COMD 790 Quiz 2

Common spelling errors

-Accept vs. except -Affect vs. Effect -Advise vs. Advice -Its vs. It's -Whose vs. who's -able vs. -ible rule

Steps to implementing EBP

1.Ask a well-built question-> PICO Question (module 2) 2.Select evidence sources Literature Search (module 2) 3.Implement a search strategy Literature Search (module 2) 4.Appraise and synthesize the evidence (critical appraisal) 5.Apply the evidence 6.Evaluate the application of evidence 7.Disseminate the findings

Introduction Rationale for the investigation

A rationale is composed of a logical series of logical arguments. •The argument persuades the reader of a proposition (claim or main point) by providing reasons that support it (premises). •Arguments fail when premises are false or unreliable. •So, premises generally require supporting verifiable evidence. - citations needed!

Dependent variables

Accuracy (error rate) •How often participants correctly responded (e.g., 90% of responses were correct) Frequency/Rate/Duration •Frequency - the # of times a response occurs. •They stuttered 12 times during the session. •Rate - the frequency of responding for a given period of time. •They stuttered at a rate of 7 times/1 minute •Duration - The amount of time it takes for a given action to occur •The duration of the stuttering event was 4.5 seconds •Latency - Time elapsed before an event. The first stuttering event occurred 8 seconds after the utterance began

4c slide 18

An extraneous variable is a variable that influences the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variables. Sometimes, we think of extraneous variables as "nuisance variables". This term may feel vaguely familiar because there is a CATE question (Q10) that asks you to identify any nuisance variables that may have distorted the findings of the study you'll be evaluating. No research study is perfect, there will always be nuisance variables that are potentially unaccounted for that might make you pause and think "hmmm... isn't it possible that variable Z , as opposed to the independent variable, is actually what is leading to changes in the dependent variable?" Researchers do usually attempt to mitigate the effects of nuisance variables as much as possible. In a typical research design, a researcher measures the effect an independent variable has on a dependent variable. To properly measure the relationship between a dependent variable and an independent variable, extraneous variables must be controlled (i.e., neutralized, eliminated, standardized) as much as possible. For example, they may try to control them, which I'll talk about in a minute. But if they can't control them, they may attempt to reduce their effects in other ways. One of the most effective ways of neutralizing the effects of nuisance variables is to achieve group equivalence. We will talk much more about this concept later in the semester, but for now, all you need to know is that researchers will use two methods - random assignment and group matching - to try to get the treatment and control groups as equivalent as possible on nuisance variables. This "group equivalence" ensures that any differences between groups is most likely due to the treatment, not due to differences in nuisance variables that are influencing response to treatment. When you are reading a research article, you need to use your critical thinking skills to be able to recognize potential nuisance variables and evaluate whether the researchers effectively accounted for them. Sometimes, researchers can't achieve group equivalence and they recognize the extraneous variables present in their research study. They may make additional efforts to account for them or they should at least discuss them in the limitations of the study, which are presented in the discussion. Other times, they either don't recognize the nuisance variables, or they're trying to pretend they don't exist, so YOU and your critical thinking powers will need to identify them yourself. I also want to point out that in order for something to be a nuisance variable, it must vary among the participants or between the conditions. I know that sounds silly, but when you're identifying nuisance variables, you need to make sure they aren't actually constants, which are factors that remain constant across participants or groups. That is why achieving "group equivalence" on a nuisance variable means that variable is most likely no longer a nuisance, because it's being held constant between the conditions or groups. Now, I mentioned that researchers try hard to identify and account for extraneous variables, right? When researchers recognize which variables might influence the relationship between the independent and dependent variables, but they can't neutralize them through randomization or group matching, they try to "control" their influence. So, control variables are the variables that researchers work to keep constant when conducting research, in order to prevent them from distorting the findings. One of way of controlling an extraneous variable would be to restrict the variable in some way, for example, maybe you want to examine the effects of an intervention, but you know that IQ will likely influence those effects in a meaningful way, so you restrict the range of IQ by only allowing participants within a certain IQ range into the study. There are also statistical procedures that can be used to control extraneous variables. Using the IQ example, you could include participants regardless of their IQ, then statistically control for the effects of IQ in your analyses using what is called "covariate" or "mediator" analyses. These two approaches - restriction and statistical control, are the most common way that researchers control the influence of extraneous variables. When you are evaluating research, you will need to ask yourself whether you think their approach was sufficient to ensure that the extraneous variables did not distort the relationship between the independent and dependent variables.

4a part 2 slide 2

As a reminder, in part 1 we discussed three major components of the introduction: the general statement of the problem, the rationale, and the literature review. These three components build up to the end of the introduction, where you'll usually find the research questions and hypotheses explained. So that's what we'll be discussing in Part 2.

Introduction Literature Review

As you read a literature review, you should evaluate the... •Structure of the review •Best to proceed from topic to topic, not study to study •How do you know? Why do you think so? What evidence do you have? •Is the review critical, and is the criticism objective, unbiased, and justified? •Nature of the literature cited •How thorough is the review? •Are there important omissions? Background and expertise play a role here. •Dates of citations: recent work in addition to classic references •Are the citations relevant to the purpose of the study? •Be wary of excessive citation of unpublished work

3c slide 2

CATE stands for "Critical Appraisal of Treatment Efficacy". Critical appraisal is the process of of carefully and systematically examining and evaluating research to judge its trustworthiness, value, and relevance in a particular context. Critical appraisal is essential to combating information overload, identifying papers that are clinically relevant, guiding clinical decision-making, and continuing professional development because it enables you to stay up-to-date on best practices in your field. This semester, I'm going to teach you exactly how to approach clinical appraisal using the CATE Framework. While this approach to critical appraisal is not the only approach, I think it is a clear and systematic approach that is very relevant to research conducted in our field. The CATE framework includes 15 questions designed to help you objectively evaluate a treatment study. You will use this framework to complete your Case Study Project. My hope is that you will also use it in your day-to-day professional practice to help you make evidence-based decisions about treatment options for your patients.

Evidence-Based Practice

EBP= Best research evidence (external evidence) + Clinical expertise (internal evidence) + patient values and preferences (client preferences)

Introduction Rationale for the investigation

Evidence presented in the rationale - you should evaluate if the... •The information is RELEVANT - Information only becomes evidence if it is relevant to the original assertion. •The evidence is SUFFICIENT - Evidence should be provided from multiple sources, enough to support the probability that something is true beyond a reasonable doubt. •The evidence is TRUTHFUL (trustworthy) - dependability, accuracy, and legitimacy (not from anecdotal experiences, or other untrustworthy sources)

3a part 2 slide 9

Finally, quotes should never be used to operationally define variables, as in this example. To describe operational definitions and variable names

4c slide 13

I hope walking through those scenarios has helped you learn how to identify independent variables and their levels. Now, let's move on to dependent variables. These are the variables that change based on the independent variable. In other words, they depend upon the independent variable. DV's are what is "measured" via the data that are collected. There can be, and often are, more than one dependent variable measured in a study. It's important to understand that the DV is the variable that is compared between the levels, conditions, or groups created by the IV. In treatment studies, they're often called the "outcomes" of the study. In research hypotheses, they are usually hypothesized to be affected by the independent variables. They can sometimes also influence other dependent variables, through a process called mediation.

3c slide 1

In this brief lecture video, we're going to talk a little bit about critical appraisal of treatment efficacy, or CATE. You're going to use this framework to evaluate research in your case study project and in your final critical review paper. Hopefully you've watched the video explaining the case study project. If you haven't, I definitely recommend you watch that video before this one.

When it's okay to use quotations...

It is appropriate to use a direct quotation in the following situations: 1.if you're using that statement as a piece of evidence for your own argument, 2.if you're establishing another's position, or 3.if another person has said something better and more clearly than you can.

Introduction Literature Review

Literature Review •Documents the need for the study and helps put the research into context or historical perspective. •Highlights what previous researchers have discovered •Provides the conceptual foundation for the study •Includes: •NOT merely a comprehensive summary of past studies on a topic, but rather a critical synthesis of an area of investigation. •Definitions of key terms, usually through citations of other sources •May include a tutorial on background issues that may be unfamiliar to the reader In many studies, the literature review, rationale, and general statement of the problem are so intertwined that they become indistinguishable.

