SMRM research methods

Question 1

What is a testable hypothesis?

Answer 1

A scientific question that is specific and answerable

Question 2

A scientific experiment must have ___ ___ and verification

Answer 2

peer review

verification- aka replication

Question 3

The two types of human subjects research is __ and __

Answer 3

experimental

observational

Question 4

What is the term that describes the end of a study because of positive results?

Answer 4

beneficence

Question 5

What is the term that describes the end of a study because of negative results?

Answer 5

nonmaleficence

Question 6

___ - patient autonomy and informed consent

Answer 6

autonomy

Question 7

__ - equal treatment of all people

Answer 7

justice

Question 8

What is a cohort study?

Answer 8

longitudinal study observing characteristics of members of a cohort across time (ex. smokers are more likely to get lung cancer before 50)

Question 9

What is a cross-sectional study?

Answer 9

analysis of data collected from a population at one specific time (ex. survey of population of us to see prevalence of covid)

Question 10

What is a case-control study?

Answer 10

observational study of individuals with condition compared to control of the population

Question 11

What is selection bias?

Answer 11

method to select participants is not completely random

Question 12

What is specific real area bias?

Answer 12

conducting the study in a specific area that does not include a representative sampling of the population being studied

Question 13

What is self-selection bias?

Answer 13

participants in the study have the ability to choose to participate or not to, or determine their level of involvement (surveys)

Question 14

What is pre-screening or advertising bias?

Answer 14

advertising process itself results in an unrepresentative sample

Question 15

What is exclusion bias?

Answer 15

exclusion of an entire group from the population (ex. excluding homeschooled kids in a study ab education)

Question 16

What is healthy user bias?

Answer 16

when persons included in the study are healthier than normal people

Question 17

What is Berkson’s Fallacy?

Answer 17

selection of participants from hospitals, where they are more likely to be unhealthy

Question 18

What is Overmatching?

Answer 18

negative outcome resulting from what is normally a good practice- matching for potentially confounding variables

Question 19

What is observer bias?

Answer 19

observers know the goals of the study or the hypothesis and allow the knowledge to influence observations

Question 20

What is information bias?

Answer 20

wrong or inexact recording of variables or data

Question 21

What are confounding variables?

Answer 21

affects both independent and dependent variables and may skew an experiment

Question 22

What is detection bias?

Answer 22

systematic differences between groups caused by inconsistency in the method of detection or diagnosis

Question 23

What is performance bias?

Answer 23

systematic differences between groups in terms of the actual care or treatment provided

Question 24

reporting bias vs confirmation bias

Answer 24

reporting bias- not reporting all the findings

confirmation bias- favor info that supports hypothesis

Question 25

Accuracy vs precision

Answer 25

accuracy - how correct you are

precise - how repeated trials are close together in value

Question 26

validity vs reliability

Answer 26

reliability - results are consistent and repeatable

validity - the test measures what it purports to measure and uses methods that meet scientific standards

Question 27

What is test-retest reliability?

Answer 27

measure of the degree of consistency between administration of a test and a subsequent administration of that same test

Question 28

What is inter-rater reliability?

Answer 28

measure of consistency between multiple raters assigning the same values or making the same observations

Question 29

External vs internal validity

Answer 29

external - the degree to which findings can be applied to general population

internal - findings of truth or causation are justifiable

Question 30

What is Hill’s criteria?

Answer 30

set of guidelines that evaluates whether there is a causal relationship

Question 31

Define the terms of Hill’s criteria

• temporality
• strength
• consistency
• specificity
• plausibility
• dose -response relationship
• testable by experiment
• coherence
• analogy

Answer 31

temporality - exposure of treatment MUST precede outcome
strength- statistical significance
plausibility - fits logically within understanding of process
dose-response- effects proportional to dosage of treatment
coherence- association is compatible with pre-existing science
analogy - similar associations are known to exist

Question 32

necessary vs sufficient

Answer 32

necessary- condition that must be satisfied for event to occur

sufficient - if satisfied that event is guaranteed to occur

Question 33

double blind vs single blind experiments

Answer 33

double - both experimenter and subject is unknowing

single - experimenter or subject is unknowing

Question 34

In normal distribution, there is a bell shape curve, what percentages of the population are at each SD

Answer 34

1 SD- 68
2 SD - 95
3 SD - 99

Question 35

null vs alternative hypothesis

Answer 35

null- there is no relationship

alternative - there is a significant difference

Question 36

The presence of an asterisk generally indicates ___

Answer 36

data point is statistically significant

Question 37

SEM in stats is__

Answer 37

standard error of the mean - how precise the mean represents the true mean of population SEM decreases as sample size increases