A research project that follows participants forward in time to identify future outcomes is known as?

A research project that follows participants forward in time to identify future outcomes is known as a cohort study. This type of study design focuses on observing a group of individuals, known as a cohort, who share a defining characteristic, usually regarding exposure to a particular treatment or risk factor, and then following them over a predetermined period to measure specific outcomes.

In a cohort study, researchers can directly assess the temporal relationship between exposure and outcome, allowing them to establish potential causal links. This forward-looking approach is particularly useful in the context of evaluating the effectiveness of health interventions or understanding the development of diseases, as it provides insights into how exposures influence health outcomes over time.

Other study designs listed, such as quasi-experimental studies, cross-sectional studies, and case-control studies, serve different research purposes. Quasi-experimental studies may lack randomization and typically focus on assessing outcomes of interventions without following participants longitudinally. Cross-sectional studies examine data at a single point in time, making it impossible to establish temporal relationships. Case-control studies, on the other hand, look back in time, comparing individuals with a certain outcome to those without, which also does not allow for the forward-looking analysis characteristic of cohort studies.