Evidence Based Medicine
This page provides information on locating and evaluating literature used to support evidence based practice.
Ruth Lilly Medical Library
Evidence Pyramid
These are some of the publication types that are associated with higher levels of evidence. You may want to start at the top of the pyramid and work your way down. However, remember that the pyramid is not the whole story. You should also consider the type of question you are asking.
Publication Types by Question Type: Different study types are suited to different questions. For example:
Most Clinical Questions: Systems, summaries, synopses, syntheses, meta-analyses, systematic reviews
Therapy: Randomized Controlled Trial
Diagnosis: Prospective, blind controlled trial compared to gold standard
Prognosis: Cohort study, case control, case series/case report
Study Designs
- Study Design 101 TutorialThis tutorial, designed by the Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library, will give you a better understanding of different types of clinical medical studies and how they relate to each other.