The 4th edition of Designing Clinical Research (DCR-4) marks the 25th anniversary of our first edition. The book is the most widely used textbook on clinical research methods, with more than 130,000 copies sold. We designed it as a manual for clinical research in all its flavors: clinical trials, observational studies, translational science, patient-oriented research, behavioral science, and health services research. We used epidemiologic terms and principles, presenting advanced conceptual material in a practical and reader-friendly way, and suggesting common sense approaches to the many judgments involved in designing a study.
This website provides online tools and examples unavailable from the printed book. It also provides links to the lectures and a detailed syllabus for the 4- and 7-week DCR workshops that we present to 300 students each year at UCSF. There are also workshop faculty notes for those who wish to teach this material. The DCR workshop is the flagship course and one of more than 30 courses that are part of our Training In Clinical Research (TICR) Program at UCSF.