3b slide 8

Ok, so here you can see the results of the study (read bolded section). Again, this is a broad summary of the findings, you will rarely see statistical details like p-values, effect sizes, etc. in the abstract. This part of the abstract is just meant to give you a preview of the results by highlighting what the authors think are the most important points. "The TD group had overtaken the DS group on all general language and vocabulary measures by the end of the 12-month period. However, expressive communication and expressive vocabulary were developing at the same rate and level in the two groups when examined over a period in which the two groups were matched in gains in NVMA. Furthermore, the infants with DS showed a receptive language advantage over the TD group; this group's auditory comprehension and receptive vocabulary scores were superior to those of the TD group at both time points when NVMA was accounted for."

4a slide 5

Ok, so this first sentence here contains the problem itself: The authors explain that defining a measurable sign of voice fatigue is a longstanding goal in the field. This sentence here describes why this is so important or meaningful - it's because vocal fatigue in professions that require phonatory effort is associated with voice disorders. Finally, in this section, you'll find the purpose of the study, which is to find a phonometric measure of voice fatigue. Note that in this example, the authors don't explicitly state "The purpose of this study is to...". Instead, you have to be on the lookout for this detail. In research on the prevention of work-related voice pathologies, defining a measurable sign of "voice fatigue" has been a longstanding goal.(problem) It is generally believed by reference to prevalence statistics that vocal fatigue in professions requiring phonatory effort is associated with high rates of voice disorders (why this problem matters) (Gotaas & Starr, 1993; Simberg, Sala, Vehmas, & Lane, 2005; Smith, Lemke, Taylor, Kirchner, & Hoffmann, 1998; Urrutikoetxea, Ispizua, & Matellanes, 1995). In this context, finding a "phonometric" measure of voice fatigue appears essential (purpose) in developing prevention strategies based on enforceable standards, much as audiometric standards serve to enforce prevention of occupational hearing disorders (Vilkman, 2000).

4b part 1 slide 8

Ok, we've covered both types of qualitative variables, let's move on to the quantitative, or numeric, variables. There are two types of quantitative variables, interval variables, and ratio variables. Each of these can further be defined as "discrete" or "continuous" based on how they're numerically defined.

Other types of dependent variables

Other types Rating scales (e.g., Likert scales) Degree of attitude, mood, etc. Questionnaire/survey responses Frequency of certain answers are tabulated Rank-order data Rank from hardest to easiest, least important to most important Physiological (indirect) responses Neuroimaging, EEG, GSR, eye tracking, etc

Terminology

Quotation: a group of words taken from a text and repeated by someone other than the original author Paraphrasing: expressing the meaning of a section of text using different words and sentence structures (i.e., writing something "in your own words") Plagiarism: taking someone else's work or ideas and trying to pass them off as one's own

Creative vs. Scientific writing

Scientific writing... -Avoids creative writing "tricks," like setting up ambiguity, inserting the unexpected, sudden topic shifts, changing verb tense, using synonyms. -Focuses heavily on clear, concise, and logical communication. -Strikes a professional, objective, and non-combative tone (e.g., "Lansford did not address..." vs. "Lansford completely overlooked..."). -Includes only what needs to be said, avoiding wordiness, redundancy, and the use of too many complicated sentences

Self

Self-plagiarism occurs when a student submits his or her own previous work, or mixes parts of previous works, without permission from all professors involved.

3a part 2 slide 2

So as I just said, There are three major concepts we need to cover here. First is quotation, which is a group of words taken from a text and repeated by someone other than the original author. The second is paraphrasing, which means expressing the meaning of a section of text using different words and sentence structures (i.e., writing something "in your own words"). The third is plagiarism, which is the process of taking someone else's work or ideas and trying to pass them off as one's own. It's important to realize that when quotations or paraphrasing are done poorly, the result is sometimes plagiarism.

3a part 2 slide 3

So let's start off with quotations. The first and most important thing I need to say here, is that quotations should be avoided for the most part in scientific writing. And, because I love irony, I'm including a quotation here to make my point. "Quotes are not typically appropriate in scientific writing, as they are in other disciplines, and can often indicate a lack of understanding."

4a slide 4

So, let's read the following passage from a paper on vocal fatigue. See if you can identify the different parts of the statement of the problem, including the problem itself, why the problem matters (in other words its meaningfulness). Please pause the video, read the passage, and identify those parts. Passage: In research on the prevention of work-related voice pathologies, defining a measurable sign of "voice fatigue" has been a longstanding goal. It is generally believed by reference to prevalence statistics that vocal fatigue in professions requiring phonatory effort is associated with high rates of voice disorders (Gotaas & Starr, 1993; Simberg, Sala, Vehmas, & Lane, 2005; Smith, Lemke, Taylor, Kirchner, & Hoffmann, 1998; Urrutikoetxea, Ispizua, & Matellanes, 1995). In this context, finding a "phonometric" measure of voice fatigue appears essential in developing prevention strategies based on enforceable standards, much as audiometric standards serve to enforce prevention of occupational hearing disorders (Vilkman, 2000).

3b slide 3

So, let's take a look. This is the first page of the article you're going to read for your assignment this week. à Here you see the title. In this case, the title is descriptive. Next, you'll see the author list. à Here's the abstract. You'll notice that this abstract is broken up into sections labeled objective, methods, results, and conclusion. à Here are the affiliations, and in this case, you can find the details on the dates of publication right below the affiliations. Finally, here is a great example of an article that includes a lay summary.

5 steps to good paraphrasing

Step 1: Read important parts of the source material until you fully understand its meaning. Step 2: Take some notes and list key terms of source material. Step 3: Write your own paragraph without looking at the source material, only using the key terms. Step 4: Check to make sure your version captures important parts and intent of the source material. Step 5: Indicate where your paraphrasing starts and ends using in-text citation.

3b slide 5

Take a look at this abstract. Pause the video and read the abstract carefully. Try to identify the rationale or overview, the methods, the results, and the implications. At the bottom of the slide you'll find the the APA-formatted reference entry for this paper. The study explored longitudinally the course of vocabulary and general language development in a group of infants with Down syndrome (DS) compared to a group of typically developing (TD) infants matched on nonverbal mental ability (NVMA). We compared the vocabulary and general language trajectories of the two groups in two ways: (a) at three time points during a 12-month period and (b) at two time points when the groups had made equal progress in NVMA (a period of 6 months for the TD infants vs. 12 months for the infants with DS). The TD group had overtaken the DS group on all general language and vocabulary measures by the end of the 12-month period. However, expressive communication and expressive vocabulary were developing at the same rate and level in the two groups when examined over a period in which the two groups were matched in gains in NVMA. Furthermore, the infants with DS showed a receptive language advantage over the TD group; this group's auditory comprehension and receptive vocabulary scores were superior to those of the TD group at both time points when NVMA was accounted for. The results shed light on the widely reported discrepancy between expressive and receptive language in individuals with DS. Although infants with DS appear to be developing language skills more slowly than chronological age TD peers, when NVMA is taken into account, infants with DS do not have expressive language delays, and they seem to show a receptive language advantage.

4b part 1 slide 3

The first thing you need to be able to discern when considering how a variable is measured, is whether the variable is whether it is qualitative or quantitative. Qualitative variables are also known commonly as categorical variables. These variables each individual or unit of observation is assigned to a particular group or category. Quantitative variables, on the other hand, are a numeric value or quantity. They are also commonly referred to as numeric variables.

3a part 2 slide 7

The second example of problematic quotation use is when quotations are used to report findings from published research. You should never quote results or findings word-for-word. Always paraphrase findings and results.

4b part 1 slide 4

There are several subtypes of both qualitative and quantitative variables. This schematic shows you how these specific subtypes fall within the broader "qualitative v. quantitative", or "categorical v. numeric" spectrum.

4c slide 8

There can be, and there often is, more than one IV in a study. Let's talk through that scenario. Imagine a study where the researchers wanted to compare two treatment types at two different intensities. They want to compare the impacts on volubility in patients' with Parkinsons'-induced dysarthria. The two treatments they're comparing are the Lee Silverman Voice Therapy and traditional speech therapy. The two intensities they're comparing are low intensity (2 hours per week) and high intensity (5 hours per week). In this case, each IV has 2 levels, resulting in 4 distinct conditions or groups.

