5 - External Validity Flashcards
1
Q
what is internal vs external validity?
A
internal: the ability of the study results to support a cause-effect relationship btw the treatment and observed outcome
external: the applicability of the study results to patients
2
Q
what is efficacy vs effectiveness?
A
- both wrt external validity!
- efficacy (aka explanatory/management): can intervention work under “ideal” circumstances?
- effectiveness (aka pragmatic): does the intervention work under “usual” circumstances?
- typically most trials will have both, but more efficacy
3
Q
what are the 8 hierarchies within valid studies?
A
- participant eligibility criteria
- intervention flexibility
- practitioner expertise
- follow-up intensity
- nature of outcomes
- participant compliance
- practitioner adherence
- primary analysis
4
Q
participant eligibility criteria
A
- p 66
5
Q
intervention flexibility
A
- p 66
6
Q
practitioner expertise
A
- p 66
7
Q
follow-up intensity
A
- p 66
8
Q
nature of outcomes
A
- p 67
9
Q
participant compliance
A
- p 67
10
Q
practitioner adherence
A
- p 67
11
Q
primary analysis
A
- p 67
12
Q
a statistically non-singificant result in a pragmatic trial can be interpreted as….
A
- either there is no diff btw the groups (signal is too small)
- or the variability in the outcome is too great to detect diff (noise too big)
13
Q
if a well designed and executed efficacy study shows that the experimental treatment is no better than the control, we can conclude that..
A
- there is no diff btw treatment groups
- bc efficacy study has done all it can to reduce noise, so if we still cannot detect signal in this case, we know signal is not there (not big)
