Research Methods

Question 1

cross-sectional study

Answer 1

• snapshot of a population at one point in time
• type of observational study
• sample recruited based on exposure and outcome

Question 2

longitudinal study

Answer 2

• long period of time
• uses specific cohort of people

Question 3

case control study

Answer 3

• individuals with a condition are matched to similar indiiduals without condition to identify factors that may have led to condition
• recruit samples based on outcome, then determine what exposure was

Question 4

confounding variable

Answer 4

variable (not independent variable) that influences the dependent variable
related to research design
usually try to CONTROL for these variables

Question 5

mediating variable

Answer 5

prove a MECHANISM to explain the relationship between the 2 variables
can help produce CAUSAL relationships

Question 6

moderating variable

Answer 6

NOT a mechanism, but affects the STRENGTH of the relationship
affects how much the independent variable affects them
affects the already-established relation between IV and DV

Question 7

placebo effect

Answer 7

effect produced by a placebo treatment that cannot be attributed to the properties of the placebo itself, so its due to person’s BELIEF about treatment working

Question 8

FINER method

Answer 8

if a study is Feasible, Interesting, Novel, Ethical, Relevant

Question 9

Hill’s criteria

Answer 9

help determine strength of a causal relationship
only temporality is necessary for causality!!!

Question 10

SD distribution

Answer 10

• 68% within 1 SD
• 95 % within 2 SD
• 99.7% within 3 SD

Question 11

selection bias

Answer 11

sample differs from the population
eg. not randomly selected

Question 12

detection bias

Answer 12

educated professionals using their knowledge in an inconsistent way by searching for an outcome disproportionately in a certain population

Question 13

hawthorne effect

Answer 13

behaviour of subjects is altered due to the fact they know they are being monitored

Question 14

social desireability bias

Answer 14

type of response bias, tendency to answer in a way that would be favoured by others

Question 15

positive control

Answer 15

• ensure a change in dependent variable when a change is expected
• A positive control is a control group that is not exposed to the experimental treatment but that is exposed to some other treatment that is known to produce the expected effect.

Question 16

negative control

Answer 16

• ensure NO change in dependent variable when NO change is expected
• A negative control group is a control group that is not exposed to the experimental treatment or to any other treatment that is expected to have an effect.

Question 17

validity

Answer 17

ACCURACY
ability to measure true value

Question 18

reliability

Answer 18

PRECISION
read consistently / narrow range

Question 19

4 ethics in medicine

Answer 19

1. beneficence
2. nonmaleficence
3. justice
4. autonomy

Question 20

3 ethics in research

Answer 20

1. respect for persons
2. beneficence
3. justice

Question 21

internal validity

Answer 21

support for causality
when the dependent variable changed as a result of the independent variable

Question 22

external validity

Answer 22

support for generalizability, higher with large samples or more representative samples of larger population

Question 23

statistical significance

Answer 23

not the result of random chance
p values

Question 24

clinical significance

Answer 24

is there a worthwhile change in health status as a result

Question 25

type I error

Answer 25

reject null when the null is true
alpha

Question 26

type II error

Answer 26

fail to reject null when the alternate is true
beta

Question 27

within subject design

Answer 27

Controls for individual variations in a measurement by comparing the scores of a subject in one condition to the scores of the same subject in other conditions

the subject serves as its own control
repeated measures design

Question 28

retrospective VS prospective study

Answer 28

• retrospective = information collected about individual’s past
• prospective = followed over time and data gathered

Question 29

ethnographic study

Answer 29

study social interactions in real settings
observing people in their everyday environment to understand their experiences, perspectives, everyday activities
gain insight into cultures/groups

Question 30

sampling bias

Answer 30

when some members of a population are morel likely to be sampled than others
limits generalizability of findings

Question 31

between subjects design

Answer 31

subjects randomly assigned to an experimental group
only participate in ONE group

Question 32

mixed methods research design

Answer 32

use both qualitative and quantitative methods in the study

Question 33

attruition bias

Answer 33

occurs when participants dro out of a long term longitudinal study

Question 34

attruition bias

Answer 34

occurs when participants dro out of a long term longitudinal study

Question 35

reconstructive bias

Answer 35

Reconstructive bias is a type of bias related to memory. Most research on memories suggests that our memories of the past are not as accurate as we think, especially when we are remembering times of high stress.

Question 36

construct validity

Answer 36

extent to which your test/measure accurately measures what it is supposed to

eg. The study aims to examine how social class influences perception of race. However, if the categories of “Black” and “White” are viewed by participants as being categories of social class rather than race, then they are not reflecting what the researchers intend to measure (participants’ views of race). This is a problem with construct validity, or the manner in which the terms of the study are defined

Question 37

hindsight bias

Answer 37

Hindsight bias refers to the tendency to believe that past events were highly predictable, even though those events were not predictable before they occured.

This example describes current researchers who believed that a past event (the effectiveness of an intervention) was highly predictable, when it was not easy to predict at the time it occured.