When you're working with tasks on Efforia, it's crucial to understand various measures involved in evaluating the progress and success of your protocol. These include baseline measures, follow-up measures, endpoints, and primary outcome measures. Here's what each of these terms means:
Baseline Measures
Baseline measures are the initial data points or starting values that you record for a specific metric before a participant starts a treatment. They serve as the reference point against which you compare future measurements or observations.
For example, if your task is to reduce body weight, the baseline measure could be the participant weight at the beginning of the protocol.
Follow-Up Measures
Follow-up measures are the data points recorded at regular intervals during the execution of a protocol. They help track the progress over time and assess the effectiveness of your efforts.
Continuing with the weight loss example, follow-up measures could be regular daily weigh is on scale.
Endpoints
Endpoints are the final data points recorded at the conclusion of a protocol. They represent the final outcome of your efforts and are compared with baseline measures to evaluate the overall success of a task.
In our example, the endpoint would be a final weigh in.
Primary Outcome Measures
Primary outcome measures are the most important results you're looking to achieve from a task. They are the main goal or objective which you want to reach at the end of a task. Primary outcome measures are clearly defined in your Efforia protocol, and typically correspond with the "Endpoint" described above.
If there are multiple data elements collected within the window period for your endpoints, the results are averaged together to create your primary outcome measure.
How They All Fit Together
These measurements work together to provide a comprehensive understanding of a task's progress and effectiveness.
Identify your primary outcome measure - Determine the main goal you want to achieve. If you need help, use the AI design assistant. It is specifically trained to hel you identify your primary outcome measures.
Participants with start with a baseline measure - to determine where they are today, prior to any treatments.
Track progress with follow-up measures - Regularly record data to understand how close you are to your goal. Not sure how often to repeat your measures. The AI Assistant can help.
Conclude with a final or end endpoint measure - Evaluate the final outcome against your baseline and primary outcome measure to assess the success of your task.