In order to apply the M.A.A.R.I.E. framework to a case-control study we will examine the following article:

Terry MB, Gammon MD, Zhang FF, Association of Frequency and Duration of Aspirin Use and Hormone Receptor Status With Breast Cancer Risk. JAMA 2004;291:2433-2440.

If you do not have access to the article, you can obtain the article at Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

This article, like the others chosen for this site, is well-conducted research from a respected research journal that illustrates many important study design issues.

The exercise will ask you each of the 18 questions of the M.A.A.R.I.E. framework for Studying a Study. You'll have the opportunity to provide your own answer, compare your answer to the suggested answer, and get "help" if you don't know the answer.

So let's begin.