3b slide 6

This first sentence (read bolded sentence) is the overview of the study. In this case, the rationale was omitted from the abstract. "The study explored longitudinally the course of vocabulary and general language development in a group of infants with Down syndrome (DS) compared to a group of typically developing (TD) infants matched on nonverbal mental ability (NVMA)."

4b part 1 slide 13

To illustrate what I mean by this, I want to walk you through a great example - age. Age is, technically, a continuous ratio variable. A person's age does, after all, have a meaningful zero point (birth) and is continuous if you measure it precisely enough. It is meaningful to say that someone (or something) is 7.28 years old, or 1,156,890.415 seconds old. That said, a research may not be able to treat age as continuous in their analyses. Maybe that level of precision is unnecessary because we don't expect significant change to occur between 7 and 8 years of age, or between 1,156,890 seconds and 1,156,891 seconds. Or it may make more sense to treat it as a different variable type altogether based on the research questions. It all depends on how age was measured and whether there are qualitative implications about age in the context of the research questions. For example, it's not uncommon to give people age categories as possible responses on a survey. Common reasons are that people don't want to reveal their actual age or because they don't remember the actual age at which some event occurred. For example, imagine the dependent variable is the age at which a patient with Parkinson's started experiencing symptoms. It would have been great to get an accurate date on which each person experience their very first symptoms of Parkinson's disease, but that is nearly impossible, as some symptoms are quite subtle in the beginning, or it may have been a long time ago, or maybe the patient remembers experiencing symptoms but doesn't realize those were happening because of Parkinson's. It's a big burden on respondents to ask them to report a very specific number from a long time ago. So instead of trying to calculate a specific age, which would be a ratio variable, maybe the survey instead asks people to choose between age brackets that are equally spaced, such as 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, and so on. In that case, age is being measured on an interval scale. Let's take this one step further and imagine that based on the most common age range of the onset of Parkinsons, the researchers break the age brackets into age ranges that are unequally spaced, such as <50, 50-59, 60-69, 70-74, 75-79, >79. In this case, age would be measured on an ordinal scale, because the space between the categories are not equal. I also want to point out one last important note. I mentioned in the previous slide that continuous ratio variables are considered the most precise and powerful from a statistical perspective. When something is measured as a precise quantitative variable, for example as a continuous ratio variable, it can be recomputed into a less precise scale. For example, you can translate the age of 7.28 years - a continuous ratio variable - into the discrete ratio variable of 7 years. You can go a step further and compute it into a discrete interval variable, such as an age bracket of 0-9 years. Which means you can translate it into an ordinal variable if that's what you want to do as well, such as "young" vs "old" or "school-aged" vs. "preschool-aged". BUT - you cannot do the reverse. So if a researcher collects age as an ordinal variable, they cannot translate it into an interval or ratio variable. In other words, you can create categorical out of quantitative data, but you cannot create quantitative data out of categorical data.

When quotations are problematic...

To describe operational definitions and variable names Bert and Ernie (2014) found that bullying behavior, operationalized as "the frequency of verbal taunts occurring during recess", positively predicted future incarceration.

3a slide 7

When you're writing, make sure you're using Latin abbreviations correctly too. The most commonly mixed up abbreviations are i.e., and e.g., I.e., means "in other words" and e.g. means "for example". I keep these straight by remembering the i in i.e., stands for in and the e in e.g. stands for example

Direct

Word for word borrowing from an unacknowledged source, whether intentional or not.

4b part 2 slide 5

Which is an operationalized variable? A)Physical development - we could measure weight, height, etc. ▫OD: Number of inches grown in the last 12 months B)Student understanding of chemistry - test scores, essays, etc. ▫OD: Final exam score C)Child height: only one scale (metric + standard can be converted into each other) D)Happiness levels - self-ratings, friend ratings, etc. ▫OD: Total score on self-report happiness questionnaire Think about if there are alternate ways to measure the variable Let's talk it out. First, we've got physical development. This variable could be measured in a multitude of ways - we could measure weight, height, whether a child has hit puberty, the list goes on and on. This suggests that this is not an operationalized variable. An example an operational definition for physical development could be: number of inches grown in the last 12 months. How about student understanding of chemistry? I can think of a number of ways to measure that, including test or quiz scores, lab performance, essays, etc. So, not operationalized. An example of an operational definition of understanding of chemistry could be final exam score. How about child height. There's really only one way to measure height - it's defined as the distance between the top of your head and the bottom of your feet. Of course, there is the metric or standard system, and different levels of precision (inches versus feet), but those can be mathematically converted into each other. So yes, child height is an operationalized variable. Happiness levels, however, are not, because there are lots of ways to measure happiness, you could use self-report ratings, or friend ratings, or a variety of other measures. An example of an operational definition of happiness could be total score on a self-report questionnaire of happiness. I hope these examples are helpful. When in doubt, always remember that if you can imagine a number of ways to measure a construct, then it is not yet operationally defined.

A few general writing tips...

-Be clear and concise - "Say what you mean, and mean what you say" -Use appropriate language (avoid being too informal) -Generally, use person-first language (e.g., child with Down syndrome v. "Down syndrome child") -Use passive voice sparingly, opt for active voice whenever you can -Avoid common spelling errors -Use Latin abbreviations (e.g., i.e.) correctly -Make sure you spell out words the first time you use them (i.e., before you use their abbreviations or acronyms)

What is Critical Appraisal of Treatment Efficacy (CATE)?

-Critical appraisal: The process of carefully and systematically examining research to judge its trustworthiness, value, and relevance in a particular context -Critical appraisal is essential to: *Combating information overload *Identifying papers that are clinically relevant *Guiding clinical decision-making *Continuing professional development (keeping up-to-date on best practices in your field)

Answering CATE Questions

-The answers to the CATE Questions aren't going to be served to you on a platter within the research article -They require critical thinking and analysis. -There isn't always a "right" or a "wrong" answer. uWhat is the evidence?

Common Latin abbreviations - APA

-vs. or v. à versus -i.e., à in other words -e.g., à for example -et al., à and others -cf. à confer/compare

CATE Questions

1.Was there a plausible rationale for the study? 2.Was the study an experimental study? 3.Was there a control group and/or condition? 4.Was randomization used to create the contrasting groups and/or conditions? 5.Were methods and participants specified prospectively? 6.Was the sample representative, and was it similar at beginning and end? 7.Was treatment described clearly and implemented as intended? 8.Were the measures used valid and reliable, in principle and as employed? 9.Was/were the outcome measure(s) evaluated with blinding?

What does this mean for you?

1.When considering your "O" in your PICO question, try to "operationalize" it. Make it specific and measurable. Think of how you'd measure your "O" in the clinic to document evidence (or lack thereof) of progress toward a treatment goal. 2.When evaluating research, think critically about how the variables are operationally defined. Did the researchers clearly operationalize their variables? Could another researcher come along and repeat the procedure based on what is written in the article?

4b part 1 slide 6

A nominal variable is one that has two or more categories, but there is no intrinsic ordering to the categories. Hair color is also a categorical variable having a number of categories (blonde, brown, brunette, red, pink etc.) and again, there is no agreed way to order these from highest to lowest. Another example could be the state where you were born. While I would argue that West Virginia is the best Virginia, because that's where I was born and raised, there is no intrinsic way to rank or order the states. Same thing goes for the language you learned to speak growing up. No specific language is better or worse than another. In other words, the categories captured by categorical variables don't have a different intrinsic value, and they don't have any relative value (i.e., better/worse, lower/higher), so they can't be put in any order based on value. They just have different "names". I find it very helpful to remember that "nom-" refers to "name" (think, "nomenclature"). I want to point out that a binary variable, such as yes/no, or treatment/control, or diagnosis/no diagnosis, is also a categorical variable that has two categories and there is no intrinsic ordering to the categories. So, when a researcher assigns participants to a treatment group or a control group, they are placing them into one of these categories. In other words, whether a person received a treatment or not is a categorical variable, and an important one in the context of this course and your professional focus. One final note - categorical variables are sometimes recorded as numbers, but they are not numerical. For example, when data are entered for a research study, categorical data are often assigned a numerical value, for example, no=0, yes = 1; or control = 0 and treatment=1; or alabama=1, Alaska=2, Arizona=3, Arkansas=4, and so on. This is because statistical software doesn't play nicely with alphabetical symbols, statistical software like numbers. So people use numbers to represent the categories included in nominal or ordinal variables.

