ABSTRACT

The advance of information technology with governmental support allows researchers to utilize big data to conduct rigorous rehabilitation-related studies in both the United States and Korea. While big data research has been actively conducted in the United States, few Korean rehabilitation scientists currently conduct big data research. In this paper, we discuss the existing rehabilitation-related big data in Korea and introduce the current big data research trends in the United States. In addition, we provide potential research areas by discussing the previous big data studies in the United States, including 1) functional outcomes, 2) geographical variation, 3) linkage of a population-based cohort to hospital data, 4) cross-national comparison, and 5) scale development. We also discuss various statistical methods required in big data research and compare how these methods differ compared to the traditional research methods in rehabilitation research. Lastly, we discuss the importance of workforce development in rehabilitation-related big data research. We hope this paper will provide occupational therapy scientists and clinicians with practical and useful information about big data research and accelerate big data rehabilitation research communities in Korea.