Lecture 8 highlights

Question 1

Internal validity:
1) Reflects the extent to which the clinical outcome of interest (this is the _____________ variable)
2) in a study is caused by the treatment, which is the __________ variable

Answer 1

1) dependent
2) independent

Question 2

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs)
Because of randomization, all observed as well as unobserved baseline characteristics are distributed evenly among the experimental and control groups, which thereby alleviates the systematic differences among participants in influencing study results.
Thus, randomization increases __________ validity of RCTs.

Answer 2

internal

Question 3

True or false: The elements of RCTs that increase the internal validity of study results also contribute toward restricting their external validity (generalizability).

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Systematic errors that can occur during the implementation of a study are defined as what?

Answer 4

Bias

Question 5

Common biases can be classified into three nonmutually exclusive types, which are what?

Answer 5

1) Confounding
2) Selection bias
3) Information bias