Research types
This section of the ME/CFS Research Register beta version provides an overview of research types (types of medical research) connected with ME/CFS research. By clicking on one of the research types below, you will be directed to a separate page. There you will find research projects, areas, and networks, as well as working groups, selected people, and publications connected with the research type. You may also use the search function to look for specific topics or people, for example.
A description of the current scope of the ME/CFS Research Register beta version (e.g. which countries are included) can be found on the starting page.
Display count
39 of 39 research types
Search types
Basic research
Description:
Basic medical research (otherwise known as experimental research) includes applied animal experiments, cell studies, biochemical, genetic and physiological investigations, and studies on the properties of drugs and materials. In almost all experiments, at least one independent variable is varied and the effects on the dependent variable are investigated. It also includes theoretical studies ...
Research projects:
0Publications:
0Basic research - Applied
Description:
Basic medical research in which animal experiments, cell studies, biochemical, genetic and physiological investigations, and studies on the properties of drugs and materials are applied to investigate the effects on a dependent variable. Description adapted from: https:...
Research projects:
0Publications:
0Basic research - Applied - Animal study
Description:
Applied basic research in which an animal model is used to better understand a condition and to uncover potential implications for the treatment in humans. Description adapted from: https://www.aerzteblatt.de/int/archive/article/64227.
Research projects:
4Publications:
2Basic research - Applied - Biochemistry
Description:
Applied basic research that explores the metabolic basis of a disease with the aim to understand the chemical processes unfolding within the human body. Description adapted from: https://www.aerzteblatt.de/int/archive/article/64227.
Research projects:
20Publications:
9Basic research - Applied - Cell study
Description:
Applied basic research that investigates how different cell types develop and how they affect the disease and potential treatments in patients. Description adapted from: https://www.aerzteblatt.de/int/archive/article/64227.
Research projects:
31Publications:
7Basic research - Applied - Genetics
Description:
Applied basic research that employs genetic engineering methods, including for the determination of genetic variabilities and risk factors. Description adapted from: https://www.aerzteblatt.de/int/archive/article/64227.
Research projects:
2Publications:
1Basic research - Applied - Material development
Description:
Applied basic research centred around the development and improvement of analytical/diagnostic procedures for the determination of proteins, enzymes, markers or genes. Description adapted from: https://www.aerzteblatt.de/int/archive/article/64227.
Research projects:
6Publications:
1Basic research - Theoretical
Description:
Basic theoretical research concerned with the development and improvement of analytical and biometric procedures, tests, modeling and evaluation strategies. Description adapted from: https://www.aerzteblatt.de/int/archive/article/64227.
Research projects:
0Publications:
0Basic research - Theoretical - Method development
Description:
Basic theoretical research centred on the development and improvement of analytical procedures, such as analytical determination of enzymes, markers or genes, as well as imaging procedures such as computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging, in addition to gene sequencing. Description adapted from:
Research projects:
0Publications:
0Clinical research
Description:
Clinical research includes both interventional (experimental) and observational (non-interventional) studies. A control group is included in most clinical studies. This group receives another treatment regimen and/or placebo, i.e. a therapy without substantial efficacy. Clinical studies should ideally include randomization, in which the patients are allocated by chance to the therapy arms. D...
Research projects:
0Publications:
0Clinical research - Interventional
Description:
Any clinical investigation carried out on human subjects intended to study or demonstrate the clinical or pharmacological effects of medicinal products or to detect adverse reactions or to study absorption, distribution, metabolism or excretion with the aim of ascertaining the safety or efficacy of medicinal products. Interventional studies also include medical device studies or studies in w...
Research projects:
0Publications:
0Clinical research - Interventional - Clinical trial phase I
Description:
Interventional clinical research as first step in drug development used to determine the safety and appropriate dosage of a drug. Subjects are usually healthy volunteers. Description adapted from: https://www.aerzteblatt.de/int/archive/article/64227.