Accidental

Accidental plagiarism occurs when a person neglects to cite their sources, or misquotes their sources, or unintentionally paraphrases a source by using similar words, groups of words, and/or sentence structure without attribution

Active v. Attribute IVs

Active Variables: •include any variable that can be actively manipulated ▫Treatment types (treatment v. no treatment; treatment 1 v. treatment 2) ▫Treatment intensities (high v. low) ▫Treatment durations (short v. long) Attribute variables: •include traits or characteristics belonging to the participants (cannot be actively manipulated) ▫SLI vs. TD ▫Hearing impaired vs. normal hearing ▫Autistic vs. non-autistic ▫IQ ▫Expressive vocabulary ▫Biological sex or gender ▫Linguistic background

3b slide 9

And here you can see the implications of the study (read bolded text). The results shed light on the widely reported discrepancy between expressive and receptive language in individuals with DS. Although infants with DS appear to be developing language skills more slowly than chronological age TD peers, when NVMA is taken into account, infants with DS do not have expressive language delays, and they seem to show a receptive language advantage. With this final sentence, the authors are sort of "tying a bow" on their story, how they want their research study to be interpreted and remembered. "The results shed light on the widely reported discrepancy between expressive and receptive language in individuals with DS. Although infants with DS appear to be developing language skills more slowly than chronological age TD peers, when NVMA is taken into account, infants with DS do not have expressive language delays, and they seem to show a receptive language advantage."

4c slide 2

As you learned in Lecture 4b, a variable is any factor in a research study that varies or is subject to change. Variables come in two primary flavors, think of these as the chocolate and vanilla of variables. The first category of variable is an independent variable, the second category is a dependent variable. Imagine a research study that examined the effects of two stuttering treatments on fluency in 8-year-old children. There are two critical factors that vary in this study - the type of treatment administered and the %age of words produced without stuttering. So, those are the primary variables of the study. The treatment type is the independent variable, which means it is the variable that was manipulated in that study. The dependent variable is the variable that you measure as an outcome, so in that example, the %age of words produced without stuttering was the dependent variable.

3c slide 3

Before we dive deeper, I want to remind you of the three tenets of evidence-based practice. Based on your responses in the Experiences with Evidence-Based Practice Discussion Board, I know you're all very familiar with these concepts. But I'm reminding you of this because I want you to be able to see the connection between "Best Research Evidence" (also known as external evidence) and the CATE Framework. To implement EBP you must incorporate "Best Research Evidence" - but how will you know what is "Best Research Evidence"? What if you find 4 research articles that studied a treatment that you're interested in implementing with a client. Two of the studies show that the treatment is effective, two of the studies show that it is not effective at all. How will you weigh this conflicting evidence? How will you determine if certain studies provide stronger evidence than other studies? Maybe the studies that suggest effectiveness were larger and better controlled than the other studies. That might lead you to conclude that the treatment is likely to be effective in your client, because the higher-quality research studies are the ones that are suggesting the treatment is effective. But it could just as easily be the other way round - where the higher-quality research studies are the ones that found the treatment was ineffective. That's really important information to consider, isn't it? This decision process, the process of thinking critically about research so that YOU can draw your own evidence-based conclusions about it, is the crux of what I'm trying to teach you, and the CATE framework provides a systematic approach to this process.

extraneous variables

Broken into Nuisance and Control variables Nuisance: •Variables that influence the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. ▫Randomization or matching à group equivalence Control: •Variables that are recognized and held constant in an effort to minimize their influence ▫Restriction ▫Statistical control

3a part 2 slide 14

Direct plagiarism or what is sometimes called clone plagiarism is the most obvious form of plagiarism. This means taking someone else's ideas or work and claiming them as your own, without using quotation marks or citing the original source. Even if you delete or change a couple words here and there, it is direct plagiarism if the majority of the structure and words are the same. Direct plagiarism is one of the worst types of plagiarism. It often results in expulsion and, if it also violates copyright, possible criminal charges. Mosaic plagiarism occurs when someone reuses of a mix of words, phrases, or ideas from a source without indicating which words and ideas have been borrowed and/or without properly citing the source. This is sometimes called "patchwriting" because the resulting text looks like a patchwork version of the original text. It's important to know that plagiarism doesn't have to be intentional to be problematic. Accidents happen, but it doesn't excuse you from the consequences of plagiarism. Accidental plagiarism occurs whens you neglect to cite your sources correctly or you don't cite paraphrased information at all. It also includes misquoting or inadequate paragraphing. Accidental plagiarism is most likely to happen when you're rushed or tired because you didn't give yourself enough time to work on a paper. Students who give themselves the proper time to do research, write, and edit their paper are less likely to accidentally plagiarize. Self plagiarism occurs when a student submits his or her own previous work, or mixes parts of previous works, without permission from all professors involved.

4b part 1 slide 11 No notes just slide

Discrete v. Continuous •Discrete: Integers (i.e., whole numbers - no decimal points) ▫Number of hospital admissions ▫Number of phonemes correctly produced ▫Number of days attended ▫Age in whole years (10, 11, 12, 13) •Continuous: Any numerical value, including decimal points ▫Milliseconds elapsed ▫Age in years with decimal points (10.26, 10.79, 10.99)

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Given that lexical phonological representations of typically developing children have been shown to become more detailed over the course the development, as evidenced by emergent effects of neighborhood density, and given that it has been suggested that children with SLI may have difficulty establishing robust phonological representations, we set out to investigate the effects of word frequency and neighborhood density on lexical access in children with SLI. We hypothesized that if children with SLI have holistic lexical representations, we should find a smaller effect of neighborhood density in the SLI group as compared with peers on the gating task. (RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS 1) Furthermore, we predicted that children with SLI would be as efficient as their age-matched peers in accessing words that are high in frequency but less efficient in accessing words that are low in frequency. (RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS 2) The questions to be addressed were (a) would children with SLI and CA peers demonstrate differences in the length of the acoustic chunks needed to access words differing in word frequency and neighborhood density? (RESEARCH QUESTION 1) and (b) would the advantages of high word frequency and low neighborhood density be greater or the same for the SLI as compared with the CA group? That is, would group interact with word frequency and/or neighborhood density in identifying the gated words?(RESEARCH QUESTION 2)

3a slide 5

Here are a few general writing tips. First, be clear and concise. I always like to say "say what you mean, and mean what you say". Don't say anything extra or tangential, don't be vague or indirect or expect your reader to figure out what you're trying to say.. Just say exactly what you want your reader to know. à Use appropriately formal language, avoid being informal. When in doubt, err on the side of formal. à Generally, use person-first language, For example you should always write "a child with Down syndrome" as opposed to "a Down syndrome child". à Use passive voice sparingly, Whenever possible, opt for active voice when you're writing. Active voice means that a sentence has a subject that acts upon its verb. Passive voice means that a subject is a recipient of a verb's action. For example, "monkeys love bananas" is an example of active voice, whereas "bananas are loved by monkeys" is an example of passive voice. à Also, avoid common spelling errors, I'll go over a few examples on the next slide. à Along the same lines, make sure you use latin abbreviations correctly, I'll go over a few common examples of that too.à Finally, make sure you spell out words the first time you use them, before you use their abbreviations or acronyms. For example, the first time you refer to autism spectrum disorder, make sure you use the full name, then you can introduce the ASD acronym and use it for the remainder of the paper.

3a part 2 slide 11

Here are some examples of how you can introduce a quotation in your writing. (Read examples). Now that you've successfully used the quotation in your sentence, it's time to explain what that quotations means—either in a general sense or in the context of your argument

3a part 2 slide 10

Here are some tips for appropriately using quotations: ØQuotations need to be taken from their original context and integrated fully into their new textual surroundings. ØEvery quotation needs to have your own words appear in the same sentence. ØAlways cite the source of the quotation!

