Clicker Time

Question 1

A researcher would like to evaluate a new drug proposed to decrease cholesterol levels among patients with heart disease. What kind of study is best to get this information?

Answer 1

Clinical trial - if you see drugs in a boards question = clinical trial

Question 2

What are case control studies always associated with?

Answer 2

Retrospective reports

Question 3

You are doing research comparing the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral vs. motivational therapy in depressed patients. The study includes 60 outpatients being seen at health services. They are randomly assigned to 3 groups: those who will receive CBT, those receiving MT

Answer 3

• The therapies being compared in the study

- IV = can be manipulated in order to measure outcome (dependent variable is depression)

Question 4

A study is designed to test the effectiveness of having a renal transplant compared to not having one. A group of 60 people, who had renal disease and received a kidney transplant, are followed over 20 years to see if any experience graft rejection. Another group of 60 people, who also had renal disease and did not receive a kidney transplant, is also followed over 20 years. What kind of study is this?

Answer 4

Cohort Study = two different groups and following them over time (longitudinal)

• Not case control = you’d have to retrospectively look back
• Not clinical trial = not randomly choosing people to get transplant or not

Question 5

At a large hospital, a study of early childhood obesity was conducted on a random sample of 1,000 patients. The mean weight was 70 lb., with a standard deviation of 10. Which of the following is an accurate description of the data?

Answer 5

Approximately 68% of patients weighed between 60 and 80 lb.

Question 6

What does 1 standard deviation encompass?

Answer 6

68% of data

Question 7

What does 2 standard deviations encompass?

Answer 7

95% of data

Question 8

What does 3 standard deviations encompass?

Answer 8

99.7% of data

Question 9

While reviewing a study regarding a new treatment involving essential oils, you read the following statement: “In clinical trials, essential oils lowered diastolic BP in patients with chronic HTN by an average of 15% (p-value of

Answer 9

The observed value has a less than 10% chance of occurring by chance alone.
P-value does NOT relate to reproducibility at ALL.

Question 10

A researcher is studying the effects of knitting on concentration among a group of 36 4th graders. Results of the study reveal: Mean increase in concentration time = 25 minutes; SD = 12 minutes - What is the confidence interval for this sample assuming a confidence level or alpha = 0.05?

Answer 10

CI = Mean +/- Z(SE) 
Z = 1.96 if alpha = 0.05
SE = SD/sq. root of n

12/6 = 2 = SE
25 +/- 2*2 = 21-29

Question 11

What is the Z value associated with a 99% confidence interval?

Answer 11

alpha = 0.01 
Z = 2.58