I F Research Flashcards
what is a hypothesis?**
prediction of a relationship- expressed as more or less (ex: People with X will have lower rates of cancer than people without X)
1st 3 steps of research IN ORDER***
1) identify a RELEVANT/IMPORTANT TOPIC + LITERATURE REVIEW
2) WELL-CONSIDERED RESEARCH Q
3) HYPOTHESIS
what is a null hypothesis?***
NO relationship = “equal to” (ex: Men with high intakes of X have the same rates of cancer as men without X)
what is a research protocol?
methodology to solve the problem
parts of research report: abstract***
CONDENSATION OF FINAL REPORT- purpose of study, questions asked, scope and method, summary of conclusions
parts of research report: general introduction
objectives, definitions, background, limitations, order of presentation
parts of research report: literature review
summary of different POVs
parts of research report: methodology
statement of hypothesis, discussion of methods used
parts of research report: results***
SPECIFIC LAB, CLINICAL, OBJECTIVE OR SUBJECTIVE FINDINGS
parts of research report: discussion***
INTERPRETATION of results, COMPARISON with other studies; may be combined with results
parts of research report: conclusion
brief summary, may have recommendations
parts of research report: implications***
HOW INFO MAY BE APPLIED IN PRACTICE
descriptive research**
DESCRIBES a state of nature AT A POINT IN TIME; regards DETERMINANTS OF A CONDITION OR A DISEASE
descriptive relationship: can causal relationships be determined?***
NO- establishes associations among factors, but NO CAUSE & EFFECT (or causal relationships)
analytical research**
TESTS HYPOTHESES
analytical research: can causal relationships be determined?***
YES- allows for CAUSE & EFFECT relationships
examples of descriptive research**
1) qualitative
2) case report
3) surveys
examples of analytical research***
1) experimental
2) Quasi-experimental/time series
3) cohort
4) case control
5) cross-sectional
qualitative research purpose
(descriptive)
explore phenomenon of interest –> data collected through interviews, observations, questionnaires
what is a case report?
(descriptive) AKA case study or case series
report of observations on one subject or more than one subject
what are surveys?***
research designed to DESCRIBE and QUANTIFY characteristics of a DEFINED POPULATION; DEFINED TIME FRAME, PINPOINTS PROBLEMS (ex: NHANES)
what is the experimental model?***
(analytical)
uses EXPERIMENTAL & CONTROL GROUPS
what does the experimental group receive?
program or treatment
what does the control group receive?
NOT the treatment, may get a placebo
placebo
gives the aura but not the substance of a service, removing the possibility of a Hawthorne effect (positive response due to attention participants receive)
in a study of aspartame, what could be the placebo?
sugar (??????)
when is an experimental model study successful?***
if EXPERIMENTAL GROUP»_space;> (improved more) than CONTROL group
what is a time series study (Quasi-experimental)?***
- series of measurements at periodic INTERVALS BEFORE THE PROGRAM BEGINS AND AFTER THE PROGRAM ENDS
- shows if NOTEWORTHY CHANGE within ONE STUDY GROUP
cohort
group whose members have SOMETHING IN COMMON
cohort studies are AKA***
INCIDENCE STUDIES- tracking FREQUENCY OF NEW CASES (NEWLY DX) of a DISEASE
cohort studies are usually how long? prospective or retrospective?**
usually LONGITUDINAL, usually PROSPECTIVE (retrospective uses existing data and looks back for relationships)
incidence vs. prevalence***
incidence = new cases; prevalence = existing cases
case control studies
focus on SPECIFIC DISEASE: those with disease vs. those without disease
what is a cross-sectional study?***
ONE-TIME DATA COLLECTION (snapshot at one point, describes current not past or future)
cross-sectional study is AKA?***
PREVALENCE study- ALL cases of a specific disease among a group of people in a specific time (existing cases)
what is relevance or validity?
ability to measure phenomenon it intends to measure
internal validity***
tests whether the difference BETWEEN THE 2 GROUPS IS REAL (did the experimental group REALLY PERFORM DIFFERENTLY)
external validity***
can a GENERALIZATION be made to a larger population
analysis of variance is aka? when is it used?***
ANOVA- used when SEVERAL PRODUCTS (>2) COMPETE AGAINST ANOTHER (ANOVA…validity…>2)
analysis of variance is looking for?***
ONE OR MORE SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES ANYWHERE AMONG THE SAMPLES (ex: data set with BDS and characteristics)
what is reliability?**
consistency or reproducibility of test results
reliability: parallel forms
two separate but similar forms of the same test at the same time- do the sets of score coincide?
reliability: split halves
divide test in half- degree of similarity in results
reliability: precision
amount of variation that occurs randomly: less random variability is greater precision
sensitivity vs. specificity***
- sensitivity = test positive, have dx or condition at all
- specificity = people without dx or condition, non-afflicted
nominal (non-ordered) variables**
variables with NO SPECIAL ORDER (gender, race, marital status, present or absent)
rank order (ordinal scale) variables***
observations compared with each other and PUT IN ORDER (ex: best to worst, 1-4)
numerical discrete vs. numerical continuous variables
- discrete = data with numbers (# clinic visist)
- continuous = underlying continuous scales (blood pressure)
dependent variables are?***
OUTCOMES
what are independent variables?***
what you MANIPULATE in your study
treatments for diseases are independent or dependent variables?***
INDEPENDENT –> can change treatment to affect the disease
effect cholesterol levels have on heart attacks - independent variable? dependent variable?
