Improving the design of clinical and observational studies to optimize data quality assessments

Introduction: A key objective in clinical and epidemiological studies is the assurance of a high data quality. Examiners, devices, readers of images, but also environmental factors such as room temperatures, ambient light, or examination times may introduce variability or measurement errors. This presentation discusses issues related to the design and implementation of observational studies aiming to improve the detection of potential sources of errors from a theoretical and applied point of view. Methods and results: The design of a study must be optimized in such a way to establish causal links between detecte…