Week 2: Research Methods in Clinical Psychology

Question 1

What is evidence-based practice?

Answer 1

a disciplined approach to decision-making and action

Question 2

What are the 3 components of evidence-based practice?

Answer 2

• best evidence
• patient characteristics, culture & preferences
• clinical expertise

Question 3

What are factors to consider when evaluating the best external evidence?

Answer 3

• consider quality of evidence
• consider alternative explanations for results
• generalizability

Question 4

What are the common research designs?

Answer 4

• observational or correlation studies
• analogue studies
• clinical trials
• meta-analyses & systematic reviews
• qualitative studies

Question 5

What are observational/correlation studies?

Answer 5

examine associations between two or more variables without manipulating the variables

Question 6

What are the strengths of observational/correlation studies?

Answer 6

• easy for researchers and participants
• can address a wide range of topics
• can use longitudinal designs to look at prediction
• may be the only way to study some questions ethically

Question 7

What are the limitations of observational/correlation studies?

Answer 7

• cannot make causal conclusions
• effects may be bidirectional or caused by a third variable

Question 8

What are analogue studies?

Answer 8

uses a substitute group of participants that is close to the clinical population in some way but doesn’t match it exactly

Question 9

What are the strengths of analogue studies?

Answer 9

• animal studies because can’t be ethically done in humans
• humans without the condition being studied which makes easier recruitment and lower risk

Question 10

What are limitations of analogue studies?

Answer 10

• animal studies results may not apply to humans
• humans without the condition being studied results may not apply to clinical populations

Question 11

What are clinical trials?

Answer 11

randomly assign people to two or more types of treatment

Question 12

What are strengths of clinical trials?

Answer 12

• often considered the “gold standard” for treatment research
• helps test whether improvement is because of the treatment, not other factors

Question 13

What are limitations of clinical trials?

Answer 13

• might lack external validity
• hard to control placebo effects in psychotherapy

Question 14

What are meta-analyses & systematic reviews?

Answer 14

information from multiple studies is combined to provide an overall summary of evidence

Question 15

What are strengths of meta-analyses/systematic reviews?

Answer 15

• combining results = more power to detect effects
• can make sense of discrepant results by looking at study characteristics or subgroup differences
• considered the top of evidence pyramid

Question 16

What are limitations of meta-analyses/systematic reviews?

Answer 16

• if all studies were low quality then not good
• can be hard to combine info across studies that use different methods
• some studies do not get published, especially if they did not find significant results

Question 17

What are qualitative studies?

Answer 17

research methods that characterize and explain people’s experiences, behaviours, interactions and social contexts

Question 18

What are strengths of qualitative studies?

Answer 18

• rich info often missing from quantitative studies
• can help us understand individuals’ subjective experiences of mental health and health care experiences

Question 19

What are limitations of qualitative studies?

Answer 19

• highly sample-dependent
• results not generalizable (low external validity)
• not designed to test hypotheses statistically

Question 20

What are fidelity checks?

Answer 20

help ensures that the treatments are indeed implemented as intended
- require that a treatment plan be followed
- therapists are trained carefully
- sufficient supervision is available throughout

Question 21

What are things to look for when analyzing a research study?

Answer 21

• objective/goal of study
• participants
• research design used
• common limitation of research design
• how are results important for clinical psychology