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RESS Year 1 > Developing Research Questions & Study Designs > Flashcards

Developing Research Questions & Study Designs Flashcards

1
Q

What is meant by evidence-based medicine?

A

an approach to medical practice intended to optimize decision-making by emphasizing the use of evidence from well-designed and well-conducted research

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2
Q

What are the 5 A’s when practising evidence-based medicine?

A
  1. ASK a clinical question
  2. ACQUIRE the best evidence
  3. APPLY the evidence
  4. APPRAISE the evidence
  5. ASSESS the impact
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3
Q

What are the steps in the research process?

A
  1. Define the research problem/question
  2. Review the existing literature
  3. Formulate a hypothesis to be tested
  4. Select a research design
  5. Carry out the research
  6. analyse the data
  7. Interpret the results
  8. Report research findings
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4
Q

What is a research question?

A

A question that directs and focuses your research

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5
Q

What is the most important requirement for a successful study?

A

A clear and concise research question

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6
Q

What factors are determined by the research question?

A
  1. the population to be studied
  2. study design
  3. where the study will be conducted
  4. the time period for the study
  5. what data will be collected
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7
Q

What is the difference between background and foreground questions?

A

Background questions are about general information

Foreground questions are more specific

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8
Q

Why are foreground questions effective research questions?

A

They are more specific

They need a more strategic approach to searching the relevant literature

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9
Q

What are the 4 key categories of clinical questions (foreground questions)?

A
  1. aetiology
  2. diagnosis
  3. prognosis
  4. therapy
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10
Q

What does an aetiology question focus on?

A

The causes or risk factors associated with a disease or condition

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11
Q

What does a diagnosis and a prognosis question focus on?

A

Diagnosis - the accuracy or usefulness of a diagnostic tool/test

Prognosis - information about the probable outcome, progression of survivability of a disease or condition

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12
Q

What does a therapy question focus on?

A

the effectiveness and/or the risk associated with a specific intervention

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13
Q

Why is PICOt used?

A

It is a clinical tool that transforms an information need into an answerable clinical question

This allows EBM to be practiced

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14
Q

What does PICOt stand for?

A

PATIENTS/POPULATION - who is participating?

INTERVENTION/INTEREST - what is being tested?

COMPARISON - what is the comparison group?

OUTCOME - what is the outcome or endpoint?

TIME - when should the outcome be measured?

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15
Q

Why is a framework, like PICOt, used to develop a research question?

A
  1. to develop a focused clinical research question
  2. to identify key concepts
  3. to develop a search strategy that focuses on acquiring evidence relevant to a patient’s clinical needs
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16
Q

what are the FINER criteria used for?

A

Once you have a clear research question, the FINER criteria are used to assess whether this is a good research question

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17
Q

What does FINER stand for?

A

FEASIBLE - ability to recruit, measure/test, within time and resources

INTERESTING - to you, peers, colleagues

NOVEL - new findings or extensions of previous findings

ETHICAL - follows ethical guidelines

RELEVANT - to policy, practice, patients

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18
Q

What are the 2 types of primary research designs?

A
  1. Analytical

2. Descriptive

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19
Q

What are the 2 types of analytical studies?

A
  1. Experimental

2. Observational

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20
Q

What are the types of research that may be conducted in an experimental study?

A
  1. randomised control trials

2. non-randomised control trials

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21
Q

What are the types of research that may be conducted in an observational study?

A
  1. cohort study
  2. cross-sectional study (analytical)
  3. case-control study
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22
Q

What are the 2 types of descriptive studies?

A
  1. survey (cross-sectional)

2. qualitative

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23
Q

What are the types of research that may be conducted in a qualitative study?

A
  1. interview study
  2. focus group study
  3. observational study
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24
Q

What type of research would be conducted through a secondary research design?

A

Systematic review or meta analysis

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25
Q

What is a randomised control trial?

A

Participants in a population are randomly allocated into groups

The STUDY group receives the intervention

The CONTROL group does not receive the intervention
(placebo or other current treatment)

26
Q

Why are randomised control trials often used?

A

They are the “gold standard” for establishing the effectiveness of an intervention

27
Q

What is a non-randomised control trial?

A

All participants are given a treatment and followed for a period of time to see if they improve

There is no comparison against a control group

28
Q

Why can the results of non-randomised control trials not be used as evidence that a treatment works?

A

Due to the placebo effect

It is impossible to tell how much of an improvement in a patient is due to the treatment itself

29
Q

What are the strengths of randomised control trials?

