What is a descriptive study?

A study that tries to reveal patterns associated with a specific disease without an emphasis on pre-specified hypotheses. Sometimes these types of studies are called hypothesis generating studies (to contrast them with hypothesis testing studies). There are three general reasons that you might want to conduct a descriptive study:

  1. to help in planning resource allocation;
  2. to identify areas for further research
  3. to provide informal diagnostic information.

Generally, in a descriptive study, the emphasis is on estimation rather than testing. Some of the quantities you might want to estimate are:

  1. the prevalence of a disease,
  2. the natural history of a disease.
  3. the resources required to treat the disease.
  4. attitudes and perceptions about the disease.

Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. It was written by Steve Simon on 2002-10-11, edited by Steve Simon, and was last modified on 2010-04-01. This page needs minor revisions. Category: Definitions, Category: Research designs.