Research projects:
0Publications:
0Clinical research - Interventional - Clinical trial phase II
Description:
Interventional clinical research that follows successful phase I trials. For drugs or treatments already approved for other diseases, phase II usually follows successful case reports/series. It involves a larger number of individuals and evaluates treatment efficacy as well as potential side effects. Description adapted from: ...
Research projects:
4Publications:
5Clinical research - Interventional - Clinical trial phase III
Description:
Interventional clinical research that follows successful phase II study and includes an increase in the number of enrolled patients. Phase III trials seek to demonstrate the efficacy of an intervention in normal use and to establish more robust data on safety and side effects. A successful phase III is required for drug approval. Description adapted from:
Research projects:
0Publications:
0Clinical research - Interventional - Clinical trial phase IV
Description:
Interventional clinical research that follow up after approval. Phase IV trials seek to understand the long-term impact and safety of an intervention. Description adapted from: https://www.aerzteblatt.de/int/archive/article/64227.
Research projects:
0Publications:
0Clinical research - Observational
Description:
In clinical research, a non-interventional trial is a study in which findings from the treatment of individuals with medicinal products are analysed using epidemiological methods in accordance with the indications for use specified in the marketing authorisation; the treatment, including diagnosis and monitoring, does not follow a predetermined protocol, but exclusively follows medical pract...
Research projects:
0Publications:
0Clinical research - Observational - Case report/series
Description:
Observational clinical research that includes retrospective detailed reporting of symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of an individual or a series of individual patients that describes a novel form of diagnosis or treatment. Description adapted from: https://ww...
Research projects:
0Publications:
17Clinical research - Observational - Diagnostic study
Description:
Observational clinical research that aims to evaluate the accuracy of a diagnostic test or method in identifying a disease entity. New biomarkers are examined for their diagnostic suitability via the characterisation of patients' disease profiles. Description adapted from:
Research projects:
18Publications:
36Clinical research - Observational - Prognostic study
Description:
Observational clinical research that aims to evaluate a biomarker or diagnostic method with regards to its ability to predict the propability of remission or worsening of a condition. Patients are observed either spontaneously over time or during therapy. Biomarkers/diagnostic methods may be able to predict which therapy is most promising. Description adapted from:
Research projects:
4Publications:
2Clinical research - Observational - Therapy study
Description:
Observational clinical research in which patients are observed while a treatment is applied. In contrast to interventional clinical trials, the therapy regimen is adapted to the individual needs of the patient and does not follow a strict protocol. Description adapted from:
Research projects:
6Publications:
11Epidemiological research
Description:
Epidemiological research is mostly centred around the distribution and temporal changes in the frequency of diseases and their causes. Analogous to clinical research, epidemiology also distinguishes between interventional and observational studies. Description adapted from:
Research projects:
0Publications:
0Epidemiological research - Interventional
Description:
In epidemiology, interventional studies are experimental in nature and are further subdivided into field studies (sample from an area, such as a large region or a country) and group studies (sample from a specific group, such as a specific social or ethnic group). Description adapted from:
Research projects:
0Publications:
0Epidemiological research - Interventional - Field/group study
Description:
Interventional epidemiological research based on field studies of a population in one location, or group studies covering specific individuals in a given population, e.g. a specific age group or patients with a certain disease. Health outcomes are measured dependent on a specific intervention. Description adapted from:
Research projects:
7Publications:
2Epidemiological research - Observational
Description:
Observational epidemiological studies can be subdivided into cohort studies (follow-up studies), case control studies, cross-sectional studies (prevalence studies), and ecological studies (correlation studies or studies with aggregated data). Description adapted from: h...
Research projects:
0Publications:
0Epidemiological research - Observational - Case control study
Description:
Observational epidemiological research in which a group of individuals with disease is compared to individuals without disease in order to explore how health outcomes differ between both groups. Description adapted from: https://www.aerzteblatt.de/int/archive/article/64...