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Here is an example of direct plagiarism. As you read the student's text, you'll see that huge chunks of the original text are included word for word. The student did add or change up a few words, but that doesn't matter. This is a significant amount of direct plagiarism. Source: In ages which have no record these islands were the home of millions of happy birds, the resort of a hundred times more millions of fishes, of sea lions, and other creatures whose names are not so common; the marine residence, in fact, of innumerable creatures predestined from the creation of the world to lay up a store of wealth for the British farmer, and a store of quite another sort for an immaculate Republican government. Student Response: Long ago, when there was no written history, these islands were the home of millions of happy birds; the resort of a hundred times more millions of fishes, sea lions, and other creatures. Here lived innumerable creatures predestined from the creation of the world to lay up a store of wealth for the British farmer, and a store of quite another sort for an immaculate Republican government.

4c slide 14

I thought it might be helpful to provide some examples of common dependent variables in our field. We often see accuracy or error rate measured as a dependent variable. An example of this might be percent of responses that were correct. We also often see frequency, rate, and duration measured as dependent variables. Using the example of stuttering, a frequency variable might be the # of times a person stuttered during a session. The rate is the frequency over a given period of time. For example, they stuttered at a rate of 7 times per minute. Duration indicates the amount of time that it takes for something to occur, or the amount of time something lasts. For example, the average duration of the stuttering event was 4.5 seconds. Latency is the amount of time that elapses before an event. So, for example, the first stuttering event occurred 8 seconds after the utterance began.

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Here is what an appropriate paraphrasing might look like. Take moment to read this and note how the overall idea is conveyed, but it is conveyed in the student's own words, using original sentence structure and terminology. Source: Contrast the condition into which all these friendly Indians are suddenly plunged now, with their condition only two years previous: martial law now in force on all their reservations; themselves in danger of starvation, and constantly exposed to the influence of emissaries from their friends and relations, urging them to join in fighting this treacherous government that had kept faith with nobody--neither with friend nor with foe. Student Response: Conditions on the Sioux reservations had deteriorated seriously within that two year period. Food shortages were severe; the reservations were under martial law; and there was constant pressure to join friends and relations in armed rebellion against the government (citation).

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Here's an example of mosaic plagiarism. In this case, the student replaced some of the words with synonyms and altered some of the phrases, but the sentence structure, the ideas, and many of the words are strikingly similar to the original text. Source: Contrast the condition into which all these friendly Indians are suddenly plunged now, with their condition only two years previous: martial law now in force on all their reservations; themselves in danger of starvation, and constantly exposed to the influence of emissaries from their friends and relations, urging them to join in fighting this treacherous government that had kept faith with nobody--neither with friend nor with foe. Student Response: Only two years later, all these friendly Sioux were suddenly plunged into new conditions, including starvation, martial law on all their reservations, and constant urging by their friends and relations to join in warfare against the treacherous government that had kept faith with neither friend nor foe.

4c slide 1

Hi this lecture, we'll be discussing the major types of variables you'll find in research studies. In this lecture, we'll talk about the two most important types of variables - independent variables and dependent variables. We'll also discuss extraneous variables. I can't stress enough how important it is for you to have a solid grasp on how to identify these variables in a research study. This is definitely a foundational concept that many other concepts build upon throughout the semester. So if at the end of this lecture, you feel unclear about what an independent variable versus a dependent variable is, please reach out in the Muddiest Point discussion board for Module 4. Ok, without further ado, let's dive right in.

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I emphasized how nominal variables are categorical variables that cannot be ordered. Categorical variables that CAN be ordered are known as ordinal variables. For example, suppose you have a variable, economic status, with three categories (low, medium and high). In addition to being able to classify people into these three categories, you can order the categories as low, medium and high. The order has meaning, or represents relative value. Low means less than medium, and medium means less than high. Now consider a variable like educational experience (with values such as pre-school, primary school, secondary school, bachelor's degree, and so on). These can be ordered, based on the relative amount of education represented in each category. It's important to note, though, that while we can order these from lowest to highest, the spacing between the values may not be the same across the levels of the variables. For example, the number of years in primary school (say, kindergarten through 5th grade) is different than the number of years in secondary school or a masters degree. Say we assign scores 1-6 to these levels of educational experience. In this example, we can order the people in level of educational experience but the size of the difference between categories is inconsistent (because the spacing between certain categories is bigger than the spacing between other categories). Other examples of ordinal variables are performance ratings, like first, second, or third place (or gold, silver, and bronze medals). If you imagine a 500 yard dash, the difference in time between the gold and silver will be different than the difference in time between silver and gold. Likert scales, which ask people to rate something on a scale that ranges from something like "very dissatisfied" to "very satisfied", are also ordinal scales. Another example is something like a pain scale, where you ask people to rate their pain from 0 (no pain) to 10 (worst pain imaginable). I want to point out that example, because even though that type of scale uses numbers, it's still a categorical variable, specifically an ordinal variable, because the numbers don't mean anything other than to provide relative value between the numbers of the scale. In other words, 1 is greater than 0, 2 is greater than 1, but those ratings don't represent anything truly quantitative or numeric. Additionally, how one person defines a 2 is completely different from how the next person defines a 2. AND, the space between a 1 and a 2 will be different for each person.

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I want to walk you through one last scenario. Imagine the researchers from the previous study want to compare pragmatic language abilities in autism v. typical development, and instead of considering intellectual ability categorically, as in intellectual disability v. no intellectual disability, they want to consider the affects of intellectual ability continuously. The first IV, diagnosis, is still a categorical variable, this time with two levels: ASD and TD. The second IV, Intellectual ability, is measured through a nonverbal IQ score. IQ scores have quite a large range, so the researchers are not going to create a "level" for every IQ score. Instead, they're going to allow IQ to be a continuous, as opposed to categorical variable. The statistical analyses will be different because this second IV is a continuous variable.

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In Part 1 of this lecture, I mentioned that independent and dependent variables are like the chocolate and vanilla of variables. But there's also a third type of variable that you need to be able to identify in a research study - extraneous variables. Extraneous variables are the strawberry flavor of variables, you know, the flavor that kinda messes up how the chocolate and vanilla taste together! Let's imagine this visually. When no extraneous variables are present (which is actually very rarely the case), we have Variable 1 or V1, which is the independent variable. Variable 1 impacts variable 2, or V2, which is the dependent variable. In other words, you can change something about V1 and expect a change in V2. That's so clean and simple, isn't it? Too bad this is not usually the reality.

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In many research studies, the picture looks a bit more like this. We have V1 which impacts V2 which impacts V3. V1 is the independent variable, and V2 and V3 are both technically dependent variables, because changes in V1 impact both V2 and V3 downstream. However, V2 is a special kind of dependent variable, known as an extraneous variable, and it influences the way V1 impacts V3.

4c slide 4

In the example I discussed a couple slides back, the researcher intentionally manipulated the independent variable - which type of stuttering treatment each participant received - so that they could compare the outcomes produced by the two treatments. Independent variables are not always actively manipulated though. Sometimes they are naturally occurring. An active variable is an independent variable that CAN be actively manipulated. In treatment research, manipulating something about the treatment is the active variable. In some studies, a treatment is contrasted against no treatment. In other studies, two types of treatment are studied, for example treatment 1 v. treatment 2. Treatment intensities (for example how many hours per week are delivered) and treatment durations (for example, how many weeks of treatment) are manipulated. An attribute variable is something that is an inherent trait or characteristic belonging to the participants. This is something that CANNOT be actively manipulated. Examples might be - having a diagnosis of Specific Language Impairment vs. typical development, being hearing impaired vs. normal hearing, being autistic vs. non-autistic. You cannot, as a researcher assign someone to be autistic, they either are or they aren't. You can't induce specific language impairment or hearing impairment in a person, at least not ethically or legally, people enter the research study with these characteristics or diagnoses. There are many, many attribute variables, probably an infinite number. They can include things like IQ, expressive vocabulary, biological sex, gender, or linguistic background.

