Table 1 |.

Issues and proposed solutions for reforming observational studies

Issue	Proposed solutions	Contribution to social value
Addressing the right research question	Master protocols to establish priority research questions	Allocates scarce scientific resources to the most pressing questions in an epidemic
Methodological issues	Master protocols and data standards to harmonize study design, data collection, analysis and reporting	Increases methodological rigor of studies and reduces scientific waste
Small sample sizes	Collaborate and consolidate data to improve study quality	Generates externally valid knowledge for clinical or public health practice
Misinterpretation by stakeholders such as health policy-makers, journalists and the public	Lay scientific methods summary in publications	Mitigates the risk of misinterpretation of observational study results