Designing a Cohort Study

When you need to know what leads to what over time, you follow a cohort. This level teaches you to design studies that measure incidence and risk, and to defend them against the loss-to-follow-up that sinks so many.

Who this level is for

Researchers and clinicians ready to design studies that track people over time, plus data and program staff supporting them. Recommended after Levels 1-2.

What you'll learn

• The core logic of cohort studies and how they establish a temporal sequence
• Prospective, retrospective, ambidirectional, closed and open cohorts, and when to use each
• The steps of running a prospective cohort, from baseline measurement to outcomes
• The real strengths and weaknesses of the cohort design
• How differential loss to follow-up creates bias, and practical ways to minimise it

You finish with: A cohort version of your protocol.