Chapter 2: Research in HP

Question 1

evidence based medicine

Answer 1

using current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients/delivery of health services. all medical interventions are subject to rigorous testing and evaluation of their efficacy before they are adopted as the standard of care

Question 2

dangers of unscientific thinkning

Answer 2

in the early 20th century, thousands of Americans died from pellagra, a disease marked by dermatitis (skin sores), gastrointestinal disorders, and memory loss. experts fell into a faulty reasoning trap in identifying its cause because they failed to consider alternative explanations for the observations (surgeon general Joseph Goldberger flipped this on its head and found that the true cause was the well water people were drinking)

Question 3

confirmation bias

Answer 3

a form of faulty reasoning in which our expectations prevent us from seeing alternative explanations for our observations; a tendency to interpret data as confirmation of one’s current set of beliefs and values

Question 4

epidemiology

Answer 4

the scientific study of the distribution, frequency, and causes of a particular disease or other health outcome

Question 5

descriptive study

Answer 5

researcher observes/records the participant’s behavior in a natural setting (case studies, interviews, surveys, focus groups, and observational studies)

Question 6

case study

Answer 6

study one person in depth to reveal a general principle (generalizability is severely limited)

Question 7

interview

Answer 7

form working relationships between patient and doctor (+s surveys)

Question 8

observational study

Answer 8

non experimental research method where researchers record behaviors of participants (can be both structured and unstructured)

Question 9

correlation coefficient

Answer 9

stat that measures the strength and direction of a relationship between at least 2 variables

Question 10

scatterplot

Answer 10

graphed cluster of data points, each of which represents the values of 2 variables in a descriptive study

Question 11

quasi experiments

Answer 11

a study comparing 2 groups that differ naturally on a specific variable of interest

• no cause effect conclusion can be drawn from these
• variables include gender, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (all variables listed are impossible and unethical to manipulate)

Question 12

cross-sectional studies (observational study)

Answer 12

observational study where data is collected from a population, or representative subset, at one specific point in time. limitations are:

• matching different age groups across subsets is hard
• they don’t reveal changes in people over time

Question 13

longitudinal study (observational study)

Answer 13

observational study in which a single group of people is observed over a long period of time. this helps reveal how the same people change over time. limitations are:

• very time consuming and very expensive
• people don’t stay consistent in participating in the study over long periods of time

Question 14

morbidity (# of cases)

Answer 14

as a measure of health, the # of cases of a specific illness, injury, or disability in a group of people at a particular time

Question 15

mortality

Answer 15

of deaths due to a specific cause in a given group and a given time

Question 16

incidence

Answer 16

of new cases of a disease or condition in a specific population at a given time

Question 17

prevalence

Answer 17

total # of diagnosed cases of a disease of condition that exists at a given time

Question 18

etiology

Answer 18

scientific study of the origins of disease

• pinpoint origin of disease and then generate hypothesis
• evaluate hypothesis
• tests effectiveness of health interventions

Question 19

retrospective study (epidemiological study)

Answer 19

longitudinal study that looks back at the history of a group of people, often one suffering from a particular disease or condition

Question 20

case control studies (retrospective epidemiology)

Answer 20

a retrospective epidemiological study in which people with a disease or condition are compared to people who aren’t affected by the same disease

Question 21

prospective study (forward-looking epidemiological/longitudinal)

Answer 21

a forward looking longitudinal study that begins with a healthy group of subjects and follows the development of a particular disease in that sample

Question 22

randomized clinical trial

Answer 22

true experiment testing the effects of one ind. variable (a particular drug or treatment) on individuals or groups of individuals
- generally involve a baseline to see how effective the treatment is

Question 23

meta analysis

Answer 23

a quantitative technique that combines the results of many studies examining the same effect or phenomena

• a meta does not replace individual studies, rather, it provides a systematic procedure for summarizing existing evidence about focused research hypotheses that already appear in the psych literature
• pros are it can reveal significant results of many studies, it demonstrates that a finding holds up across different studies and is subject to replication

Question 24

what are the six factors of inferring causality?

Answer 24

1) the evidence must be consistent
2) the alleged cause must have been in place before the disease actually appeared
3) the relationship must make sense
4) there must be a dose-response relationship between the risk factor and health outcome
5) the strength of the association between the alleged cause and the health outcome must suggest causality

Question 25

qualitative research

Answer 25

research focused on qualities instead of quantities

Question 26

informed consent

Answer 26

permission granted by a client, patient, or participant w/ full knowledge of the potential risks involved in a treatment

Question 27

debreif

Answer 27

process where research participants are given more details about the study following it’s completion

Question 28

statistical literacy

Answer 28

the ability to read and interpret statistics and to think critically about arguments that use statistics as evidence

Question 29

relative risk

Answer 29

a statistical indicator of the likelihood of a causal relationship between a particular health risk factor and a health outcome, computed as the ratio of the incidence of a health condition in an experimental group and the incidence of a health condition in a control group

Question 30

attributable risk

Answer 30

the actual amount that a disease can be attributed to exposure to a particular risk factor (incidence in experimental group - incidence in control group)