Evaluating Study Validity Flashcards
what are 3 things that can cause invalid findings?
bias, confounding, random error
what is internal validity?
accuracy of a conclusion that an independent variable is responsible for the variation in the dependent variable
what is external validity?
ability to generalize research findings to and across populations and settings
what is another name for bias?
systematic error
what does systematic error result from?
flaws in design, conduct, and analysis of a study
what is selection bias?
discrepancy in the selection of subjects or their likelihood of being retained
- differential treatment effects
- noncompliance
- loss to followup or non-response
what is one risk of selection bias in a case control study?
selection of controls that is not representative of the population that produced the cases
what is information bias?
bias that results from mismeasurement or systematic inaccuracies (misclassification)
what are two types of information bias?
recall and interviewer
what are some measures to take against information bias?
validate exposures, double blind, standardized training and protocols
what is confounding?
confounding variation is caused by variables outside of the researchers control and can distort perception of the relationship
what are some protections against confounding?
randomization, control groups, blinding, matching, stratified analysis
