Case-control design: an appropriate strategy for nursing research

The case-control design is a well-established research method in epidemiology and has considerable potential for nursing research. It is particularly appropriate for studying health or service outcomes that occur relatively infrequently and offer advantages in time, sample size, and resource requirements. While the retrospective observational nature of the design presents challenges in selection of subjects, avoidance of biases, and control confounding, the processes for managing these pitfalls are increasingly being explored. The analysis is straightforward and presents estimates of risk that are clearly interpretable by the nurse researcher, the policy makers, and other research consumers.