Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 5, 2026

A Familiarization Protocol Facilitates the Participation of Children with ASD in Electrophysiological Research
08:42

A Familiarization Protocol Facilitates the Participation of Children with ASD in Electrophysiological Research

Published on: July 31, 2017

Card studies for observational research in practice

John M Westfall1, Linda Zittleman, Elizabeth W Staton

  • 1Department of Family Medicine, University of Colorado, Denver School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA. Jack.westfall@ucdenver.edu

Annals of Family Medicine
|January 19, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Card studies, a method for collecting patient data at the point-of-care, offer robust descriptive insights into primary care. These observational studies effectively capture clinical problems, management, and outcomes, remaining valuable for research.

Area of Science:

  • Primary Care Research
  • Health Services Research
  • Clinical Informatics

Background:

  • Card studies, a type of observational study, have been utilized for over 30 years to gather patient-level survey data at the point-of-care.
  • These studies are instrumental in describing clinical problems, management strategies, and patient outcomes within primary care settings.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To describe two distinct types of card studies and outline the methodologies for their implementation.
  • To provide a comprehensive overview of conducting effective card studies in primary care research.

Main Methods:

  • A descriptive review of card studies was conducted across three practice-based research networks in Colorado and other networks nationwide.
  • Experiences from the State Networks of Colorado Ambulatory Practices and Partners (SNOCAP) were summarized to inform the review.

Main Results:

  • Card studies can be designed for specific condition research (clinician-initiated based on inclusion criteria) or for trend/prevalence determination (clinician-initiated for all patients during a period).
  • Data collection can involve clinicians and patients, with the capability for data linkage between sources.

Conclusions:

  • Card studies yield valuable cross-sectional descriptive data on clinical care, patient knowledge and behaviors, care perceptions, and condition prevalence.
  • These studies are confirmed as a robust and enduring methodology for describing the landscape of primary care.
Abstract

More Related Videos

Observational Study Protocol for Repeated Clinical Examination and Critical Care Ultrasonography Within the Simple Intensive Care Studies10:38

Observational Study Protocol for Repeated Clinical Examination and Critical Care Ultrasonography Within the Simple Intensive Care Studies

Published on: January 16, 2019

Group Synchronization During Collaborative Drawing Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy07:53

Group Synchronization During Collaborative Drawing Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

Published on: August 5, 2022

Related Concept Videos

Observational Studies01:11

Observational Studies

Observational studies are a type of analytical study where researchers observe events without any interventions. In other words, the researcher does not influence the response variable or the experiment's outcome.
There are three types of observational studies – Prospective, retrospective, and cross-sectional.
Prospective Study
Prospective studies, also known as longitudinal or cohort studies, are carried out by collecting future data from groups sharing similar characteristics. One example of...
Data Collection by Observations01:08

Data Collection by Observations

Data collection refers to a systematic way of obtaining, observing, measuring, and analyzing accurate information. Observational studies are one of the most widely used methods of data collection. It involves collecting data by observing the behavior and physical characteristics of a sample without making any modifications to the sample.
An astronomer viewing the motion and brightness of stars in the sky and recording the data is an example of observational data collection. A botanist recording...
Naturalistic Observations02:30

Naturalistic Observations

If you want to understand how behavior occurs, one of the best ways to gain information is to simply observe the behavior in its natural context. However, people might change their behavior in unexpected ways if they know they are being observed. How do researchers obtain accurate information when people tend to hide their natural behavior? As an example, imagine that your professor asks everyone in your class to raise their hand if they always wash their hands after using the restroom. Chances...
Study Design in Statistics01:15

Study Design in Statistics

A study design is a set of techniques that allow a researcher to collect and analyze data from different variables defined for a specific research problem. Statistics is commonly for effective study design and more robust experiments,
Does aspirin reduce the risk of heart attacks? Is one brand of fertilizer more effective at growing roses than another? Is fatigue as dangerous to a driver as the influence of alcohol? Questions like these are answered using randomized experiments with proper...
Study Designs in Epidemiology01:20

Study Designs in Epidemiology

Epidemiological study designs are fundamental tools for investigating the distribution, determinants, and control of health conditions in populations. They help researchers understand the relationships between exposures and outcomes, and they broadly fall into two categories: "observational" and "experimental" studies.
Observational studies are those where the researcher does not intervene but rather observes natural variations. They include cross-sectional, cohort, and case-control studies.
Case Studies01:22

Case Studies

There are many research methods available to psychologists in their efforts to understand, describe, and explain behavior and the cognitive and biological processes that underlie it.