Week 3 Flashcards
Define bias, biological plausibility, and effectiveness
Bias: Results or inferences that systematically deviate from the truth “or the processes leading to such deviation.
Biologic plausibility: The reasonable expectation that the human body could behave in the manner predicted.
Effectiveness: The extent to which an intervention or service produces a desired outcome under usual clinical conditions.
Define clinical practice guidelines, case report, and case series
Clinical practice guidelines: “. . . statements that include recommendations intended to optimize patient care. They are informed by a systematic review of evidence and an assessment of the benefits and harm of alternative care options.” Also referred to as summaries
Case report: A detailed description of the management of a patient or client that may serve as a basis for future research, and describes the overall management of an unusual case or a condition that is infrequently encountered in practice or poorly described in the literature.
Case series: A description of the management of several patients or clients for the same purposes as a case report; the use of multiple individuals increases the potential importance of the observations as the basis for future research.
Define cross sectional study, efficacy, evidence, and experimental design
Cross-sectional study: A study that collects data about a phenomenon during a single point in time or once within a single defined time interval.
Efficacy: The extent to which an intervention or service produces a desired outcome under ideal conditions.
Evidence: “A broad definition of evidence is any empirical observation, whether systematically collected or not. Clinical research evidence refers to the systematic observation of clinical events. . . .”
Experimental design: A research design in which the behavior of randomly assigned groups of subjects is measured following the purposeful manipulation of an independent variable(s) in at least one of the groups; used to examine cause and effect relationships between an independent variable(s) and an outcome(s).
Define narrative review, systematic review, meta analysis, and non experimental design
Narrative review (also referred to as a literature review): A description of prior research without a systematic search and selection strategy or critical appraisal of the studies’ merits.
Systematic review: A method by which a collection of individual research studies is gathered and critically appraised in an effort to reach an unbiased conclusion about the cumulative weight of the evidence on a particular topic, also referred to as “syntheses.”
meta-analysis: it is a research method that combines and statistically analyzes data from multiple studies to produce a single, more robust conclusion about a specific question or intervention. It is a statistical method used to pool data from individual studies included in a systematic review.
Nonexperimental design (also referred to as an observational study): A study in which controlled manipulation of the subjects is lacking; in addition, if groups are present, assignment is predetermined based on naturally occurring subject characteristics or activities.
Define physiologic study, prospective design, Quasi experimental design, and RCT
Physiologic study: A study that focuses on the cellular or physiologic systems levels of the subjects; often performed in a laboratory.
Prospective design: A research design that follows subjects forward over a specified period of time.
Quasi-experimental design: A research design in which there is only one subject group or in which randomization to more than one subject group is lacking; controlled manipulation of the subjects is preserved.
Randomized clinical trial (also referred to as a randomized controlled trial and a randomized controlled clinical trial) [RCT]: A clinical study that uses a randomization process to assign subjects to either an experimental group(s) or a control (or comparison) group. Subjects in the experimental group receive the intervention or preventive measure of interest and then are compared to the subjects in the control (or comparison) group who did not receive the experimental manipulation.
Define retrospective design, secondary analysis, and cohort designs
Retrospective design: A research design that uses historical (past) data from sources such as medical records, insurance claims, or outcomes databases.
Secondary analysis: involves using pre-existing data collected for a different primary purpose to answer new research questions. It is a cost-effective method that allows researchers to explore additional hypotheses, validate findings, or analyze data with new methodologies without the need for new data collection.
Cohort designs: A prospective epidemiologic research design used to evaluate the relationship between a potential exposure (e.g., risk factor) and an outcome (e.g., disease or disorder); two groups of subjects—one of which has the exposure and one of which does not—are monitored over time to determine who develops the outcome and who does not.
Define research design and provide examples
Research Design is like the blueprint or overall plan for the study. As we see in this weeks’ Module, there are really only a few used in the kinds of research we rely upon (e.g, Experimental, Observational, Cohort, Case Control).
Research Design defines how the project will be approached - the overall structure of the study, and the steps to take to answer the research question.
It focuses on the “bigger picture”, such as:
* What type of research you are doing (e.g., experimental, observational, survey)
* How you’ll collect and analyze data
* How you’ll control for variables or bias
* Think of it as the overall blueprint of the research process, setting the stage for everything else.
Define research methods and give examples
Research Methods are the specific tools, techniques, or procedures you will use to gather and analyze the data. It is more about the “steps” or “tools” used in the research - the steps taken to “control” for potential external biases that could impact the findings of the research. Examples include:
- Surveys and how the survey is constructed
- Interviews and how the interview is conducted
- Data collection processes
- How the the persons collecting the data will be trained
- statistical analysis
So, if the research design is the overall plan or blueprint for the project, the research methods are the practical steps or instruments you use to carry out that plan.
What research design would be most appropriate for assessing the effectiveness of a new treatment intervention?
RCT
What are the major types of research design?
What are the general features to consider when designing a research?
Define quantitative research
Quantitative: The traditional scientific method.
* Represent the vast majority of what you’ll draw upon as a clinician.
* Assumes there is an objective truth that can be revealed by independent investigators.
* Statistics are used to determine the answer.
* Greater control (rigor) provides a higher expectation of quality
Define qualitative research
Qualitative
* Assumes truth is subjective and relative to interpretation by the individual.
* Data is captured in words from which patterns or themes are discerned.
What is the design section when assessing the general features of research formation?
What is the grouping of subjects section when assessing the general features of research formation?
What are the control components when assessing the general features of research formation?
What are the time elements when assessing the general features of research formation?
Define bias
List research designs from most to least bias control
1) experimental design = randomized controlled trial = RCT “gold standard” of clinical research
2) quasi experimental: studying an intervention/treatment but lack design features of a good RCT (may not have randomized subjects to groups, or may only have one group)
3) Non experimental designs = observational study. No experimental manipulation of subjects (no intervention)
4) Case report: descriptions of practice. They describe what occurred in a formal, scientific way. Case reports are not research studies
what is RCT best suited to answer?
what do non experimental designs encompass?
(NO research design)
1) a diverse group of studies:
Cross sectional
Cohort
Case control
2) they can utilize many different design features:
A) Can be retrospective or prospective
B) May be cross sectional (measures collected at one point in time for each subject) or longitudinal (measures collected over multiple time points on the same subject)
where does a basic science research & animal model studies fall on the bias control continuum?
What is the purpose of the bias control contiuum?
What are the steps of the research design processes?