- independent: cholesterol levels
- dependent: heart attacks = outcome
probability sampling
each segment of the population will be represented in the sample
randomization
select a sample from the whole population so that the characteristics of each of the units approximates characteristics of the entire population
non-probability sampling
no way of forecasting that each element in the population will be represented in the sample
convenience or accidental sampling
take units as they arrive on the scene- no attempt to control bias
measures of central tendency are?***
mean, median, mode
measures of central tendency- definition***
CENTER OF ANY MASS OF DATA
what is the mean?***
simple average
median?***
midpoint- arrange from low to high = middle value; if even number of numbers, median is the average of the two numbers closest to the center
mode?***
MOST FREQUENTLY occurring value/REPEATED number
if no number is repeated, what is the mode?**
THERE IS NO MODE
what is the range?
difference between the lowest and highest values in the distribution –> subtract lower from higher value
what is standard deviation?
degree of dispersion about the mean value of a distribution
the slope is?***
convex = bulging outward
what happens to the curve at the point of inflection?***
becomes concave (bulging inward) as the slope begins to level off
the distance between the mean and the point of inflection on either side is?***
EQUAL TO THE SD
how much within a normal distribution lies within 1 SD of the mean?***
2/3 or 68% = mean + 1 SD
what are correlations?
relationships between varying types of data
what does it mean the closer the points are to the line?**
STRONGER THE DEGREE OF LINEAR RELATIONSHIP
what is the linear correlation coefficient?
R = degree to which the points in a scatter diagram cluster around a straight line
what is the value of r?***
ALWAYS between -1 and 1: GREATER THAN 1 IS NOT AN OPTION
R=1 means?***
all points lie on a straight line with a POSITIVE slope
R = -1 means?***
all points lie on a straight line with a NEGATIVE slope
the closer the r is to 1 or -1, what does this mean?***
closer the points tend to cluster around the line, stronger the degree of linear relationship
r=0 means?
no linear relationship
perfect positive correlation***
+1.0 = when one goes up, so does the other
perfect negative correlation***
-1.0 = inverse relationship, opposite
the lower the p value, what does this mean?***
lower the p value, higher the significance of your results
p <= 0.05***
SIGNIFICANT difference, results are reliable!
p <0.01***
VERY significant difference, more reliable results
p >0.05***
NOT VERY significant difference, NOT RELIABLE results
the smaller the p value, the higher your confidence is that the effect you observed was real –>
–>
line graphs show ___ on vertical scale and ___ on horizontal scale
- vertical = frequency/#
- horizontal = method of classification
what is a histogram?***
block diagram whose blocks are proportional in area to the frequency in each class or group
what does a histogram summarize?**
SUMMARIZES DATA from a process that has been collected OVER TIME
double blind study***
REMOVES BIAS from research; NEITHER researcher nor subject KNOWS which group is RECEIVING TREATMENT and WHICH IS PLACEBO
mortality vs. morbidity***
- mortality = rate of death
- morbidity = state of disease
variable of interest
what researchers are studying
population of interest
describes group about which the observations are made
descriptive statistics
summarizes and describes aspects of a set of data
inferential statistics***
techniques that allow conclusions to EXTEND BEYOND AN IMMEDIATE DATA SET; what is the PROBABILITY** that the results can BE APPLIED TO A LARGER GROUPS, what can you INFER from the results of your study
nonparametric test
does not depend on a normal distribution
dichotomous scores
only TWO events are possible (heads, tails)
continuous scores
measured on a continuous scale
pilot study***
SCALED DOWN version of the larger investigation; PRACTICE IMPLEMENTATION, determine if FEASIBLE
pilot study- # steps***
INCLUDES ALL STEPS IN THE STUDY, but done on a SMALL TEST GROUP (ex: a pilot on TV)
“will the study plan work?”
focus group***
method of ATTAINING INFORMATION ABOUT A TARGET GROUP; SMALL GROUP who talk about the BELIEFS, OPINIONS, PROBLEMS
what type of data does a focus group provide?***
ATTITUDINAL or SUBJECTIVE data
chi square X test
tests whether or not there is a real difference between categories- compares FREQUENCY with what we expect to occur vs. frequency that actually occurred
types of things chi square test is used for
attributes with >2 categories
t test
tests significance between the MEANS of two different populations- NULL VS. ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS
what are management concepts?
philosophies about how an organization views its customers and the delivery of products or services
service marketing
qualities of intangibility, perishability, heterogenicity, insperability
qualities of intangible & inseparable, perishable (in relation to marketing)
services are intangible –> produced and consumed at the same time so are inseparable and perishable
quality of heterogenicity of service
variation and lack of uniformity in performance of people - don’t know how employees may respond to a situation or customers to the services
effectiveness vs. efficiency**
- effectiveness = achieving objectives, producing + results
- efficiency = minimization of resources, producing positive results **at the lowest cost
