title: Epidemiological studies based on small sample sizes--a statistician's point of view.
abstract: We consider 3 basic steps in a study, which have relevance for the statistical analysis. They are: study design, data quality, and statistical analysis. While statistical analysis is often considered an important issue in the literature and the choice of statistical method receives much attention, less emphasis seems to be put on study design and necessary sample sizes. Finally, a very important step, namely assessment and validation of the quality of the data collected seems to be completely overlooked. Examples from veterinary epidemiological research and recommendations for each step are given together with relevant references to the literature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science and Animal Health, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Frederiksberg, Denmark. ake@kvl.dk
authors.forename: Annette Kjaer
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Ersbøll
authors.forename: Bjarne Kjaer
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Ersbøll
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D015340:Epidemiologic Research Design; D006801:Humans; D015233:Models, Statistical; D018401:Sample Size; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity