Research Flashcards
Ordinal
A.k.a. a ranking scale
Intervals between ranks might not be equal or known
Example: MMT grades, level of assistance, pain, joint laxity grades
Interval
Intervals between adjacent values are equal but there is no true zero
Example: temperature
Ratio
Intervals between adjacent values are equal and there is a true zero
Example: range of motion, distance to walk, time to complete activity, nerve conduction velocity
Reliability
Reproducibility or repeatability of measurements
Validity
The degree to which a useful interpretation can be inferred from a measurement
Face validity
The degree to which a measurement appears to test what it is supposed to
Nominal
AKA classification scale
Can only be assigned to one category
Qualitative
Ex: blood type, type of breath sounds, type of arthritis
Levels of evidence
(Best to worst)
Systematic review and meta analyses, RCT, cohort study, case control study, cross sectional study, case series, case report
P value
Less than or equal to alpha, null hypothesis is rejected.
Greater than alpha, null hypothesis not rejected
Typical alpha value is 0.05
Type one error
A false positive finding
Wrongly decides to reject the null hypothesis
Concludes there is a difference or relationship when there is not
Type two error
False-negative finding
Wrongly decides to not reject the null hypothesis
Concludes there is no difference or relationship when there is
Standard deviation
68% fall within one standard deviation above and below the mean
95% fall within two standard deviations above and below the mean
99% fall within three standard deviations above and below the mean
Negatively skewed distribution
Mean and median are to the left of the mode
Left tail is elongated
Positively skewed distribution
Mean and median are to the right of the mode
Right tail is elongated
Sensitivity
Snout=good for ruling a condition out
A true positive
If highly sensitive and test result is negative you can be highly certain you don’t have the disease