Research projects:
5Publications:
19Epidemiological research - Observational - Cohort study
Description:
Observational epidemiological research in which a group of people/patients is recruited to explore their health in relation to specific variables. Description adapted from: https://www.aerzteblatt.de/int/archive/article/64227.
Research projects:
22Publications:
26Epidemiological research - Observational - Cross-sectional study
Description:
Observational epidemiological research applied to explore the occurrence of disease within a given population with the aim to determine the prelevance of the disease, representing a snapshot. Description adapted from: https://www.aerzteblatt.de/int/archive/article/64227...
Research projects:
1Publications:
0Epidemiological research - Observational - Description with registry data
Description:
Observational epidemiological research in which registries collect data on the number of cases of a specific disease in time intervals. This information can be useful in examining the occurrence of a disease and in determining whether incidence and prevalence change over time. Description adapted from:
Research projects:
3Publications:
2Epidemiological research - Observational - Ecological study
Description:
Observational epidemiological research that examines one or more risk factors in an area and relates these to the incidence of disease in the population group in this area. It does not examine individuals, but uses data collected from the area or the population group. Description adapted from:
Research projects:
0Publications:
0Epidemiological research - Observational - Monitoring/surveillance
Description:
Observational epidemiological research based on a systematic and continual oberservation of population health with the objective to obtain regular recording of information. Description adapted from: https://www.aerzteblatt.de/int/archive/article/64227.
Research projects:
0Publications:
0Secondary research
Description:
Secondary research summarises existing study results in the form of reviews and meta-analyses. It also includes medical guidelines, hypothesis articles and opinion pieces. Description adapated from: https://www.aerzteblatt.de/int/archive/article/64227.
Research projects:
0Publications:
0Secondary research - Meta Analysis
Description:
In secondary research, meta-analyses of published data are performed to calculate additional pooled effect estimates from the individual studies. Like systematic review articles, they are feasible whether the authors of the original articles are prepared to cooperate or not. Description adapted from:
Research projects:
0Publications:
0Secondary research - Meta Analysis - Systematic
Description:
Secondary research that provides a meta analysis based on statistical procedure, combining the results of several studies on the same question and calculating a more meaningful result. Description adapted from: https://www.aerzteblatt.de/int/archive/article/64227....
Research projects:
0Publications:
0Secondary research - Review
Description:
In secondary research, a review is the qualitative summary of the results of individual studies. A distinction is made between narrative reviews and systematic reviews, amongst others. Description adapted from: https://www.aerzteblatt.de/int/archive/article/65283....
Research projects:
0Publications:
0Secondary research - Review - Guideline
Description:
Secondary research consisting of scientifically sound, practical recommendations, representing the evidence-based state of the art of a scientific field. Description adapted from: https://www.egms.de/dynamic/en/guidelines/index.htm.
Research projects:
0Publications:
5Secondary research - Review - Hypothesis
Description:
Secondary research centred around a hypothesis article presents an idea that proposes a tentative explanation about a phenomenon or a narrow set of phenomena observed in science or medicine based on available evidence that may further be corroborated in the future. Description adapted from: https://www.britannica.com/science/...
Research projects:
0Publications:
8Secondary research - Review - Narrative
Description:
In secondary research, narrative reviews mostly provide a broad overview of a specific topic. They are therefore a good way of rapidly obtaining current information on research on a given topic. However, the articles to be included are selected subjectively and unsystematically. Description adapted from:
Research projects:
0Publications:
17Secondary research - Review - Opinion
Description:
Secondary research that includes personal and original perspectives on a topic of interest to the general medical community. The aim is to stimulate debate or new research, cover controversial topics, or provide a new framework for, or interpretation of, an existing problem or current issue. Description adapted from:
Research projects:
0Publications:
10Secondary research - Review - Systematic
Description:
In secondary research, systematic literature reviews provide an overview of the state of research on a given topic and enable an assessment of the quality of individual studies. They also allow the results of different studies to be evaluated together when these are inconsistent. Description adapted from:
Research projects:
0Publications:
6
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