Research Concepts Flashcards
Audit vs research?
Research: designed to generate new knowledge
Audit: assess whether a service meets a standard
What is the null hypothesis?
No relationship exists between two sets of data.
What does it mean if null hypothesis is true?
Observed effect is due to chance alone
What are the levels of evidence? 3
Level 1: systematic reviews, high quality RCT
Level 2: cohort, case control, quasi experimental
Level 3: case study, expert opinion, pre test/post test studies
What is a case control study?
Compares 2 groups (cases, controls) in real time. Similar groups, cases have disease and controls do not.
When to use a case control?
1.data on exposure is difficult to obtain
2. Disease is rare or long incubation period
3.population difficult to follow up
Example of case control?
Chemical/pesticide exposure linkage to disease
What is a cohort study?
Follow a group of people over a period. Study how certain factors affect their health over time. Have a common experience eg birth year, geographic area
What is a meta analysis?
A type of analysis/calculation that estimates effect size
What is a mixed methods study?
Uses both qualitative and quantitative data
Eg how does student perceptions of their school influence their test scores?
What is an independent variable?
A variable that the researcher can control or not affected by any other variable in the study
What is a nominal/categorical variable?
Anything that be in a category eg yes/no, hair colour
What is ordinal data?
An ‘ordered’ hierarchical data eg socioeconomic status (low, med, high)
What is an interval ratio?
Anything that has same measurement between levels eg pain 1-10 (has 1 between each level), temp
Has no absolute zero
What is continuous ratio?
Has an absolute zero eg blood pressure readings, distance
