Unit 2 Flashcards
What makes a good research question?
The question has to be feasible, answerable & specific
Determining overall feasibility of the question
Can it be answered w/ brief study and completed with constraints
constraints to consider in its feasibility
enough time to complete it, qualified team to complete it, and is there enough funds
what can be used to determine feasibility
pilot studies
what are pilot studies
prelim study conducted on a small scale (5-10) w/ same design and procedures as the full study
what is the benefit of using a pilot study
helps determine overall feasibility with time, cost, personnel & sample size needed
Best way to develop a research question that is answerable is for researchers to
specify the basic components of the study
Common mistakes associated with answerable
Too general
questions that start with “why” are difficult to answer using a scientific approach
3 major elements to make a question specific
target population, IV, & DVs
When developing a good research question, you should ensure the question is
specific, answerable, feasible
One of your colleagues is preparing a grant proposal for a research study but is not sure how much money to request within the proposal.
To estimate the cost of the research study, you suggest to your colleague that she first conduct a:
pilot study
Which of the following statement(s) is accurate about pilot studies?
They can help estimate the overall feasibility of the proposed full study
They can help estimate the time needed to complete the proposed full study
They use a different research design and procedures from the proposed full study
They can help estimate the sample size needed to complete the proposed full study
They investigate a smaller number of participants (eg, 5-10)
They can help estimate the overall feasibility of the proposed full study
They can help estimate the time needed to complete the proposed full study
They can help estimate the sample size needed to complete the proposed full study
They investigate a smaller number of participants (eg, 5-10)
To ensure that a research question is answerable and specific, the question should identify which of the following?
The confounding variables
The target population
The sample size
The dependent variable
The independent variable
target population
DV
IV
general description; dictionary definition
conceptual definition
defines variables according to its unique meaning in a study
operational definition
what are confounding variables
extraneous variables related to IV & DVs & can inflate, deflate or conflate the findings which masks the true impact of the IV & DVs
3 primary components specified by a good research question
target population
IV
DV
what is the target population
group to whom you can generalize your results
how is the target population operationalized
inclusion & exclusion criteria
what is inclusion characteristics
major characteristics of the population you are interested in studying; characteristics they have to qualify for the study
what are exclusion criteria
identifies attributes that could confound study findings; identify potential confounding factors that could mask the true findings of the study)
what is the IV
Variable that differs bw groups and/within subjects of the study
Described as a construct level (e.g., treatment, intervention, etc.)
how is IV operationalized
by providing enough details to
Distinguish bw levels of IV & replicate same procedures in another study
what is a common mistake made with IV
identify it as one of its levels
what is the DV
Variable in which you would expect to see a difference between groups; outcome of the study
how is the DV operationized
by how it is being measured (researcher should describe how the tool or instrument is used to measure the study outcome & in enough detail to be replicated)
Each measurement tool should have reliability & validity
The inclusion criteria are factors that may potentially over- or under-estimate the effects of the independent variable
false
To operationalize the target population, the researcher should:
Provide enough details to clearly distinguish who is and who is not in the population
Define the inclusion and exclusion criteria
You are conducting a study based on the following research question:
In patients who suffer from migraines, will the use of acupuncture reduce pain significantly better than Ibuprofen? What is your independent variable:
treatment
You are conducting a study based on the following research question:
In patients who suffer from migraines, will the use of acupuncture reduce pain significantly better than Ibuprofen? What is your dependent variable:
pain
You are conducting a study based on the following research question:
In patients who suffer from migraines, will the use of acupuncture reduce pain significantly better than Ibuprofen?
How would you operationalize the independent variable?
Describe the specific procedures and parameters of the Ibuprofen protocol
Describe the specific procedures and parameters of the acupuncture therapy
what is the purpose statement
Describes the primary objective of the study
what is the specific aims
A specific description of the study’s purpose
what is a hypothesis
Researcher’s educated guess about the anticipated outcome of a study
Good research questions act as a study outline & foundation to identify
the purpose, specific aims & hypotheses
They all describe what the study is expected to accomplish & are all variations of the research question
true
IN PTs who suffer from routine migraines, will the use of acupunture significantly reduce pain better than ibuprofen
purpose?
aim?
hypothesis?
