introduces the PrivaSum algorithm, a practical algorithm for performing distributed computation in a privacy and confidentiality-preserving manner. This work then introduces the Simple Data Collection Protocol (SDCP), a new potential standard that allows one to perform distributed data collection on the Internet with guarantees of both privacy and confidentiality. Next, this thesis describes a reference toolkit developed for use in SDCP implementations. Finally, this work culminates by illustrating how the implementation of data collection algorithms, such as PrivaSum, becomes trivial when utilizing the SDCP protocol and corresponding reference toolkit. Thereby proving the ease in which SDCP and the provided toolkit allow researchers and system designers to rapidly implement any number data collection algorithms."

Download or read book Development Research in Practice written by Kristoffer Bjärkefur and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2021-07-16 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Development Research in Practice leads the reader through a complete empirical research project, providing links to continuously updated resources on the DIME Wiki as well as illustrative examples from the Demand for Safe Spaces study. The handbook is intended to train users of development data how to handle data effectively, efficiently, and ethically. “In the DIME Analytics Data Handbook, the DIME team has produced an extraordinary public good: a detailed, comprehensive, yet easy-to-read manual for how to manage a data-oriented research project from beginning to end. It offers everything from big-picture guidance on the determinants of high-quality empirical research, to specific practical guidance on how to implement specific workflows—and includes computer code! I think it will prove durably useful to a broad range of researchers in international development and beyond, and I learned new practices that I plan on adopting in my own research group.†? —Marshall Burke, Associate Professor, Department of Earth System Science, and Deputy Director, Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford University “Data are the essential ingredient in any research or evaluation project, yet there has been too little attention to standardized practices to ensure high-quality data collection, handling, documentation, and exchange. Development Research in Practice: The DIME Analytics Data Handbook seeks to fill that gap with practical guidance and tools, grounded in ethics and efficiency, for data management at every stage in a research project. This excellent resource sets a new standard for the field and is an essential reference for all empirical researchers.†? —Ruth E. Levine, PhD, CEO, IDinsight “Development Research in Practice: The DIME Analytics Data Handbook is an important resource and a must-read for all development economists, empirical social scientists, and public policy analysts. Based on decades of pioneering work at the World Bank on data collection, measurement, and analysis, the handbook provides valuable tools to allow research teams to more efficiently and transparently manage their work flows—yielding more credible analytical conclusions as a result.†? —Edward Miguel, Oxfam Professor in Environmental and Resource Economics and Faculty Director of the Center for Effective Global Action, University of California, Berkeley “The DIME Analytics Data Handbook is a must-read for any data-driven researcher looking to create credible research outcomes and policy advice. By meticulously describing detailed steps, from project planning via ethical and responsible code and data practices to the publication of research papers and associated replication packages, the DIME handbook makes the complexities of transparent and credible research easier.†? —Lars Vilhuber, Data Editor, American Economic Association, and Executive Director, Labor Dynamics Institute, Cornell University

Download or read book Assessing Prevalence and Trends in Obesity written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2016-09-30 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Obesity has come to the forefront of the American public health agenda. The increased attention has led to a growing interest in quantifying obesity prevalence and determining how the prevalence has changed over time. Estimates of obesity prevalence and trends are fundamental to understanding and describing the scope of issue. Policy makers, program planners, and other stakeholders at the national, state, and local levels are among those who search for estimates relevant to their population(s) of interest to inform their decision-making. The differences in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data have given rise to a body of evidence that is inconsistent and has created barriers to interpreting and applying published reports. As such, there is a need to provide guidance to those who seek to better understand and use estimates of obesity prevalence and trends. Assessing Prevalence and Trends in Obesity examines the approaches to data collection, analysis, and interpretation that have been used in recent reports on obesity prevalence and trends at the national, state, and local level, particularly among U.S. children, adolescents, and young adults. This report offers a framework for assessing studies on trends in obesity, principally among children and young adults, for policy making and program planning purposes, and recommends ways decision makers and others can move forward in assessing and interpreting reports on obesity trends.

Download or read book The Prevention and Treatment of Missing Data in Clinical Trials written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2010-12-21 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Randomized clinical trials are the primary tool for evaluating new medical interventions. Randomization provides for a fair comparison between treatment and control groups, balancing out, on average, distributions of known and unknown factors among the participants. Unfortunately, these studies often lack a substantial percentage of data. This missing data reduces the benefit provided by the randomization and introduces potential biases in the comparison of the treatment groups. Missing data can arise for a variety of reasons, including the inability or unwillingness of participants to meet appointments for evaluation. And in some studies, some or all of data collection ceases when participants discontinue study treatment. Existing guidelines for the design and conduct of clinical trials, and the analysis of the resulting data, provide only limited advice on how to handle missing data. Thus, approaches to the analysis of data with an appreciable amount of missing values tend to be ad hoc and variable. The Prevention and Treatment of Missing Data in Clinical Trials concludes that a more principled approach to design and analysis in the presence of missing data is both needed and possible. Such an approach needs to focus on two critical elements: (1) careful design and conduct to limit the amount and impact of missing data and (2) analysis that makes full use of information on all randomized participants and is based on careful attention to the assumptions about the nature of the missing data underlying estimates of treatment effects. In addition to the highest priority recommendations, the book offers more detailed recommendations on the conduct of clinical trials and techniques for analysis of trial data.

Download or read book A Deadline driven Epidemic Data Collection Protocol Suitable for Tracking Interpersonnel Rendezvous written by Avranil Tah and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Collecting Qualitative Data written by Greg Guest and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2013 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides a very practical and step-by-step guide to collecting and managing qualitative data,

Download or read book Protocol analysis written by K. Anders Ericsson and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 443 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Conducting Biosocial Surveys written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2010-10-02 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent years have seen a growing tendency for social scientists to collect biological specimens such as blood, urine, and saliva as part of large-scale household surveys. By combining biological and social data, scientists are opening up new fields of inquiry and are able for the first time to address many new questions and connections. But including biospecimens in social surveys also adds a great deal of complexity and cost to the investigator's task. Along with the usual concerns about informed consent, privacy issues, and the best ways to collect, store, and share data, researchers now face a variety of issues that are much less familiar or that appear in a new light. In particular, collecting and storing human biological materials for use in social science research raises additional legal, ethical, and social issues, as well as practical issues related to the storage, retrieval, and sharing of data. For example, acquiring biological data and linking them to social science databases requires a more complex informed consent process, the development of a biorepository, the establishment of data sharing policies, and the creation of a process for deciding how the data are going to be shared and used for secondary analysis-all of which add cost to a survey and require additional time and attention from the investigators. These issues also are likely to be unfamiliar to social scientists who have not worked with biological specimens in the past. Adding to the attraction of collecting biospecimens but also to the complexity of sharing and protecting the data is the fact that this is an era of incredibly rapid gains in our understanding of complex biological and physiological phenomena. Thus the tradeoffs between the risks and opportunities of expanding access to research data are constantly changing. Conducting Biosocial Surveys offers findings and recommendations concerning the best approaches to the collection, storage, use, and sharing of biospecimens gathered in social science surveys and the digital representations of biological data derived therefrom. It is aimed at researchers interested in carrying out such surveys, their institutions, and their funding agencies.