Σύγκριση μεθόδων

	Πραγματιστική Οικολογική Μελέτη	Οικολογική Μελέτη
Πεδίο	Επιδημιολογία	Επιδημιολογία
Οικογένεια	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Έτος προέλευσης	1967–1982 (pragmatic concept 1967; ecological study formalized ~1982)	19th century (Snow 1854); formalised mid-20th century
Δημιουργός	Morgenstern (ecological study framework); Schwartz & Lellouch (pragmatic design concept)	Various; foundational work by John Snow (1854) and systematised in modern form by Brian MacMahon and colleagues
Τύπος	Observational ecological study with pragmatic framing	Observational epidemiological study
Θεμελιώδης πηγή	Morgenstern, H. (1982). Uses of ecologic analysis in epidemiologic research. American Journal of Public Health, 72(12), 1336–1344.	Morgenstern, H. (1995). Ecologic studies in epidemiology: concepts, principles, and methods. Annual Review of Public Health, 16(1), 61–81.
Εναλλακτικές ονομασίες	real-world ecological study, effectiveness ecological study, population-level pragmatic study, pragmatic ecologic design	aggregate study, correlational study, ecological correlation study, population-level study
Συναφείς	5	5
Σύνοψη	A pragmatic ecological study is an observational epidemiological design that examines associations between exposures and outcomes at the population or group level — using routinely collected, real-world data — with the explicit goal of informing practical public health decisions under everyday conditions. Rather than controlling every variable in a laboratory-like manner, it embraces the complexity and heterogeneity of natural settings to answer effectiveness questions relevant to policy.	An ecological study is an observational epidemiological design in which the unit of analysis is a group or population — a country, region, city, or time period — rather than an individual. Exposures and outcomes are measured as aggregates (rates, proportions, or means) and then correlated across groups to generate or evaluate hypotheses about population-level associations between risk factors and disease.