Mixed Methods Research Flashcards
What is internal validity in quantitative research?
Internal validity refers to how well a study is conducted, including how well it controls for bias and whether the outcomes can be attributed to the intervention.
What is external validity?
External validity is the extent to which the results of a study can be generalised to other populations, settings, or times.
What is selection bias?
Selection bias occurs when the participants selected for a study are not representative of the target population, affecting the study’s generalisability.
What is performance bias?
Performance bias happens when there are differences in the care or attention provided to participants in different groups during a study.
What is attrition bias?
Attrition bias occurs when participants drop out of a study, leading to incomplete data and potentially skewing the results.
What is detection bias?
Detection bias relates to differences in how outcomes are assessed across study groups, which can affect the validity of the findings.
What is randomisation, and why is it important in RCTs?
Randomisation is the process of randomly assigning participants to groups to ensure that each group is comparable, minimising selection bias.
What is blinding, and why is it used in research?
Blinding involves keeping participants, clinicians, and outcome assessors unaware of group assignments to reduce performance and detection bias.
What is intention-to-treat analysis?
Intention-to-treat analysis includes data from all participants as originally assigned, regardless of whether they completed the intervention, preserving the benefits of randomisation.
Why are confounding factors important in observational studies?
Confounding factors can distort the apparent relationship between the independent and dependent variables, so controlling for them is essential to avoid misleading results.
What should be appraised in a cohort study?
A cohort study should be appraised for how well it tracks participants over time and whether it considers all relevant exposures and outcomes.
What are case-control studies, and what is a key consideration when appraising them?
Case-control studies compare individuals with a condition (cases) to those without (controls), and it is important to ensure that cases and controls are appropriately matched to reduce bias.
What is statistical significance?
Statistical significance refers to whether the observed results are likely due to chance, commonly assessed using p-values.
What is clinical relevance, and how does it differ from statistical significance?
Clinical relevance assesses whether the size of an effect is meaningful in practice, whereas statistical significance indicates whether the result is unlikely due to chance.
What is a confidence interval, and why is it important?
A confidence interval indicates the range within which the true effect size is likely to lie, with a narrower interval suggesting more precise results.
