RESS I: Research Flashcards
What is PICOt?
A methodical approach to Evidence-Based Medicine.
It standards for:
P: Patients/Population - Who will be participating?
I: Intervention/Interest (Exposure) - What is being tested?
C: Comparison - What is the comparison group? Other/Current treatment? Experimental group? Control Group/Placebo?
O: Outcome - What is the outocme/endpoint? Mortality, Morbidity, quality of Lfe, Chnage in behaviour
t: Time - When should the outcome be measured?
Give examples of quantitaive primary reseach desgins?
- Survey
- Experimental - randomised and non-randomised control trials
- Observational analytic studies: cohort study, case-contorl study and cross sectional study
Give examples of qualitative primary research desgins?
- Interview Study
- Focus Group
- Observational Study
Give examples of secondary research desgins?
Systematic review/Meta Analysis
What is a Randomised Control Trial?
The randomised control trial (RCT) is a trial in which subjects are randomly assigned to one of two groups: one (the experimental group) receiving the intervention that is being tested, and the other (the comparison group or control) receiving an alternative (conventional) treatment.
What is a Non-Randomised Control Trial?
Non-randomized clinical trials are clinical trial in which the participants are not assigned by chance to different treatment groups. Participants may choose which group they want to be in, or they may be assigned to the groups by the researchers.
What are the advantages of RCTs?
- Provides evidence of causality – more chance of having ‘impact’
- Rigorous evaluation of a single variable
What are teh disadvantages of RCTs?
- Resource intensive: costs time and money
- Needs a large number of participants – many studies underpowered
- Ethical challenges
What are cohort studies?
A cohort study is a particular form of longitudinal study that samples a cohort (a group of people who share a defining characteristic, typically those who experienced a common event in a selected period, such as birth or graduation), performing a cross-section at intervals through time.
A cohort study may either be a prospective cohort study (the group is followed over time) or a retroscpective cohort study (the data used was collected in the past).
What are the three types of cohort studies?
- Prospective Cohort Study
- Retrospective Cohort Study
- Case Control Study (Here we identify cases and what they were expose to)
What is the advantage of Case-Control studies?
- Small sample needed
- Appropriate for studying rare conditions or those with long lag between exposure and outcome
What is the disadvantages of Case Control Studies?
- Exposure assessed after disease occurrence
- Reliance on records to determine exposure status
- Highly susceptible to selection bias
What are Cross-Sectional Studies?
Cross-sectional study design is a type of observational study design. In a cross-sectional study, the investigator measures the outcome and the exposures in the study participants at the same time. This provides a snap shot, a point prevalnce; teh patienst are not followed.
What is meta-anaylsis?
Meta-anaylsis combines results of previous studies to produce one overall measure of the effect of an intervention.