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Interval data are data ordered on a scale, just like ordinal data, but with interval data, the spaces between the values are equal and meaningful. So you can actually start conducting mathematical and statistical operations on the differences along this scale. Interval values do not represent a true zero point. The idea here is the intervals between the values are equal and meaningful, but the numbers themselves are arbitrary. 0 does not indicate a complete lack of the quantity being measured. IQ, GRE scores, and degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit are all great examples of interval variables. But a temperature of 0 degrees does not indicate an absence of temperature. And the temperature of 70 does not mean a quantity of 70 of something. It's just that 70 is greater than 69, and less than 71. And importantly, the differences between 69 to 70 and 70 to 71 mean the same thing - an increase by one unit. Same goes for IQ and GRE. Scores of zero do not represent the absolute "0" point of intelligence or GRE scores. There is no such thing, actually!

3b slide 4

Let's dig a little deeper into the abstract before we discuss the remainder of the article. Typically, an abstract will contain the following parts: the rationale of the study and/or the overview of the study, in 1-2 sentences. A summary of the methods, the key results, and then the implications of the results of the study. Let's practice identifying these four parts of an abstract.

We are going to identify the four parts of the abstract:

Let's dig a little deeper into the abstract before we discuss the remainder of the article. Typically, an abstract will contain the following parts: the rationale of the study and/or the overview of the study, in 1-2 sentences. A summary of the methods, the key results, and then the implications of the results of the study. Let's practice identifying these four parts of an abstract.

4c slide 3

Let's dig deeper on independent variables. An independent variable is a variable that functions independently, again, very profound, right? The independent variable is the variable that is presumably affecting another variable. It is the variable that we, as researchers, can manipulate to measure the affect on another variable, the dependent variable. For example, we could change an intervention being used and measure the impact of that change. We usually predict or hypothesize that changes in the independent variable will affect the dependent variable. We also generally consider the independent variable to not be influenced by other variables in the study, but sometimes we discover that we were wrong about this! More on that later.

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Let's dive into the qualitative, or categorical, variables first. We've got two types to discuss: nominal and ordinal.

3c slide 4

Let's revisit the steps to implementing EBP as well. Again, we first covered these steps in the Evidence-Based Practice lecture in Module 1, but I warned you that we'd be returning to them again and again, didn't I? The very first step you undertake when implementing EBP is to ask a well-built question. We sometimes call this the "clinical question". We covered this topic in Module 2, when we reviewed the PICO template and practiced framing PICO questions. Next, you will select evidence sources, then you will implement a search strategy. We covered this in Module 2 as well, and you had an opportunity to practice writing a PICO question in the optional discussion board. Note that these first 3 steps are also included in Part I of your Case Study Project.

3b slide 2

Let's start by reviewing the pieces that come before the main body of the article. à First and foremost, there's the title. The title should concisely state the focus of the paper, and should contain enough keywords that it can be found during a literature search. Titles can be descriptive, in that they state the focus of the study, or they can be conclusion-based, in which the main conclusion of the article is stated as the title. à You'll also always find the list of authors before the body of the text. This list specifies everyone who had a substantive role in the research presented the paper. Note that the first author listed is usually the person who did the lion's share of the work. And the last person listed is often the most senior scientist who runs the lab, secured the grant that funded the work, or oversaw the broader research program. And people are often included who did very little actual writing... maybe instead they ran the statistical analyses or they helped develop a specific method that was used in the study. à Finally, you'll always find the abstract before the main body of the text. The abstract provides a brief summary of the paper. This is one of the most important components of a research article, because many people read the abstract to decide whether or not they want or need to read the rest of the paper. The abstract contains the most important points, the "take-home points", and usually contains a few sentences about the background literature, a summary of the methods, the major results, the author's interpretation of the results, and a final "big picture implications" sentence at the very end. There are strict word limits on abstracts, usually between 150 and 300 words, so it can be really tricky to write! à Ok, so besides the title, authors, and abstract, there are a few components that are sometimes included before the body of the article, but are sometimes presented after the body of the article. These include author affiliations and contact info, so people know where the work was conducted and how to get in touch with the primary author. Sometimes you'll see details on when the article was submitted, accepted, and first published. You'll often see keywords. And occasionally, you'll see some form of lay summaries, which summarize the main points of the article in a way that an educated layperson could understand them.

4a slide 3

Let's start with the statement of the problem. In the statement of the problem, that authors establishes the topic of the article, provides an overview of the problem that this research aims to solve, and describes why the problem matters - in other words, its meaningfulness. It is designed to provide perspective to the nature of the study - This is the same thing as the "Big question" you identified in your Module 3 exercise. --> Literature citations are used for support, and to provide perspective and context à It is important to note that the problem informs design, so you should be able to judge the suitability of the method, results, and conclusions based on the overarching statement of the problem. It should provide insight into who was studied, what was measured, and under what conditions. It's important to note that the statement of the problem is usually not just one sentence. It is often a series of sentences that provide evidence for the problem. The statement of the problem often concludes with the statement of purpose, which communicates the research intent, or goal, or objective. In other words, the statement of the problem explains the bigger picture problem at hand, and the statement of purpose explains what we intend to do about that problem.

4c slide 10

Let's talk through an example of a study in which the independent variables are attribute variables. Remember that attribute variables are characteristics that are inherent in the participants, and they cannot be actively manipulated. In this study, researchers want to compare pragmatic language abilities in children with autism who don't have intellectual disability, children with autism who do have comorbid intellectual disability, and typically developing children. The participants are recruited, and their diagnoses are confirmed through extensive behavioral testing. Based on the results of that testing, they are classified into one of three groups: ASD, meaning just autism; ASD + ID, meaning autism and intellectual disability, and TD, meaning typically developing. They complete a battery of pragmatic language tests, and scores are compared between the three groups. The levels of the IV in this case are the three different diagnostic groups, but the difference here is that the researchers aren't actively manipulating the IV, they're just putting them into the levels based on their inherent characteristics, in other words, they're diagnoses.

4b part 2 slide 3

Let's talk through some examples of operational definitions and how to interpret them. These sentences in the first column are examples of what you might find in a research article, in the methods section. I have underlined the variable of interest. And I've bolded the part where the operational definition is articulated. Oftentimes, there will be additional details included, which can be helpful. But I want to show you how to identify the over-arching operational definition when it appears in a research article. The first example states, "Autism severity was quantified as the Overall Calibrated Severity Score from the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule - Second Edition (ADOS-2)." In this example, the variable being measured is "autism symptom severity", and the operational definition of that variable is "the Overall Calibrated Severity Score from the ADOS-2", which is the gold-standard behavioral and diagnostic assessment for autism. The authors might go on to explain that the overall calibrated severity score is a standardized score that is computed from the raw score and takes into account age and language ability. This score ranges from 1-10, with higher values indicating more severe autism symptoms. As you read this, you're then able to figure out what measurement scale is being used - the answer is an interval scale, because the values are ordered, and the space between the values is equal, but there is no true "zero". In other words, a "zero" on this measure, if it existed, would not indicate an absence of severity. Ok, let's look at the second example. "Speech accuracy was defined as percentage of consonants produced correctly during a 3-minute conversational speech sample." In this example, speech accuracy is the variable being defined, and it's being defined as percentage of consonants produced correctly, specifically during a 3-minute conversational exchange. From this operational definition, you can conclude that this is a ratio variable, because "0%" really does mean 0 consonants were produced correctly. Whether it is discrete or continuous is determined by whether the researcher rounds up to the nearest integer or not. The third example states "Receptive vocabulary was measured by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test - Fourth Edition (PPVT-4) standard score. In this example, the variable is "receptive vocabulary" and it is being operationally defined as the standard score on the PPVT-4. We know that standard scores such as this, which are similar to IQ or GRE scores, are measured on discrete interval scales. The final example states "The number of phonological processes exhibited during a sentence repetition task was used to quantify speech error usage." In this case, the variable of interest is speech errors, and the operational definition is the number of phonological processes exhibited during a sentence repetition task. You can deduce from this information that this is another ratio variable, because 0 means "the absence of phonological processes". Furthermore, it is likely a discrete ratio variable, because the number of occurrences is measured by whole integers (1, 2, 3, etc.)

