Vocab Flashcards
DF (degrees of freedom)
The number of observations minus 1.
Factor analysis
A procedure for combining items in a survey instrument to represent a single concept. A survey is broken down into domains that include multiple questions.
Power Calculation
Statistical procedure to determine the probability that the effect of INTEREST will be observed when it occurs. A power level of .8 is accepted as a sufficient level of power.
Effect size
In a statistical power calculation, effect size is the EXPECTED amount of efect that is considered a minimal CLINICALLY meaningful effect.
Validity
The accuracy of measurements. It is the degree to which an instrument measures what it is supposed to measure.
Reliability
the consistency or reproducibility of the manner in which the data were collected.
Sampling strategy
A procedure or set of procedures for identifying and recruiting subjects.
Critical Appraisal
A process of evaluating the trustworthiness and relevance of a resource within the context of a given clinical situation.
Alpha halves
The risk of a type I error when a test of equality is performed. If the equality is tested the researchers assume that either group could turn out to be superior, in which case alpha should be divided in half.
Meta analysis
an added step to a systematic review in which a statistical analysis is performed to quantify the findings of multiple studies in the review. Statistical analysis of results from separate studies is performed, leading to a quantitative summary of results.
Ethnography
a description and interpretation of a cultural or social group or system. The researcher examines the group’s observable and learned patterns of behavior, customs, ways of life.
Cohort study
These are observational, prospective studies in which the groups in the study are determined by a given exposure, characteristic or risk factor.
Outlier
this is an extreme value. it can, by itself, alter the determination of significance.
Thalidmide
Sedative hypnotic drug originally used as treatment for morning sickness and to help get pregnant women sleep. It causes phocomelia (seal limb) in infants.
Grounded theory
The study of abstract problems and their processes. It is a general methodology of analysis linked with data collection that uses a systematically applied set of methods to generate an inductive theory about a substantive area.
Surrogate outcomes
An indirect outcome (such as a physiological measure) that reflects another type of outcome, usually an outcome that matters. ex HTN, heart rate.
Outcomes that matter
Clinically relevant outcomes that provide direct measures of disease. It encompasses more than clinical data, including other outcomes that patients and providers care about, such as the patient’s ability to function or the cost of care. cardiovascular disease
Confidence interval
The range in which the true parameter can be found, within a given percentage likelihood. 95%
Alpha
The probability of a type 1 error. It is selected during the design of the research and represents the reasearchers’ risk of incorrectly rejecting the null hypothesis.
Regression analysis
Test that focuses on relationships among several variables that best explain a specific response.
Truncated trial
A trial that ends early.
Selection bias
A type of sampling bias in which there is a systematic procedural error in the selection of subjects or when a nonrandom sample is utilized.
Sampling bias
Limitations to the process of selecting and recruiting subjects or randomly assign subjects to treatment and control groups; however, researchers are able to control some independent variables.
Quasi-experimental research
Studies in which researchers cannot randomly select subjects or randomly assign subjects to treatment and control groups; however, researchers are able to control some independent variables.
