Critical Analysis of Retrospective Study Designs: Cohort and Case Series

Retrospective studies represent an often used research methodology in the podiatric scientific literature, with cohort studies and case series being two of the most prevalent designs. Choosing a retrospective method is often dependent on multiple factors, two of the most important being details of the research question to be explored and the sample size that can be acquired. When analyzing literature, a reader must understand how retrospective studies work to critically examine the methods, results, and discussions to determine if the conclusion is reasonable and might be applied to clinical practice.