Becoming More Efficient at Outcomes Research

Abstract

This paper discusses several practical problems in research design: Is it worth doing a relatively “quick and dirty” study or is a more thorough study using all available infotmation necessary? All the desired information may either not be available or be time-consuming to collect. What are the likely biases in going ahead and doing the research with the data base “in hand”? Such issues are important because of the limited resources for technology assessment (in terms of money, number of researchers, and research interest) and the great number of unstudies technologies.