Textbook Unit 2 Flashcards
evidence-based medicine:
The use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients or the delivery of health services.
critical thinking:
A skeptical attitude that encourages health care providers and researchers to evaluate evidence and scrutinize conclusions
example of critical thinking study
cause effect relaitonships
confirmation bias
A form of faulty reasoning in which our expectations prevent us from seeing alternative explanations for our observations.
Institutional Review Board (IRB):
rotects research participants from harm by permitting only studies that follow a strict code of ethics
Epidemiology:
The scientific study of the frequency, distribution, and causes of a particular disease or other health outcomes in a population.
Descriptive studies research setting
Field or laboratory
Data Collection Method of Descriptive studies
Case studies, surveys, interviews, focus groups and naturalistic observation
Discriptive studies strengths
In-depth
information about one person; often leads to new hypotheses; detects naturally occurring relationships among variables
Descriptive studies weaknesses
Non-direct control
over variables; subject to bias of observer; single cases may be misleading; cannot determine causality; correlation may mask extraneous variables
Research setting for Experimental studies
Usually laboratory
Research setting for Epidemiological studies
Usually conducted in the field
research setting for Experimental studies
Usually laboratory
Research setting for Meta-analysis
No new data are collected
Data Collection Method for Meta-analysis
Statistical combination of the results of many studies
Strengths for Experimental studies
A high degree of control over independent and dependent variables; random assignment eliminates preexisting differences among groups
Strengths for Epidemiological studies
Useful in determining disease etiology; easy to replicate; good generalizability
Strengths for Meta-analysis
Helps make sense of conflicting reports; replicable
Weaknesses of Experimental studies
The artificiality of laboratory may limit the generalizability of results; certain variables cannot be investigated for practical or ethical reasons
Weaknesses of Epidemiological studies
Some variables must be controlled by selection rather than by direct manipulation; time- consuming; expensive
Weaknesses of Meta-analysis studies
Potential bias due to the selection of studies included
Data Collection Method for Experimental studies
Statistical comparison of experimental and control groups
Data Collection Method for Epidemiological studies
Statistical comparisons between groups exposed to different risk factors
Data Collection Method for Meta-Analysis
Statistical combination of the results of many studies
descriptive study:
A research method in which researchers observe and record participants’ behaviours, often forming hypotheses that are later tested more systematically; includes case studies, interviews and surveys, focus groups, and observational studies.
A case study:
one person (or, sometimes, one group) is studied in depth in the hope of revealing general principles.
example of a case study
chronic-pain patients may be asked to complete a questionnaire related to their problem that sheds light on the effectiveness of previous treatments and the impact of their condition on their daily functioning.
Interview:
often used by clinical health psychologists as a start
Surveys:
for developing supportive working relationships with patients.
example of a survey for a case study
chronic-pain patients may be asked to complete a questionnaire related to their problem that sheds light on the effectiveness of previous treatments and the impact of their condition on their daily functioning.
Focus Groups:
in which a small number of participants gather to discuss a specified topic or issue, are sometimes used as an alternative to one-on-one interviews.
observational study:
A nonexperimental research method in which a researcher observes and records the behaviour of a research participant.
researchers’ roles in an observational study include
In an observational study, the researcher observes participants’ behaviour and records relevant data, such as the facial expressions this newborn makes while sleeping.
example of an observational study
a researcher interested in the physiological effects of everyday hassles might have participants wear a heart-rate monitor while commuting to and from school or work in rush-hour traffic.
structured observations:
often take place in the laboratory and involve tasks such as role-playing or responding to a correlation
correlation coefficient:
A statistical measure of the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables, and thus of how well one predicts the other.
Scatter Plot:
A graphed cluster of data points, each of which represents the values of two variables in a descriptive study.
statistical literacy:
The ability to read and interpret statistics and to think critically about arguments that use statistics as evidence.
most common ways health psychology use experimental studies
experiments are commonly used in health psychology to investigate the effects of health-related behaviours (exercise, diet, etc.) on an illness (e.g., heart disease).