A
  1. provides evidence of causality

2. rigorous evaluation of a single variable

30
Q

What are the limitations of randomised control trials?

A
  1. resource intensive - cost time and money
  2. needs a large number of participants
  3. ethical challenges
31
Q

What is a cohort?

A

A cohort is a group of people that share a characteristic or experience within a defined period

32
Q

What is a cohort study?

A

A type of longitudinal study (years) that looks at the life histories of a specified cohort

33
Q

What are cohort studies usually used to assess?

A

They evaluate a possible association between exposure and disease

34
Q

How is a cohort study usually performed?

A

By following a group of individuals over a period of time

These groups were either exposed or not exposed to see whether they develop the disease/outcome of interest

35
Q

What are prospective cohort studies?

A

They are studies conducted in real time

36
Q

What is the main limitation of cohort studies?

A

They cannot show that one factor is the cause of another

There are so many potentially confounding factors involved

37
Q

What is a retrospective cohort study?

A

Study using historical cohort data

It involves using data collected in the past to look at association between exposure and disease

38
Q

what is a benefit of a retrospective cohort study over a prospective cohort study?

A

They take a much shorter time to complete

39
Q

What are the strengths of cohort studies?

A
  1. can establish population-based incidence
  2. can study several outcomes for each exposure
  3. can establish cause-effect
40
Q

What are the limitations of cohort studies?

A
  1. resource intensive - costs time and money
  2. needs large number of participants
  3. loss to follow up
  4. inefficient for rare conditions
41
Q

What is involved in a case-control study?

A

You identify all cases (people) with the disease and some non-cases (no disease)

You look back to assess if they were exposed to something that may have led to the disease

42
Q

What are the strengths of a case-control study?

A
  1. small sample needed

2. appropriate for studying rare conditions/those with long lag between exposure and outcome

43
Q

What are the limitations of a case-control study?

A
  1. exposure assessed after disease occurence
  2. reliance on records to determine exposure status
  3. highly susceptible to selection bias
44
Q

What is the purpose of a cross sectional study?

A

To document health status within a specific population at a specific point

The patients are not followed

45
Q

How do cross-sectional studies vary from case-control studies?

A

They aim to provide data on the entire population under study

Case-control studies only provide data on cases (people with a specific disease/characteristic)

46
Q

What is meant by point prevalence?

A

A cross-sectional study provides a snapshot to give the prevalence of a disease at a specific time and place

47
Q

How are cross-sectional studies often carried out?

A

As questionnaire-based surveys

e.g. census

48
Q

What are the strengths of cross-sectional studies?

A
  1. provides estimate of prevalence of a disease
  2. can assess population healthcare needs
  3. easy, fast and inexpensive
  4. no follow-up required
49
Q

What is the major limitation of a cross-sectional study?

A

an association between exposure and outcome does not imply a cause-effect relationship

50
Q

What are the other limitations of cross-sectional studies?

A
  1. cannot determine causal relationships
  2. participants may provide socially desirable answers
  3. impractical for studying rarer diseases
51
Q

What is involved in a survey study?

A

Predetemined questions are presented to a ‘representative’ sample

This explores thoughts, views, feelings about something specific

52
Q

What methods are used in a survey study?

A
  1. questionnaires (postal, online, face-to-face)

2. interviews (face-to-face, telephone)

53
Q

What are the strengths of survey studies?

A
  1. easy to produce

2. easy, fast and inexpensive to conduct

54
Q

What are the limitations of survey studies?

A
  1. only answer questions asked
  2. participants’ interpretation or context to response is missing
  3. low response rates
  4. participants may provide socially desirable answers
55
Q

When are qualitative studies particularly useful?

A

For understanding patients’ experiences, perspectives and views

56
Q

What are the strengths of a qualitative study?

A
  1. enables an understanding of patients’ experiences/perspectives
  2. unpredictable and insightful findings
57
Q

What are the limitations of a qualitative study?

A
  1. difficult to generalise

there is a small sample size, as sample selection is based on certain experiences

58
Q

What is a systematic review?

A

They are designed to answer a specific clinical question

They involve a protocol-driven, comprehensive literature review

59
Q

What are the steps involved in a systematic review?

A
  1. formulating a review question
  2. defining inclusion/exclusion criteria
  3. selecting and assessing studies
  4. extracting data
  5. synthesising selected studies
  6. interpreting results to answer review question
60
Q

What is a meta-analysis?

A

This involves combining the results of previous studies to produce one overall measure of the effect of an intervention

RESS Year 1 (4 decks)

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