Exam 1 Flashcards
What are the functions of research? (3)
- corrects perceptions and expands on them
- gathers info on subjects or phenomena we lack or have little knowledge about
- provides hard facts which serve as basis for planning, decision making, project implementation and evaluation
How can people solve problems unscientifically? (5)
- Tenacity - cling to a belief regardless of supporting evidence
- Intuition - common sense
- Authority - referring to authorities
- Rationalistic method - derive knowledge through reasoning
- Correlation vs. causation - correlation did not imply causation
What is the difference between correlation and causation?
Correlation - 1 thing always happen because of something else
Causation - something is caused by another
What are the 3 research approaches?
Qualitative, Quantitative, Mixed methods
What are the 4 widely accepted philosophical world views?
- post pragmatism - single truth/reality to be discovered through research
- constructivism - multiple realities exist
- pragmatism - concerned with solutions to problems and not committed to one way of thinking
- transformative - focuses on reform and change through research
what is the difference between subjective and objective?
Subjective - based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, opinions
Objective - not influenced by those things, based on evidence
what is quantitative research?
for testing theories, describing status on variables, looking at relations between/among variables
- measurement, statistics, protection against bias, set structure
what is the nature of quantitative research? (5)
- systematic (research design)
- logical (can’t poke holes in study)
- empirical (collects data and uses observation to answer questions)
- reductive (takes data to establish relationships)
- replicable (enables others to test findings)
what is qualitative research?
- makes sense of reality
- can create theories
- tries to develop decryption of phenomenon and generate theories as outcome
- often used to explore topics or questions in which relatively little is known
What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative research?
Qualitative - developing theory
Quantitative - testing theory
What is the difference between skinny and fat research questions?
Skinny - can be answered in a yes or no, or in 1 sentence (often starts with when, how many, who, where)
Fat - can’t be answered in 1 sentence (often starts with why, which, how)
What are the different styles of research questions? (5)
- Challenge the norm
- conflicting views (researching opposition or look for null findings)
- geographical variation (urban vs. rural vs. suburban, high altitude vs. low altitude, north or south of the equator, different countries)
- Population variation (different races or cultural groups, disabilities)
- Overlooked topics (rare-conditions or underfunded conditions, can’t be properly investigated due to limitations)
What is a literature review?
summary and explanation of complete and current state of knowledge on a limited topic
what is the difference between primary and secondary sources?
primary - first hand account, most research articles are primary, must have new info, usually created during or very close to the events they report on
secondary - second hand info that has been digested, analyzed, reworded or interpreted, can be written well after events
Examples of primary and secondary sources
primary - health records, diaries, interviews, letters, data, official documents, speeches, photographs, news articles, journal articles of original research
secondary - systematic review or meta-analysis, magazines
what are scholarly sources?
academic, peer-reviewed, refereed sources
- written by experts in the field
- serve to keep others unto date on most recent research findings and news
what does peer-reviewed mean?
undergone review and scrutiny of a review board of colleagues in the authors field
What are variables?
measurable attributes that can vary
what is the difference between reliability and validity?
reliability - consistency of a measure
Validity - accuracy of a measure
What are independent and dependant variables?
Independent - what you change
Dependent - what you are looking for, what changes as result of independent
Can a measure be valid without being reliable?
no
Can a measure be reliable without being valid?
Yes
what is a hypothesis?
testable answer to a scientific question
what is descriptive research?
doesn’t try to quantify relationship between variables
- gives picture of what is happening in a group of people or population
- no experiment
- monitering not manipulating
How does descriptive research get data?
survey data or case reports/case series
What are strengths and weaknesses of descriptive research?
Strengths - in depth view of any topic, may find new info, low cost, permits to see how things work in natural environment
Weaknesses - can’t determine cause-and-effect, caution on how we use it
What is a correlational study?
studies association or relationship between 2 variables
what are positive, negative and no correlations?
Positive - changes occur in same direction
Negative - increase in 1 leads to decrease in other
No - no relationship
What are cross-sectional studies?
correlational study
- assess variables at only 1 time point
- does not consider variables from past
- can control for confounding effects
What are advantages and limitations of cross-sectional studies?
Advantages - short time, less $, large sample sizes, sophisticated statistical analysis, able to investigate a relationship and justify future research
Limitations - study outcome and exposure are measured at same time (what came first?), reverse causality
What is a cohort study?
observing events over time to try and determine things like cause of disease
- data is obtained from groups who have been exposed to not exposed to the factor of interest
- can be retrospective or prospective
What is the difference between retrospective and prospective?
Retrospective - exposure and outcomes have already happened, usually conducted on data that already exists
Prospective - recruited into cohort studies regardless of their exposure or outcome, can be recruited because of geographical (north island) or occupation (nurses study), follows participant for a determined amount of time
What are strengths and weaknesses of cohort studies?
Strengths - multiple outcomes can be measured for any one exposure, can look at multiple exposures, exposure is measured before the onset of disease (in prospective), good for measuring rare exposures, demonstrate direction of causality
Weaknesses - costly and time-consuming, prone to bias due to long follow-up, being in study may alter participant behaviour, poor choice for rare disease
What is the difference between an open and closed cohort study?
Open - accounts for contribution of different number of years, different entry and exit points
Closed - follow from defined start point to defined end point, no entries allowed once study starts
what is a case-control study?
looks back on 2 clearly defined groups to assess whether there is a statistically significant difference in the rates of exposure to a defined risk factor between the groups
what is the good and the bad of case-control studies?
affordable, relatively simple, can examine rare diseases or diseases with long latency periods to be investigated, bias is an issue (self report, recall bias)
What is a randomized control trial? (RCT)
experimental study where the sample is randomly assigned to a treatment or exposure
- outcome is assessed to determine the effectiveness or efficacy of treatment
What is the difference between efficacy and effectiveness?
efficacy - participants actually doing the things and something changed
Effectiveness - whether people will actually do the thing (ex. exercise) unsupervised and on their own
What are the characteristics of a RCT?
- comparing 1 treatment to another or no treatment
- randomization makes groups similar on all variables except the exposure
what is quasi experimental design?
an experiment that isn’t perfect
Why might it be considered quasi experimental?
No control group, non-equivalent groups, pre-test and post-test
what are quantitative methods?
established system or approach to collect data
What are threats to validity in quantitative measures?
learning (familiarity with the test), instrument accuracy, diffusion of treatment, halo effect (if someone does well once we assume they will continue)
What are the participant related threats to validity in a quantitative study?
maturation, history, regression to the mean, selection bias (who volunteers vs,. who doesn’t), study drop out, placebo effect, Hawthorne effect (being observed, behaviour changes)
what are the external threats to validity in a quantitative study?
selection and treatment interaction (who joins a study), highly controlled environment, history and treatment interaction (when comparing older studies with older equipment)
