PASS Critcal Appraisal Flashcards
What is critical appraisal?
The process of carefully and systematically examining research to judge its trustworthiness and vale ad relevance in a particular context
Why do articles get rejected?
- subject isn’t important
- not original
- hypothesis not tested
- different type of study should have been done
- small sample size
- statistical analysis was incorrect
- uncontrolled or inadequately controlled
- unjustified conclusion drawn
- significant conflict of interest
- badly written - incomprehensible
Methods of critical apprasisal
Selection bias - is there a systematic difference between people that have been selected and those not?
Data collection - how was the data collected and how might this impact the findings?
What is a case control study?
Observational study in which two existing groups (case + control groups) differing in outcome are identified and compared relating to exposure
What is a cohort study?
Longitudinal study in which a group of people with a common characteristic are followed over time to find how many reach a certain outcome of interest
What is a cross sectional study?
Observational study that analyses data from a population at a single point in time
Used to measure prevalence of health outcome
Concerns of case control studies
Recall bias
Misclassification bias
Interviewer bias
Confounding factors
Case and control clearly defined?
Exposure clearly defined?
Clear outcome?
What is recall bias?
Type of bias that occurs when a person can’t accurately remember a past event or leave out details
What is misclassification bias?
Bias when a person is categorised into an incorrect group
Concerns of cohort studies
Selection bias
Response bias
Measurement bias
Healthy worker effect
Loss to follow up/attrition bias
Was the population outcome free at start?
Are populations representative?
Definition of exposure and outcome
Long enough follow up
What is selection bias?
Bias due to selection of participants where randomisation isn’t achieved
What is response bias?
Bias due to participants responding falsely or inaccurately
Prevalent in participant self report
What is measurement bias?
Any systematic or non-random error that occurs in data collection
What is attrition bias?
The selective dropout of some participants
Concerns of cross sectional studies
Selection bias
Response bias
Confounding factors
Data collection issues
Measurement bias
Representation of whole population?
