Chapter 2: Research in HP Flashcards
evidence based medicine
using current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients/delivery of health services. all medical interventions are subject to rigorous testing and evaluation of their efficacy before they are adopted as the standard of care
dangers of unscientific thinkning
in the early 20th century, thousands of Americans died from pellagra, a disease marked by dermatitis (skin sores), gastrointestinal disorders, and memory loss. experts fell into a faulty reasoning trap in identifying its cause because they failed to consider alternative explanations for the observations (surgeon general Joseph Goldberger flipped this on its head and found that the true cause was the well water people were drinking)
confirmation bias
a form of faulty reasoning in which our expectations prevent us from seeing alternative explanations for our observations; a tendency to interpret data as confirmation of one’s current set of beliefs and values
epidemiology
the scientific study of the distribution, frequency, and causes of a particular disease or other health outcome
descriptive study
researcher observes/records the participant’s behavior in a natural setting (case studies, interviews, surveys, focus groups, and observational studies)
case study
study one person in depth to reveal a general principle (generalizability is severely limited)
interview
form working relationships between patient and doctor (+s surveys)
observational study
non experimental research method where researchers record behaviors of participants (can be both structured and unstructured)
correlation coefficient
stat that measures the strength and direction of a relationship between at least 2 variables
scatterplot
graphed cluster of data points, each of which represents the values of 2 variables in a descriptive study
quasi experiments
a study comparing 2 groups that differ naturally on a specific variable of interest
- no cause effect conclusion can be drawn from these
- variables include gender, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (all variables listed are impossible and unethical to manipulate)
cross-sectional studies (observational study)
observational study where data is collected from a population, or representative subset, at one specific point in time. limitations are:
- matching different age groups across subsets is hard
- they don’t reveal changes in people over time
longitudinal study (observational study)
observational study in which a single group of people is observed over a long period of time. this helps reveal how the same people change over time. limitations are:
- very time consuming and very expensive
- people don’t stay consistent in participating in the study over long periods of time
morbidity (# of cases)
as a measure of health, the # of cases of a specific illness, injury, or disability in a group of people at a particular time
mortality
of deaths due to a specific cause in a given group and a given time
incidence
of new cases of a disease or condition in a specific population at a given time
prevalence
total # of diagnosed cases of a disease of condition that exists at a given time
etiology
scientific study of the origins of disease
- pinpoint origin of disease and then generate hypothesis
- evaluate hypothesis
- tests effectiveness of health interventions
retrospective study (epidemiological study)
longitudinal study that looks back at the history of a group of people, often one suffering from a particular disease or condition
case control studies (retrospective epidemiology)
a retrospective epidemiological study in which people with a disease or condition are compared to people who aren’t affected by the same disease
prospective study (forward-looking epidemiological/longitudinal)
a forward looking longitudinal study that begins with a healthy group of subjects and follows the development of a particular disease in that sample
randomized clinical trial
true experiment testing the effects of one ind. variable (a particular drug or treatment) on individuals or groups of individuals
- generally involve a baseline to see how effective the treatment is
meta analysis
a quantitative technique that combines the results of many studies examining the same effect or phenomena
- a meta does not replace individual studies, rather, it provides a systematic procedure for summarizing existing evidence about focused research hypotheses that already appear in the psych literature
- pros are it can reveal significant results of many studies, it demonstrates that a finding holds up across different studies and is subject to replication
what are the six factors of inferring causality?
1) the evidence must be consistent
2) the alleged cause must have been in place before the disease actually appeared
3) the relationship must make sense
4) there must be a dose-response relationship between the risk factor and health outcome
5) the strength of the association between the alleged cause and the health outcome must suggest causality
qualitative research
research focused on qualities instead of quantities
informed consent
permission granted by a client, patient, or participant w/ full knowledge of the potential risks involved in a treatment
debreif
process where research participants are given more details about the study following it’s completion
statistical literacy
the ability to read and interpret statistics and to think critically about arguments that use statistics as evidence
relative risk
a statistical indicator of the likelihood of a causal relationship between a particular health risk factor and a health outcome, computed as the ratio of the incidence of a health condition in an experimental group and the incidence of a health condition in a control group
attributable risk
the actual amount that a disease can be attributed to exposure to a particular risk factor (incidence in experimental group - incidence in control group)
