Common Research Designs Used In Epidemiology: Sampling Method

Research Designs Used In Epidemiology
Students Name
Institutional Affiliation
Research Design
Regarding the research design used by Larson and the authors, the study was a correlational one because they used the case-control form of study. This included the exploration of the association that exists between the risk of autism, perinatal factors, socioeconomic factors and parental psychiatric history. As well, the study was based on the all the children that were born in Denmark after the year 1972 and faced the risk of being diagnosed with the disorder autism up to the year 1999. Data analysis was done using the conditional logistic regression method. Among the strengths that the study faced is that they had an easy time in the process of data collection because they obtained the data from all the worldwide Denmark registries. Another strength is the fact that the design does not require a lot of planning because the already available data is the main thing that is required to carry out the analysis and come up with reliable results. In addition, the weakness faced was the size of the sample. Research that includes a small number of the sample is bound to have a large error margin as compared to research with a large sample size. It was not easy to relate all the obtained data hence contributing to the chances of errors.
Sampling Method
The sampling method was a survey that included the collection of data from all Denmark registries across the world. The data was specific on the children who faced the chances of being diagnosed with autism up to December 1999. One of the strengths associated with this method of sampling is the fact that the surveyors do not go through the difficulties of data collection like in the case of using questionnaires (Yin, 2013). The method deals with readymade data and, therefore, it's just a matter of following the necessary regulation procedures to access the data. Another strength of this sampling method is that the data is precise and does not require any form of editing which might end up consuming time. Hence, the method helps in saving a lot of time during the survey process. As well, the weakness of this method is the fact that the surveyors cannot determine whether the data is correct or wrong because they have to deal with the data that they have been provided with. The effectiveness of the data depends on the person who recorded it at the time when the child was born. Hence, if they recorded the wrong information, then the whole survey ends up being affected due to the use of wrong data. This leads to false results.
Sample Size
The sample size was a total of 698 children that were d...