One of the most important steps in conducting economic evaluation studies is to have a clearly
defined research question and scope of study. The present study describes key components used in defining the
scope of economic evaluation study and selecting comparators. All relevant recommendations from
international economic evaluation guidelines were reviewed and compared. The author recommends that an
economic evaluation study should include a full description of the intervention or program of interest and
target populations. The comparator should be the most commonly used alternative or current practice. In
some circumstances, the most effective alternative can be a comparator. The most preferable perspective is
societal perspective; however, other perspectives are acceptable if justification is provided. Researchers in the
field of economic evaluation need to clearly define the scope of study prior to the conduct.

Keywords: Economic evaluation, Scope, Perspective, Comparator