What are the strengths and weaknesses of these study designs?
Each study design has its own strengths and weaknesses. Cohort studies can establish temporal relationships and measure incidence but are often expensive and time-consuming. Case-control studies are efficient for rare diseases but can suffer from selection and recall biases. Cross-sectional studies are quick and cost-effective but cannot infer causality. RCTs provide robust evidence for causality but can be expensive, time-consuming, and sometimes ethically challenging to conduct.
