08 Critical Evaluation of Published Research

Question 1

proper attitude towards science articles is:

Answer 1

skepticism

Question 2

why skepticism?

Answer 2

probabilistic, provisional nature of science; investigating complex phenomena; ethical/economic constraints to desired lvls of control

Question 3

what is aim of critical evaluation?

Answer 3

identify strengths/weaknesses of research publication, ensure patients receive assessment and treatment based on best evidence

Question 4

inadequacies in intro point to:

Answer 4

research erroneously conceived, poorly planned

Question 5

critical evaluation fo methods will reveal:

Answer 5

overall internal/external validity

Question 6

internal validity

Answer 6

ability attribute differences / changes observed to independent variable

Question 7

external validity

Answer 7

extent to which results can be generalized to other samples/situations

Question 8

sample size is important for:

Answer 8

statistical power

Question 9

for subjects need to consider:

Answer 9

sampling model, sample size, description of sample

Question 10

adequacy of design depends on”

Answer 10

control for extraneous influences, control for alternative explanations of data

Question 11

control groups used for:

Answer 11

controlling for extraneous effects

Question 12

subject assignment important in ____ studies

Answer 12

quasi-experimental, naturalistic comparison

Question 13

treatment parameters need to:

Answer 13

describe all treatments to diff groups, have same intensity and applied equally by diff personnel

Question 14

Rosenthal ___ and Hawthorne ____ effects

Answer 14

bias; expectancy

Question 15

considerations for setting?

Answer 15

describes sufficiently to evaluate generalizability, has implications for external validity

Question 16

need to consider times of treatments and observations cuz;

Answer 16

clearly indicate sequence of treatment/observations, variability in times can affect internal validity, control for/consider series effects? (pretests)

Question 17

discussion draws ___ from dataa

Answer 17

inferences

Question 18

what is type 2 error:

Answer 18

miss of effect

Question 19

limitations of descriptive/inferential stats?

Answer 19

correlation not equal causation, type 2 error, small “n”

Question 20

data from sample should only be generalized to:

Answer 20

that population

Question 21

when considering statistical/clincal significance:

Answer 21

size of effect, side effects, cost effectiveness, value of outcome

Question 22

what is theoretical significance?

Answer 22

relates results to previous relevant findings in logical way to literature

Question 23

what is a review:

Answer 23

critical summary of literature and implications

Question 24

what is meta-analysis:

Answer 24

systemic procedures to summarize overall implications of set of papers

Question 25

how to review/evaluate lit.:

Answer 25

1) identify relevant lit. 2) evaluate critically key pepers 3) identify patterns of findings in lit 4) identify crucial disagreements/controversies 5) propose valid explanation for disagreements

Question 26

two main strategies for summarizing findings from multiple papers;

Answer 26

quantitative and qualitative

Question 27

condense results from several papers into single statistic (represent average effect size)

Answer 27

quantitative

Question 28

tabulate key features of related publications (compare design, subjects, measures)

Answer 28

qualitative

Question 29

qualitative comparison enables emergence of:

Answer 29

pattern (or conflict--explanation leads to hypotheses)

Question 30

writing adequate lit review requires:

Answer 30

knowledge of research design, msmts, stats, understanding of health sci