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Let's talk through some other research question examples, so you can learn to identify whether a question is providing a description, determining a difference, or establishing a relationship. Take this first research question - In a clinical sample of youth with SM, what are the profiles of anxious and oppositional behavior (as derived from the parents' answers on a behavior check list)? The research hypothesis states "Anxious and oppositional behavior item profiles can be derived statistically in a clinical sample of youth with SM". Pause the video and think for a second - is this a description, difference, or relationship? This is a great example of a description question, because the researchers are attempting to describe a behavioral profile of interest. DESCRIPTIVE EXAMPLE: Research Question #1: In a clinical sample of youth with SM, what are the profiles of anxious and oppositional behavior (as derived from the parents' answers on a behavior check list)? Research Hypothesis #1: Anxious and oppositional behavior item profiles can be derived statistically in a clinical sample of youth with SM

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Let's test ourselves now. Which of these variables is operationally defined? We've got the variables of physical development, student understanding of chemistry, child height, and happiness levels. One good way to figure out if something is operationally defined is if you can think of more than one way to quantify it. Pause the video and think through your answer. Which of these is an operationalized variable? A)Physical development B)Student understanding of chemistry C)Child height D)Happiness levels

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Let's think back to our very first lecture in Module 1, the lecture on the scientific method. I included this lengthy quotation from a book that I really love and respect, because the authors so elegantly explained science in a way that I could have never accomplished. They used humor and humility and all sorts of creative writing tricks. I'm not a creative writer! But I love how they described each scientist as trying to be a little less wrong than the last scientist. So I included this quote because I knew I couldn't do a better job of explaining this concept. Notice that I also cited the quotation to clearly indicate that these weren't my words.

4c slide 6

Let's try another example, this time, it's not really a treatment study, but the IV is still actively manipulated. Let's say you were studying the effect of alcohol on performance in a driving simulator. Participants are randomly assigned to three different levels of alcohol consumption, which is the independent variable no alcohol, two drinks, four drinks. Each of those subcategories is a level of the IV. The dependent variable - driving performance score - is computed for each level of the IV, and then compared to see if performance differs between the levels. IV= Alcohol consumption Levels= 0 drinks 2 drinks 4 drinks

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Let's walk through an example of a study and identify the potential nuisance variables. Let's imagine that a researcher wants to study the impact of a social skills intervention on conversational skills in autistic adolescents. In this study, the independent variable is "treatment", and the two levels are "intervention" vs. "no intervention". In other words, some of the participants receive the social skills intervention, and some of the participants receive no intervention. The researcher is interested in how the social skills intervention impacts conversational skills, so that is the dependent variable in this study; it is operationally defined as the total score on a conversational language sample rating system. However, we know that there are a variety of individual differences that could potentially influence how the treatment affects conversational skills. For example, you can imagine how factors such as age, IQ, verbal abilities, autism symptom severity, exposure to prior or concurrent treatment, social motivation, and social anxiety might influence and autistic adolescent's baseline conversational skills and how they "respond" to a social skills intervention. These individual differences might be nuisance variables, so if you were evaluating this research study, you would want to think critically about whether or not they are. In this study, we're going to pretend that the researchers use randomization to assign participants to either the treatment or control group. Once the groups are created through this random assignment, we can compare them on these potential nuisance variables to determine whether the groups are equivalent or different. If they're equivalent, we can assume that the variables do not influence the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. If they are not equivalent, we have a problem. Athe groups are created and compared, we learn that the groups are equivalent on several extraneous variables, including age, IQ, verbal abilities, ASD symptom severity, and treatment exposure. However, they are not equivalent on social motivation, social anxiety, or socioeconomic status. So, the researchers decide to statistically control for social motivation and social anxiety in their analyses. They don't address the issue of socioeconomic status, however. And through your critical appraisal of the study, you decide that SES is a nuisance variable that may have distorted the findings. The authors don't mention this in the discussion, so you see this as a critical oversight and a potential weakness of the study.

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Next we find a sentence describing the method of the study (read bolded sentence). You'll notice that this is a very general, 30,000-foot-view of the methods, no specific details like the names of measures were included. "We compared the vocabulary and general language trajectories of the two groups in two ways: (a) at three time points during a 12-month period and (b) at two time points when the groups had made equal progress in NVMA (a period of 6 months for the TD infants vs. 12 months for the infants with DS)."

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Now, moving on to scientific writing. Scientific writing is a really specific form of writing, and it can be a bit tricky to get used to, especially if you've taken a lot of creative writing courses in the past. Scientific writing is sort of the polar opposite of creative writing. Here some major differences. à First, scientific writing voids creative writing "tricks," like setting up ambiguity, inserting the unexpected, sudden topic shifts, changing verb tense, using synonyms. Once you introduce a concept in scientific writing, it's important that you use the exact same words to describe it throughout. For example, if you use the term "pragmatic language" to describe the social use of language, you should continue to call it "pragmatic language" throughout your paper, don't come up with alternative ways to refer to it (e.g., social communication). à Next, scientific writing focuses heavily on clear, concise, and logical communication. Scientific writing is not being valued for its creativity, it's being judged on how easy it is to understand the scientific concepts and processes being described. à Scientific writing should always strike a professional, objective, and non-combative tone (e.g., "Lansford did not address..." vs. "Lansford completely overlooked..."). Let the facts speak for themselves, don't pass judgment or use biased language when you're explaining things. à Finally, scientific writing includes only what needs to be said, avoiding wordiness, redundancy, and the use of too many complicated sentences. It should always try to avoid run-on sentences, because they take so much cognitive capacity to comprehend. Long sentences should always be broken up into simpler, easy-to-follow chunks.

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Ok, how about research question 2: "In a clinical sample of youth with SM, how are anxiety and oppositional behavior profiles related to social anxiety disorder symptoms and oppositional defiant disorder symptoms?" The research hypotheses for this question state: "Anxious item profiles are associated with social anxiety disorder symptoms but not aggressive behaviors or oppositional defiant disorder symptoms." and "Oppositional item profile are associated with aggressive behaviors and oppositional defiant disorder symptoms but not social anxiety disorder symptoms". What is being described here? Pause and take a guess. If you said relationship, you're correct. Oftentimes, you can find clues to the type of research question based on the words used. For example, the words "related to" and "associated with" are huge clues that this is a relationship question. Also, the type of question asked will determine the design RELATIONSHIP EXAMPLE: Research Question #2: In a clinical sample of youth with SM, how are anxiety and oppositional behavior profiles related to social anxiety disorder symptoms and oppositional defiant disorder symptoms? Research Hypothesis #2: Anxious item profiles are associated with social anxiety disorder symptoms but not aggressive behaviors or oppositional defiant disorder symptoms. Research Hypothesis #3: Oppositional item profile are associated with aggressive behaviors and oppositional defiant disorder symptoms but not social anxiety disorder symptoms

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Ok, let's move on to paraphrasing. Remember that paraphrasing is the process of expressing the meaning of a section of text using different words and sentence structures (i.e., writing something "in your own words"). There are 5 steps I recommend you use to ensure that you're paraphrasing appropriately. First, read important parts of the source material until you fully understand its meaning. Second, Take some notes and list key terms found in the source material. Third, write your own paragraph without looking at the source material, only using the key terms. Fourth, check to make sure your version captures important parts and intent of the source material. Finally, Indicate where your paraphrasing starts and ends using in-text citation. It's important to know that even a perfectly paraphrased passage can be considered plagiarism if it is not appropriately cited.

3a slide 6

Ok, let's review a few very common spelling mistakes. à The first is except v. accept. Accept means to agree or to receive something offered. Except means excluding or with the exception of. The ex- of except can help you to remember that it means excluding. à There's also affect v. effect. Affect is usually a verb, and it means to impact or change. Effect is usually a noun, an effect is the result of a change. So, if an event affects your life, you will feel the event's effect. à Another common one is advise v. advice. Advise is a verb that means to suggest what should be done, to recommend, or to give information to someone. The S of advise sounds like a Z. Advice is a noun that means a suggestion about what you should do. The C of advice sounds like S. à Its vs. its is tricky too. It's with an apostrophe is a contraction of "it is" or "it has." If you can say it as "it is" or "it has", then use the apostrophe. Its, without the apostrophe is a possessive determiner we use to say that something belongs to or refers to something. à Whose versus who's is a similar problem. Who's with an apostrophe is a contraction, the formula: who + is, or who + has. For example: who's hungry? Whose without an apostrophe is a possessive pronoun. Use it when you're asking to whom something belongs. For example: whose sandwich is this? à The final point here is the difference between the suffix -able and -ible. In general In general, roots that can stand alone as a word end in -able, for example, laughable vs. terrible. Of course, As with any "rule" in English, there are always exceptions (e.g., digestible, flexible, irritable...)

