Statistc Flashcards
what are the levels of evidence
1 meta-analyses and Systematic review of RCTs
- randomize clinical control trials
- case study
- descriptive surveys
- expert opinion
what is the difference between a systematic review and meta-analysis
- meta-analysis- pulls together all the data from the research and pools the data
- SR - pulls together all the data of expert opinion reviews.
what are the keys to controlling bias in randomized control trails
- Random assignment test subjects
- specific manipulation of the intervention
- blinded assessment - outcome assessor is blinded
what is the typical use of case-control study
- great for determining risk factors for a condition of interest
- retro anaylsis of group with condition of interest compared to a matched group without the condition of interest
What are the two basic categories of statistical tests
- test of relationships - used to determine if there is a relationship between 2 or more variables
- tests of differences - used to determine if there is a difference between two or more variables
what are the different types of research variables
- independent - variable research has control over (usually occurs prior to dependent variable)
- dependent - outcome of interest the research has little control over (object of study)
- extraneous - variable that can effect out come but are not independent
What is the difference between internal and external validity
- internal - do the study outcomes reflect the relation ship between the independent variable on the dependent variable
- external - generalizability, can the test be repeated with different groups and achieve the same outcomes
what is the null hypotheses
- there are no differences or no relationship between the variables or groupes tested
what is the alternative hypotheses or research hypothesis
- there is a difference (either positive or negative) between the test variables or groups
What are the types of error in research decisitons
type I (alhpa) - reject the null hypothesis when it is true (i.e. conclude there is a relationship when there isn't) type II - accept the null hypothesis when it is false
how do you control for type one error rate
- set an alpha rate
- look at statistical significance (p-value and confidence intervals)
what is alpha rate/level
- rate of type I error acceptance, typically 5%
- pre-selected threshold to detect statistical significance (probabilities of unknowingly rejecting the null hypothesis)
what is p-value
- probability the study’s findings occurred due to chance
what is the relationship between the p-value and alpha rate/level
the goal of the study is to achieve a p-value less than the pre-selected alpha rate so that you can conclude with a reasonable degree of certainly that you did not commit type I error
What is the limitation of the p-value
- reduces findings/life to dichotomous “yes/no” conclusions
- the threshold is arbitrarily set and there is a big difference between .05 and .005 even if they both meet the alpha level
what is a confidence interval
- range of scores that provides info about the statistic significance while characterizing the statistical perception (what ranges of score you can achieve to remain within the alpha rate)
- if the range includes 0 or negative numbers you cannot reject the null hypothesis
- the tighter the range the more precise the outcomes
what is statistical power
- probability a statistical test will detect a relationship between 2 or more variables or differences between 2 or more groups
- probability you will achieve a type II error
- used to calculate the sample size
What is the difference between descriptive statistics and inferential statistics
- descriptive - describes a population
- inferential - describes a sample and assumes normal normal distribution
What are parametric statistics
a form of inferential statistics
- uses interval or ratio level data (can use ordinal data but there is no consistency between data points which is a problem for parametric statistics)
- typically focus on the mean
- key assumption is the data has a NORMAL distribution (but some statistical manipulation can account for this)
What is the difference between interval and ratio data
interval - no zero point, no absence of the variable, temperature (there is no absence of temperature
ratio - zero point, time (there is a zero starting point)