Lecture 2- Human Research

Question 1

How do we know trends in drug use/misuse?

Answer 1

Research

Question 2

Why is it important to know the different methods for conducting research?

Answer 2

Because different methods ask different questions and yield different answers. You can get better answers from asking different questions

Question 3

What are the 4 main types of human-based research?

Answer 3

• Case studies
• Naturalistic observation
• Laboratory studies
• Surveys

Question 4

What are case studies and what is wrong with them?

Answer 4

• Case studies are interview-based
• Have a lack of scientific controls (no “normal” comparison)
• Biased by population (ex. rehab center)

Question 5

naturalistic obervation

Answer 5

Observation-based (observer-biased)
-Lack of controls
-real behavior vs. interpretation

Question 6

Laboratory studies

Answer 6

• Limited by recruitment pool (ex. college students)
• Lack of controls
• Ex. alcohol lab and imaging techniques

Question 7

Imaging techniques

Answer 7

• A type of laboratory study
• Includes MRI (brain anatomy) and f MRI (brain function) and PET
• PET (positron emission tomography) is where some kind of labeled marker is injected into the bloodstream and can be visualized using an imaging technique
• Can attach to a thing of interest like dopamine (dopamine D2 receptors in addicts are lower than controls)

Question 8

Surveys

Answer 8

self reports that includes clinical and general population

Question 9

Clinical populations issues w surveys

Answer 9

• Differences between patients and non-patients affect the information provided in surveys
• Denial and lying can skew data

Question 10

How can you maximize accuracy in surveys (clinical populations)

Answer 10

• written assurance of confidentiality
• a setting that encourages honesty
• drug free
• clearly worded, objective questions
• memory aids

Question 11

Concerns about general population surveys

Answer 11

• Are they accurate?
• Are they the relative perspective or the absolute?

Question 12

Three general population surveys examples

Answer 12

• The national survey on drug use and health
• Drug abuse warning network
• Monitoring the future

Question 13

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (formerly called the National Household Survey)

Answer 13

• Goal: establish overall prevalence of use in lifetime, past year, and past month for a variety of substances
• Data provided by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
• One of the biggest surveys in the US, done yearly
• Data is viewed as pretty solid
• High generalizability

Question 14

What does prevalence mean

Answer 14

general ocurance of an event, the % of the population affected by the event, overall rate of cases, both old and new

Question 15

What does incidence mean

Answer 15

Rate of new cases that develop in an interval of time

Question 16

DAWN (Drug Abuse Warning Network)

Answer 16

• Goal: Which drugs are the most dangerous?
• Method: collect incidence reports from emergency rooms and medical examiners
• Then compare rate of medical emergencies with prevalence rates

Question 17

Monitoring the Future

Answer 17

• Annual survey of approx. 50,000 students in grades 8, 10, and 12 at 420 schools
• Everyone is probably not honest
• Rates of illicit drug use went down after COVID

Question 18

Human based-research

Answer 18

• Mostly epidemiological
• A lot of good statistics but limited information about changes in the brain related to drug use
• We can study these types of questions using animal-based research