Comparative effectiveness research (CER) is the generation and synthesis of evidence that compares the benefits and harms of alternative methods to prevent, diagnose, treat, and monitor a clinical condition or to improve the delivery of care (IOM 2009). CER is conducted to develop evidence that will aid patients, clinicians, purchasers, and health policy makers in making informed decisions at both the individual and population levels. CER encompasses a very broad range of types of studies-experimental, observational, prospective, retrospective, and research synthesis. This volume covers the main areas of quantitative methodology for the design and analysis of CER studies. The volume has four major sections-causal inference; clinical trials; research synthesis; and specialized topics. The audience includes CER methodologists, quantitative-trained researchers interested in CER, and graduate students in statistics, epidemiology, and health services and outcomes research. The book assumes a masters-level course in regression analysis and familiarity with clinical research.

Comparative effectiveness research (CER) is the generation and synthesis of evidence that compares the benefits and harms of alternative methods to prevent, diagnose, treat, and monitor a clinical condition or to improve the delivery of care (IOM 2009). CER is conducted to develop evidence that will aid patients, clinicians, purchasers, and health policy makers in making informed decisions at both the individual and population levels. CER encompasses a very broad range of types of studies-experimental, observational, prospective, retrospective, and research synthesis. This volume covers the main areas of quantitative methodology for the design and analysis of CER studies. The volume has four major sections-causal inference; clinical trials; research synthesis; and specialized topics. The audience includes CER methodologists, quantitative-trained researchers interested in CER, and graduate students in statistics, epidemiology, and health services and outcomes research. The book assumes a masters-level course in regression analysis and familiarity with clinical research.

The 6th Workshop on Case Studies in Bayesian Statistics was held at the Carnegie Mellon University in October, 2001. This volume contains the invited case studies with the accompanying discussion as well as contributed papers selected by a refereeing process.

The series of workshops Case Studies in Bayesian Statistics at Carnegie Mellon University is unique in devoting an entire meeting to extended presentation and discussion of scientific investigations in which statisticians play central roles within integrated, cross- disciplinary teams. The goal has been to elucidate the interplay between Bayesian theory and practice, and thereby identify successful methods and indicate important directions for future research. This volume contains the four invited case studies, with accompanying discussion, and nine contributed papers, from the 4th workshop, which was held September 27-28, 1997. While most of the case studies in this volume come from biomedical research, the reader will also find studies in environmental science and marketing research. Students and teachers of statistics, research statisticians, and investigators from other fields should find a wealth of ideas and methods in this series of case studies.

The 4th Workshop on Case Studies in Bayesian Statistics was held at the Car negie Mellon University campus on September 27-28, 1997. As in the past, the workshop featured both invited and contributed case studies. The former were presented and discussed in detail while the latter were presented in poster format. This volume contains the four invited case studies with the accompanying discus sion as well as nine contributed papers selected by a refereeing process. While most of the case studies in the volume come from biomedical research the reader will also find studies in environmental science and marketing research. INVITED PAPERS In Modeling Customer Survey Data, Linda A. Clark, William S. Cleveland, Lorraine Denby, and Chuanhai LiD use hierarchical modeling with time series components in for customer value analysis (CVA) data from Lucent Technologies. The data were derived from surveys of customers of the company and its competi tors, designed to assess relative performance on a spectrum of issues including product and service quality and pricing. The model provides a full description of the CVA data, with random location and scale effects for survey respondents and longitudinal company effects for each attribute. In addition to assessing the performance of specific companies, the model allows the empirical exploration of the conceptual basis of consumer value analysis. The authors place special em phasis on graphical displays for this complex, multivariate set of data and include a wealth of such plots in the paper."

This third volume of case studies presents detailed applications of Bayesian statistical analysis, emphasising the scientific context. The papers were presented and discussed at a workshop held at Carnegie-Mellon University, and this volume - dedicated to the memory of Morrie Groot-reproduces six invited papers, each with accompanying invited discussion, and nine contributed papers with the focus on econometric applications.

Like its predecessor, this second volume presents detailed applications of Bayesian statistical analysis, each of which emphasizes the scientific context of the problems it attempts to solve. The emphasis of this volume is on biomedical applications. These papers were presented at a workshop at Carnegie-Mellon University in 1993.

The past few years have witnessed dramatic advances in computational methods for Bayesian inference. As a result, Bayesian approaches to solving a wide variety of problems in data analysis and decision-making have become feasible, and there is currently a growth spurt in the application of Bayesian methods. The purpose of this volume is to present several detailed examples of applications of Bayesian thinking, with an emphasis on the scientific or technological context of the problem being solved. The papers collected here were presented and discussed at a Workshop held at Carnegie-Mellon University, September 29 through October 1, 1991. There are five ma jor articles, each with two discussion pieces and a reply. These articles were invited by us following a public solicitation of abstracts. The problems they address are diverse, but all bear on policy decision-making. Though not part of our original design for the Workshop, that commonality of theme does emphasize the usefulness of Bayesian meth ods in this arena. Along with the invited papers were several additional commentaries of a general nature; the first comment was invited and the remainder grew out of the discussion at the Workshop. In addition there are nine contributed papers, selected from the thirty-four presented at the Workshop, on a variety of applications. This collection of case studies illustrates the ways in which Bayesian methods are being incorporated into statistical practice. The strengths (and limitations) of the approach become apparent through the examples."

The Handbook of Health Services Research is a reference for all aspects of the field of health services and outcomes research. It addresses the increasing need for comprehensive, yet balanced, information in a field that welcomes various disciplines: medicine, public health, statistics, economics, management, policy, and information technology. This well-organized reference is an indispensable source of information for everyone who seeks to develop understanding of health systems and to learn about historical, political, and socioeconomic factors that influence health policies at the global, national, regional and local level. Specifically, the Handbook helps readers: Recognize core concepts of health services and outcomes research, such as, need, access, equity, quality and safety; Become familiar with social, political, organizational, behavioral and economic theories that have influenced health systems designs; Learn about frameworks developed for evaluating the organization, financing, delivery, utilization and outcomes of health services; Get an introduction to methods of comparative effectiveness research, program evaluation, health technology assessment and health economics; Identify types and sources of data appropriate for generating valid and reliable information about the delivery of health services; Learn about strengths and weaknesses of various research designs used to study health services and policy issues. The online version of the Handbook of Health Services Research is in the format of a dynamically updated knowledge base, offering search tools, cross-referencing across chapters and linking to supplement data, other major reference works and external articles. The Handbook of Health Services Research is accessible at the level of graduate students even if it is not their focus area. This includes students with various backgrounds: medicine, public health, statistics, economics, management or information technology.