Week 4 Flashcards
What are non-experimental designs?
Observational studies that focus on the kind of relationships that naturally occurring variables have with one another.
It can be descriptive (focus on frequency) or analytical (quantifying the relationship between two
factors, ie exposure to an outcome)
Descriptive survey
describe a specific population and characteristics in relation to RQ.
* What are the perspectives of healthcare providers providing care during a pandemic?
Comparative survey
What are the different experiences of nursing education by 1st year nursing students in Canada compared to UK?
Question types can be Likert scale, rating scale, ranking questions, multiple choice questions, single choice question,
binary questions, open-ended questions.
Pros and cons of surveys
Pros:
- Easy and relatively quick way to collect large amounts of data
- Easy/ cheap (?) to distribute
Cons:
- Focus is on breadth rather than depth
- You can only make a statement on questions asked
- Robust (valid and reliable) surveys take time in development
Retrospective study
studies the exposure and outcomes have already happened – already existing data sets are used
(eg medical records)
Prospective studies
(more common) people are recruited into the study regardless of their exposure or outcome
(but because of other shared characteristics)
Cohort studies
Studies start with two groups (1 exposed, 1 not) and then record the outcomes. Can be retrospective and prospective
Are children of parents with substance use disorders
more likely to have substance use disorders
themselves?
* Do patients diagnosed with a brain tumour have a
higher survival rate after surgery?
Pros and cons of Cohort studies
Pros:
- Good for assessing risk factors, harm and prognosis
(outcome focuses on risk ration/ relative risk)
Cons:
- expensive, time consuming esp if long follow up period
and disease is rare/ has a long latency
Case-control studies
- Retrospective research design
Clearly define two groups at the start: one with the
outcome/disease and one without the outcome/disease.
Identical expect for their outcome/ disease status - They look back to assess whether there is a statistically
significant difference in the rates of exposure to a
defined risk factor between the groups. - The main outcome measure in case-control studies is
odds ratio (OR). - Data are collected medical records or patient self-repor
Pros and cons of case-control studies
Pros:
* Cheaper and faster than most other studies
* Understand single and multiple exposures/ risk factors
for diseases
* Good for rare disease and long latency periods
* Confounders!
Cons:
* Bias: recall bias
* Incomplete records
* Cannot establish risk (focus on odds)
Cross-sectional studies
- Similar to cohort study but data collected at one point in time in relation to exposure and outcome
- Outcome and exposure are measured at the same time
- Participants selected based in inclusion criteria (rather than outcome status or exposure status)
- Population based and used often to assess prevalence of disease or risk factor in clinic based samples
Pros and Cons of Cross-sectional studies
Pros:
- Cheap and simple
- Ethically safe
Cons:
- Association not causality
- Group sizes may not be equal
Systematic Reviews
A systematic review attempts to identify, appraise and synthesize all the empirical evidence that meets pre-specified
eligibility criteria to answer a specific research question.
Totality of evidence rather than relying on evidence from one study
* Systematic reviews can include qualitative, quantitative or both types of empirical evidence (secondary data
collection)
* Systematic and detailed methods to search literature, screen papers according to inclusion criteria, extract data of
included papers and synthesise (analyse) evidence to answer RQ
* RQ can sound similar to primary research questions
* Descriptive analysis of evidence (what is the evidence)
* Critical appraisal of studies included (how “good” is the evidence)
* Synthesis (narrative) or meta-analysis of included evidence (what does the evidence tell us in relation to the RQ
Intervention reviews
assess the benefits and harms of interventions used in healthcare
and health policy.
Diagnostic test accuracy reviews
assess how well a diagnostic test performs in diagnosing
and detecting a particular disease.
