title: The use and interpretation of quasi-experimental studies in medical informatics.
abstract: Quasi-experimental study designs, often described as nonrandomized, pre-post intervention studies, are common in the medical informatics literature. Yet little has been written about the benefits and limitations of the quasi-experimental approach as applied to informatics studies. This paper outlines a relative hierarchy and nomenclature of quasi-experimental study designs that is applicable to medical informatics intervention studies. In addition, the authors performed a systematic review of two medical informatics journals, the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA) and the International Journal of Medical Informatics (IJMI), to determine the number of quasi-experimental studies published and how the studies are classified on the above-mentioned relative hierarchy. They hope that future medical informatics studies will implement higher level quasi-experimental study designs that yield more convincing evidence for causal links between medical informatics interventions and outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Division of Healthcare Outcomes Research, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 100 N. Greene Street, Lower Level, Baltimore, MD, USA. aharris@epi.umaryland.edu
authors.forename: Anthony D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Jessina C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: McGregor
authors.forename: Eli N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Perencevich
authors.forename: Jon P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Furuno
authors.forename: Jingkun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Dan E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Peterson
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Finkelstein
mesh_terms: D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000379:methods*; D012107:Research Design