SBOM- Evidence Based Medicine Flashcards
The study of “being”
(e.g. What is there? Is this an effective drug?)
Ontology
The study of knowledge
(e.g. How do we know? Can we prove it’s an effective drug?)
Epistemology
The study of value
(e.g. What is valuable? Is this drug valuable to patients?)
Axiology
Inductive and deductive are two types of _________________ research
Epistemological
Observation-driven research is also known as
Inductive research
Hypothesis-driven research is also known as
Deductive
Inductive research is __________ driven
Observation
Deductive research is ___________-driven
Hypothesis
What are the two major paradigms used in research?
Quantitative and qualitative
The general approach or paradigm
Methodology
The procedure applied/used to collect data
Methods
- Identify the problem
- Review the literature
- Set the research question and objectives
- Design the research/choose the methodology
- Specify the sample
- Collect data
- Analyse data
- Write the report
- Disseminate
The research process (steps taken when planning and conducting research)
A __________ is a subset of a population of interest
Sample
Studies aimed at determining the frequency (or level) of a particular attribute, such as a specific exposure, disease or any other health-related event, in a defined population at a particular point in time (e.g. A study to determine the prevalence of smoking in the young).
Cross-sectional study (a type of observational study)
The number of new cases within a certain period of time
Incidence
A type of longitudinal study that follows groups of people over a period of time (often many years)
Cohort study
A way to reason appropriately with uncertainty, where the uncertainty can be measured by probabilities
Bayesianism
This is a research approach that is used to generate an in-depth, multi-faceted understanding of a complex issue in its real-life context. It is an established research design that is used extensively in a wide variety of disciplines, particularly in the social sciences. This type of study can be defined in a variety of ways, the central tenet being the need to explore an event or phenomenon in depth and in its natural context.
A case study
This type of study have subjects with a disease or condition (X) or don’t (Y). Information is obtained about their previous exposure/non-exposure to the intervention or factor under study. Comparisons can then be made by the researchers.
Case-control studies
A detailed report of the symptoms, signs, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of an individual patient. They usually describe an unusual or novel occurrence.
Patient case report or case study
A report on a series of patients, or cases, who have an outcome of interest or may have received some intervention. OR a single group of people exposed to an intervention.
Case series
A descriptive study that depicts one or more circumstances of an event to explain the situation
Illustrative case study
A study that involves researching a specific topic to point where thorough, detailed, and complete understanding occurs
Exploratory case study
A qualitative study in which the researcher collects data from an individuals or individuals about a specific life event or events that occurred in order to share and retell the story
Narrative case study
The main purpose of an ___________ case study is to obtain preliminary data, evaluate the methods used and clarify resources (finances) required, which then leads to further research.
Exploratory
The specific steps you will take to achieve your aim within a research project
The objectives
- Systematic reviews and meta-analysis of RCT’s
- RCT’s
- Cohort studies
- Case-control studies
- Cross-sectional studies, surveys
- Case reports, case studies
- Mechanistic studies
- Editorials, expert opinion
Hierarchy of evidence (from highest to lowest quality of evidence)
This methodology (general paradigm) utilities a variety of methods and approaches which aim to understand the social reality of individuals, groups, and cultures. It is concerned with the MEANING, not the frequency, of the phenomenon. It investigates people’s beliefs, deeply held values, their experiences of the social works and contextual circumstances: it can broadly be described as “interpretive”
Qualitative research methodology
These research methods provide a different way of seeing a holistic and larger picture not only of a person, culture, or general group, but of patients. They allow for a larger base of understanding how different people understand the relationships between health and lifestyle. They are flexible, and can be tailored to the specific needs and rules of different people and places.
Qualitative research methods
Action research refers to the cyclical process of what type of research methodology?
Qualitative methodologies
Qualitative research aims to understand the meanings people have constructed about their world and their experiences- how do people make sense of their experiences
The emic perspective
Visual methods, ethnography, observation, focus groups, interviews and document discourse analysis are data collection methods in qualitative research. However, the primary instrument for data collection and analysis is
The researcher
This type of study is characterised by long-term participant-observation and other qualitative, and sometimes quantitative, data collection methods. Data collection in the ‘natural setting’ of the respondents/participants. Fieldwork is led by serendipity.
Ethnographic study
A form of in-depth interviewing with an aim to generate a wide range of opinions and insights that are informed by the interaction of the people
Focus groups
An expert makes a recommendation on the bases of their summary of the evidence
Narrative review
Define a specific question
Search for all relevant studies
Refine the results of this search
Extract data
Summarise and analyse the extracted data
Important stages of a systematic review
A visual representation of the results of meta-analysis may be summarised by way of a
Forest plot
The practice of combining “pooling” the results of individual studies, if they are similar enough to justify a quantitative summary effect size. When appropriate, ______ __________ provide more precise estimates of effect sizes than are available in any of the individual studies.
Meta-analysis
In a RCT, looking at “Intervention A’s” effect on reducing stroke- the ___________ _________ is the number of patients who expereince the event in the control group (CER) AND the number of patients who experience the event in the intervention/experimental group (EER)
Event rate
What is the difference between methodology and methods?
Methodology: General approach/paradigm ( e.g. qualitative vs quantitative, etc)
Methods: The procedure applied/used to collect data (e.g RCT, etc)
Which of the following 5 options are METHODS?
a. Survey
b. Ethnography
c. Meta-analysis
d. Interview
e. Cohort study
a. Survey
c. Meta-analysis
d. Interview
Which of the following 5 options are METHODOLOGIES?
a. Focus group
b. Phenomenology
c. Lab experiment
d. Case study
e. Historical review
f. Questionairre
b. Phenonmenology
d. Case study
e. Historical review
Beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy/consent/participant choice, justice and integrity, equipoise, are the basic premise of __________________ ?
(The philisophical underpinning of the principles of ethics)
Axiology
ETHICAL UNDERPINNINGS = AXIOLOGY
Quality improvement and audit is cyclical- which is a KEY FEATURE of audit?
a. Comparing practice to existing standards
b. Achieving quality improvements
c. Implementing cycles of change
d. All of these
d. All of these
Highest level of data
continuous or ratio
List some examples of basic categories of data classifications
- Categorical- data is classified into a “category” (eg blood groups)
- BINARY- only two possible categories (known as DICHOTOMOUS) (eg Yes/No)
- Ordinal- two or more categories that have ‘order’ (eg pain scale 0-10)
- Nominal - data which is neither binary nor ordinal (eg Ethnicity, marital status)
- Numerical- describes a value (eg Hb level, temperature)
- Discrete- Distinct value/ a complete integer (0,1,2,3) (eg number of GP visits, number of pregnancies)
- Continuous- data that can be divided into finer levels/scales (eg height, speed)
How do you ensure the integrity of research data?
Data cleaning
Describe some key features of systematic reviews
Peer reviewed
Meta-analysis (is the method undertaken)
In a Med-Ed study looking at the effect of teaching via dissection on anatomy knowledge, which is the independent variable?
- Teaching dissection (intervention)
- Antatomy knowledge (outcomes)?
The independent variable is the one you have introduced- the intervention, which is the teaching dissection
The outcome (variable) you are trying to maniplulate
The dependent variable
Factors such as revision, online apps, peer asisted learning, etc that can influence outcome/knowlege
Confounding variables
Gaining a deep insight into someone’s views or perceptions is best achieved by what METHOD?
Interview
(Remember to read the question carefully!)
What types of case studies are there?
Case control
Case series
Case report
What is the correct term (expressed numerically) given to a diagnostic test which correctly identifies the presence of disease?
Sensitivity
Can observational studies determine causation?
No
