writing a scientific report

Question 1

what is the structure of a scientific report?

Answer 1

IMRaD - introduction - methods - results - discussion

Question 2

what are the different types of scientific report?

Answer 2

Journal article  Conference abstract  Conference proceeding  Monograph or book  Database or dataset  Algorithm or code

Question 3

what makes a good scientific question?

Answer 3

Clearly stated  Answerable  Maps onto at least one study design  Important  Not already answered

Question 4

what guidelines do you use for RCT?

Answer 4

CONSORT

Question 5

when do you use strobe guidelines?

Answer 5

for observational studies - cohort - case control - cross sectional

Question 6

which guidelines are used for qualitative research?

Answer 6

COREQ

Question 7

what is SQUIRE a guideline for?

Answer 7

reporting healthcare quality improvement studies

Question 8

what guideline would you use for systematic reviews and meta analysis?

Answer 8

PRISMA

Question 9

what is the target vs study pop?

Answer 9

he target population is the population you want to know about  The study population is the sample of people you will actually study

Question 10

define bias generally

Answer 10

• ‘a partiality that prevents objective consideration of an issue or situation’

Question 11

define statistical bias

Answer 11

a tendency of an estimate to deviate in one direction from a true value

Question 12

what is a type 1 error?

Answer 12

• false positive - the man is pregnant - the null hypothesis is wrongly rejected- i reject he hypothesis that the man is not pregnant

Question 13

what is a type 2 error?

Answer 13

• false negative - this lady with the giant tummy is not pregnant - the null hypothesis is wrongly accepted

Question 14

what is selection bias?

Answer 14

Occurs when the procedures used to select subjects into a study are such that they lead to a result different from what would have been obtained from the “target” population

Question 15

what is information bias?

Answer 15

Any factor leading to systematically different measurement between study groups e.g. Recall bias  Interviewer bias  Misclassification E.g of cases in a database  Measurement error - Validity of measures - Consistency of measures

Question 16

what is a confounding factor?

Answer 16

• something that affects both the independent and dependent variable

Question 17

what are exmples of how failure to understand quality of medical evidence can be an

ethical issue?

Answer 17

• fail to introduce an effective treatment (e.g. thrombolysis, prophylactic antibiotics for bowel surgery)
• disrupt the delivery of a treatment that works (e.g. the MMR vaccine)
• create a market for ineffective or dangerous therapies (e.g. hormone replacement therapy for cardiovascular health, β-carotene to prevent cancer) which may undermine effective interventions such as exercise