Study Designs

Do you know which study design is best for answering different research questions? Understanding study designs is key to interpreting research correctly and confidently. Different designs, like qualitative studies, cohort studies, RCTs, and systematic reviews, have different strengths, limitations, and appropriate uses. This online course introduces you to the most commonly used study designs in health research. You’ll learn how to recognise each design, understand when it's appropriate, and identify key features that affect the reliability and relevance of the findings. Whether you're reading research for study, work, or decision-making, this course will strengthen your ability to understand and assess the evidence that informs practice.

Course details at a glance

• Training method: Online training. Learners can progress at their own pace.
• Duration: This course is approximately 1 hour.
• Access to module: Access is 12 months from the date purchase.
• Certification: On completion of the course, you will automatically receive a certificate of completion which you can keep in your CPD record.
• Cost: £12.50+VAT.

Training Course Syllabus

This course covers modules on:

• Introduction to study designs
• What is the ‘best available evidence’?
• Hierarchy of evidence
• Typologies of evidence
• Different types of study designs
• Deciphering the study design

Who should attend this training course?

Health & Care professionals that use research evidence in their professional practice, in professional and personal decision making, and policy & guidelines development.

• Anyone who must make decisions about someone’s care in their job or personal life.

• Health & Healthcare workers

• Dentists

• Allied Care Professionals

• Students

• Veterinary

• Policy makers

• Journalists

• Third sector workers

Testimonials

Coming Soon

About your trainer

• The Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) Team is a dedicated collective of professionals committed to enhancing critical thinking and evidence-based decision-making in healthcare and beyond. Drawing from a diverse array of expertise, the CASP Team blends the knowledge and skills of researchers, educators, and practitioners passionate about promoting robust appraisal methodologies.

• Our team collaboratively develops comprehensive online learning modules designed to support individuals and organisations in critically appraising research evidence. By integrating multidisciplinary insights, we ensure that our materials are not only thorough but also accessible and engaging for a broad audience.

• With a shared vision of fostering informed decision-making, the CASP Team continuously updates and refines our resources to reflect the latest advancements in evidence-based practice. Through this teamwork, we aim to empower learners worldwide to confidently evaluate and apply research findings in their professional and personal contexts.

Why learn with CASP?

• CASP training, workshops and resources help participants put knowledge into practice by learning how to systematically formulate questions, find research evidence, appraise research evidence and act on what they find.
• The philosophy of CASP has always been about sharing knowledge and understanding, working in ways that are non-hierarchical, multidisciplinary and using problem-based approaches. This ensures that it is accessible and has practical day-to-day application.
• The CASP programme has been running since 1993 and has 30 years of significant and unrivalled expertise in the delivery of training to healthcare professionals, from a wide variety of professions and disciplines. We are continuing to evolve into new ways of making our workshops accessible to those across the world, including transferring our workshop content to online learning so that participants can pace their study at their own time, having access from wherever they are.
• CASP has 8 critical appraisal tools, designed to be used when reading research. These include tools for systematic reviews, randomised controlled trials, cohort studies, case control studies, economic evaluations, diagnostic studies, qualitative studies and clinical prediction Rule.
• Our critical appraisal tools are free to download from the CASP website, can be used by anyone under the Creative Commons License,  and are used by healthcare organisations and universities world-wide, with over 400,000 downloads per year.

Ready to get started?

Gaining access to the “Cohort Studies” training course is quick and easy. Simply choose one of the options below:

Start this training course now
Purchase our ‘CASP Checklist Essentials’ bundle