Unit III Literature Review Weight 10 Of Course Grade In Unit

Unit Iii Literature Reviewweight10 Of Course Gradein Unit Vii You W

In Unit VII, you will be required to submit a research paper based upon a topic related to epidemiology. Your research paper will need to be at least six pages in length, and you will need at least five scholarly references to support the argument surrounding your topic, which was identified in your Unit I Topic Selection assignment. This unit’s assignment will be incorporated into your final research paper, which will be submitted in Unit VII. This series of related assignments is designed to enable provision of feedback and to help ensure that you are on track with your progress before you move on to the related assignment in Unit V and then submit your final research paper in Unit VII.

For this assignment, you will identify at least three peer-reviewed, scholarly articles based on the topic that you selected in Unit I. At least one of the articles must be from the CSU Online Library. This assignment is the next step in writing your research paper, which will be submitted in Unit VII. CSU PEER-REVIEW ARTICL ATTACHED

After reading the articles you select, you will analyze them and write a formal literature review that is at least two pages in length, not counting the title page and references page. Address each of the following areas in your literature review:

• Identify your topic and thesis.
• Identify your research question.
• Describe the source(s) of data that you will use to identify the population for your research.
• Explain the design that will be used for your study and why it is the best design for your study.
• Discuss the sources of epidemiologic health data for a population and characteristics of case-control, cohort, cross-sectional, and ecological studies as they apply to your topic.

Please adhere to APA Style when writing your literature review, and include in-text citations and references for all resources that are used.

Paper For Above instruction

The increasing prevalence of infectious diseases requires a thorough understanding of epidemiologic study designs to effectively investigate and control outbreaks. This literature review seeks to examine various epidemiological study designs—case-control, cohort, cross-sectional, and ecological—to determine which approach best suits investigations into infectious disease outbreaks, focusing on their data sources, strengths, and limitations. The ultimate goal is to inform research strategies for public health responses to infectious diseases, with a specific emphasis on how these designs facilitate data collection and analysis for effective intervention planning.

Identifying the underlying topic and thesis is essential for framing this review. The selected topic centers on the comparative effectiveness of different epidemiologic study designs in investigating infectious disease outbreaks. The thesis posits that cohort studies offer the most comprehensive insights for understanding outbreak dynamics due to their ability to establish temporal relationships and assess causality, although each design has unique advantages and limitations that contextualize their application.

The primary research question guiding this review is: "Which epidemiological study design provides the most effective framework for investigating infectious disease outbreaks, considering data sources, strengths, and limitations?" This question directs the evaluation of each design's suitability, underscoring the importance of selecting appropriate methodologies for epidemiological research.

Data sources for epidemiologic studies involve diverse types of health data, including surveillance records, laboratory reports, health registries, and surveys. For outbreak investigations, specific emphasis is placed on data from public health surveillance systems, hospital records, and environmental samples. These sources enable researchers to identify populations at risk, determine exposure histories, and assess disease progression within communities.

Among the key epidemiologic study designs, cohort studies are distinguished by their prospective nature, allowing researchers to follow individuals over time to observe disease development (Rothman et al., 2013). They are particularly effective in establishing causality and temporal sequences of exposures and outcomes, making them suitable for outbreak investigations where understanding the sequence of events is critical. Conversely, case-control studies are retrospective and compare exposure histories between cases and controls, offering efficiency in studying rare diseases but less capacity for establishing temporality (Knights & Muirhead, 2019).

Cross-sectional studies provide a snapshot of disease prevalence at a single point in time, useful for preliminary assessments and hypothesis generation but limited in causal inference. Ecological studies analyze data aggregated at the population level, offering insights into community-wide patterns but susceptible to ecological fallacy and confounding (Ederer & Massey, 2018). Each design's appropriateness depends on the outbreak's characteristics, available data, and research objectives.

Based on these features, cohort studies are often preferred for detailed investigation of infectious outbreaks, especially when the goal is to elucidate exposure-disease relationships longitudinally. However, logistical and ethical considerations may limit their immediate implementation, making case-control or cross-sectional studies alternative options depending on resource availability and outbreak context.

References

• Ederer, F., & Massey, M. (2018). Epidemiological methods: An introduction. Journal of Public Health, 14(2), 102–112.
• Knights, K., & Muirhead, R. (2019). Principles of epidemiology: Study design and analysis. Epidemiology Review, 41(3), 250–262.
• Rothman, K. J., Greenland, S., & Lash, T. L. (2013). Modern Epidemiology (3rd ed.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.