Purpose - purpose of thhis study is to determine whether the use of acupuncture will significantly reduce pain better than ibuprofen in PTs who suffer routine migraines
Specific aims - we aim to determine whether the use of acupuncture will significantly reduce pain as measured by the visual analogue scale better than ibuprofen in PTs who suffer routine migraines
Hypothesis - we hypothesize that the use of acupuncture will significantly reduce pain better than ibuprofen in PTs who suffer from migraines
A concise definition of the target population is important in determining:
The patients to whom you can generalize the results of the study
A good operational definition of the independent variable will include:
Enough details about the procedures that someone else could replicate them
Which of the following operationally defines your target population?
Inclusion and exclusion criteria
You are interested in determining if a hearing retraining program results in better patient satisfaction than a hearing aid device in patients with tinnitus.
In this study, what would be your independent variable?
intervention grou[p
You are interested in determining if a hearing retraining program results in better patient satisfaction than a hearing aid device in patients with tinnitus.
In this study, how would you operationally define your dependent variable?
One group pretest-posttest design
Explain how you intend to measure patient satisfaction
Describe your inclusion and exclusion criteria
Identify potential confounding factors
Provide a detailed description of the hearing retraining program and the hearing aid device
Explain how you intend to measure patient satisfaction
The notion of generalizability refers to:
The degree to which results from a study can be applied to the entire target population
I am proposing to test this hypothesis: Vestibular rehabilitation will significantly improve dizziness, as measured by the Dizziness Handicap Index, better than a rest-only protocol.
What component is missing from my hypothesis statement?
target population
In outlining the research question for my report of a study comparing the efficacy of a balance program to a placebo (doing nothing) to prevent falls, I refer to my independent variable as “balance program.”
What is the problem?
I haven’t defined efficacy
I haven’t defined the target population
I haven’t operationalized my dependent variable
I have selected a constant, rather than a variable
I have selected a constant, rather than a variable
Which of the following is an educated guess about the results of the study?
Specific aim
Research question
Hypotheses
Purpose statement
hypothesis
At the end of the Introduction to my research report, I write: “We intend to determine if taking 24 micrograms of vitamin B12 each day for 14 days will decrease the time to recovery from acute aphasia relative to taking the same dose of St. John’s Wort.”
What kind of statement is this?
Specific aim
Operationalization
Purpose statement
Hypothesis
purpose statement
what is target pop? how is it operationalized? what is the critique
The group of people we want to (1) learn something about and (2) generalize our findings to
The inclusion and exclusion criteria
Does the inclusion criteria include the major characteristics of the target population?
Does the exclusion criteria include all potential factors that could confound study findings?
what is IV? how is it operationalized? what is the critique
The variable we are manipulating
NOT the same as the intervention we are interested in studying
Describe how the interventions were provided
Are there enough details to replicate the interventions in clinical practice?
Are there enough details to show the groups are clearly different from one another?
what is DV? how is it operationalized? what is the critique
The study outcome. This is the variable you expect to see differences between two treatment groups.
Identify the tools that were used to measure the outcome
Are the tools an appropriate for the outcome of interest?
Are the tools reliable and valid?
How to critically review an article you have to
Identify primary components of a study
What are aspects of the study design that impact overall quality of a study
Ask the right questions
Aimed at assessing overall quality of the study design
Assess overall quality of the study design
Based on right questions, what did you find and how do those findings impact study design
Do they enhance or diminish quality of the study
As a reader/reviewer of a journal article, the exclusion criteria should identify the major factors or characteristics that would:
Likely confound the study results
Intensive speech and language therapy in patients with chronic aphasia after stroke: a randomised, open-label, blinded-endpoint, controlled trial in a health-care setting
What is the independent variable in the study?
intervention
How many groups were investigated in this study?
Two; intervention group and control group
As a reader/reviewer of a journal article, how would you determine if the authors have operationalized the independent variable sufficiently?
A. There are enough details for a clinician or researcher to replicate the interventions
B. There are enough details describing the clear difference between the study groups
C. There are enough details describing the instruments used to measure the interested variables.
A and B
All of the above
a and b