4a slide 6

Ok, next, let's discuss the rationale for the study. The rationale should lead directly from the general statement of the problem. The link between the problem and the rationale for the study should be very clear. For example, an author would not want to talk about how assessment of pragmatic language in autism is really challenging due to language and cognitive limitations in a subset of autistic children, then go on to provide a rationale that supports a study on Down syndrome. à The rationale is meant to build the case for studying a specific aspect of the problem. Often, the rationale includes identifying limitations of previous work that has attempted to study the problem. Common rationales include: Inadequacy of previous research, To follow up on previous research, To resolve conflicting or inconclusive results reported by others, To provide empirical data to test a theory, Absence of previous research in a given area, which is often referred to as the "gap in the literature". Sometimes, a rationale will involve a combination of these reasons for doing the study. One take-home message I want you to think about regarding the rationale is that it's the scientists way of trying to answer the question of WHY we need to conduct this research study.

4a part 2 slide 8

Ok, so we have discussed all the pieces that go into an introduction. Now I want to introduce the concept of the evaluation checklist to you. This checklist is found in your textbook, on page 71. The authors of your textbook include this evaluation checklist for every section of a scientific article, to guide you in evaluating each section. I think it is helpful to have a list of things you should think about when you're reading and evaluating an introduction. Here you can see that an introduction should be evaluated on whether the statement of the problem was provided, whether the rationale was logical and convincing, whether the literature was current, thorough, and accurate, whether the purpose, questions, or hypotheses were logical extensions of the rationale, and whether the introduction was well written and well organized. For your assignment this week, I'll be asking you to read an introduction section and use this checklist to evaluate it. Ok, that's all for this lecture, I hope you found this helpful!

4b part 1 slide 10

Okay, we've made it to the final measurement scale - the ratio scale. Ratio variables are organized in order, just like interval variables. The spaces between the values are equal and meaningful, just like interval variables. Where ratio variables are differentiated from ordinal variables, however, is that in ratio variables, the zero means something. This is super important to understand, so let's talk through some examples. Variables such as age, weight, and height are great examples. A weight of zero means literally, an absence of weight. Same thing with height. Same thing with age. Zero in these cases means that there are 0 of that thing. Another great example is time-related variables, such as time elapsed, sometimes called latency. So, if time elapsed = 0 that means that no time has elapsed. Another example is your score on an assignment - number of points earned or percentage correct. A zero means that no points were earned, or you got 0 items correct on the assignment.

4b part 2 slide 2

Operational definition is a description of something in terms of the operations (e.g., procedures, actions, or processes) by which it can be measured or observed. Operational definitions include details on exactly what was measured and sometimes how it was measured (or even where and when it was measured). You can also deduce, based on an operational definition, what the measurement scale of the variable is, which enables you to critically evaluate the appropriateness of the statistical analyses! See how it all ties together?? Variables in research must be clearly defined in a standardized way. Operational definition is critical because it enables greater control and consistency over key variables. If you know exactly the way in which something is measured, you can measure it that exact way over and over and over again, and you'll know that each measurement means the same thing in relation to previous measurements. Operational definition also reduces the risk of bias, by setting the standard definition of something before you start collecting data on it. If you wait until after you've started collecting data to define a variable, you run the risk of having the data you've already collected consciously or unconsciously bias the way you define your variables. Operational definition also increases replicability, which is super important. Replicability is the extent to which another researcher could repeat or "replicate" the methods of your study and find similar results. Replicability is a really big deal, and it is why we don't draw conclusions from just one single study - we want multiple studies concluding that a treatment is effective before we trust that it actually is. When variables are clearly operationalized, the next scientist who comes along and wants to replicate the study can use the operational definition to collect data in the same way as the first study.

4c slide 15

Other types of dependent variables include rating scales, like likert scales. Likert scales require a response that indicates some degree of something. Here to the right you can see a commonly used likert scale, and I imagine you've completed one of these at some point, they're often used in customer feedback rating scales. Questionnaires and survey responses are also commonly used in our field. Usually a total score is computed by tabulating item scores in some way (like by adding them up, or averaging them). You'll sometimes see rank-order data, which requires things to be ranked on some scale, like from hardest to easiest, or least important to most important. And you'll often see physiological responses, which include data from neuroimaging, electroencephalogram, galvanic skin response, eye tracking, and so on.

Evaluation Checklist: Introduction

Overall rating scale: poor, fair, good, excellent 1.A clear statement of the general problem was provided 2.There was a logical and convincing rationale 3.There was a current, thorough and accurate literature review 4.The purpose, questions, or hypotheses were logical extensions of the rationale 5.The introduction was clearly written and well organized

What are the components of a research article?

Prior to the main body of the text: -Title -Authors -Abstract Sometimes also: -Author affiliations & contact info -Details on date of publication -Keywords -Lay summaries

3c slide 6

Questions 11-14 refer to the results of the study. And question 15 refers to the implications of the study, which is addressed in the discussion section. After you answer these 15 questions, you'll also make some summative judgments about the validity and importance of the research study. These are all answered in Part 4, near the end of the semester, after you've learned how to interpret the results of a study. 10.What nuisance variable(s) could have seriously distorted the findings? 11.Was the finding statistically significant? 12.Was statistical power adequate? 13.Was the finding important (effect size, social validity, maintenance)? 14.Was the finding precise? 15.Was there a substantial cost-benefit advantage? Rating and justification of the study's validity Rating and justification of the study's importance

3a part 2 slide 8

Quotes should also never be used to provide a definition of a theory or construct. Again, always paraphrase these in your own words.

Mosaic

Reuse of a mix of words, phrases, and ideas from a source without indicating which words and ideas have been borrowed and/or without properly citing the source.

3c slide 5

So here are the CATE questions that you'll be answering as you evaluate research this semester. The first question relates to the introduction. Questions 2-10 refer to the methods of the study. Some of these terms may be unfamiliar to you, for example you may not know what "blinding" means just yet. But by the time I ask you to answer these questions, you will be very familiar with all these terms and concepts. Remember that the case study project parts are meant to correspond to the concepts you've been learning in the modules. In part 2, you'll answer questions 1-5, after we've discussed the introduction and research study design principles. Questions 6-9 will be answered in part 3, after you've learned about concepts such as measurement validity, reliability, blinding, and bias.

4a slide 9

So let's talk about the literature review. The literature review documents the need for the study and helps put the research into context or historical perspective. It highlights what previous researchers have discovered, and it provides the conceptual foundation for the study. The literature review I ncludes:critical synthesis of an area of investigation, NOT merely a comprehensive summary of past studies on a topic. It includes definitions of key terms, usually through citations of other sources, and it also may include a tutorial on background issues that may be unfamiliar to the reader. And just a reminder - in many papers, the literature review, rationale, and general statement of the problem are so intertwined that they become indistinguishable.

3c slide 8

So that's it for the CATE Questions overview. You don't need to worry about understanding the CATE questions just yet. But you do know where to find them so as you're working on your case study project you can refer back to them easily. You can find the CATE Questions listed out in a PDF file titled "CATE Framework/Questions", saved within Module 3 and within the "Case Study Project Details". I suggest you download this PDF file and save it wherever you're saving your Case Study Project-related files. Also, as we work through your Case Study Project this semester, I will talk through each CATE question in detail in the instructional videos for each part of the project. So, for example, in the Part 2 Instructional Video, I will talk through Questions 1-5, explain what they mean, talk about how to find evidence to answer them, and so on.

3a part 2 slide 12

So, here are some templates for explaining quotations and integrating them into your larger argument. •In other words, X asserts __________. •In arguing this claim, X argues that __________. •X is insisting that _________. •What X really means is that ____________. •The basis of X's argument is that ___________.

3c slide 7

So, now it's time for some straight talk. Answering CATE questions isn't easy. The framework is systematic and structured, so it serves as a guide for you about what you should be considering when you evaluate a research article. But the answers to some of the CATE questions aren't going to be served up to you on a platter within a research article. Take, for example, the question that asks "Was there a substantial cost-benefit advantage?". This question refers to how the costs and benefits of the treatment balance out. In other words, given the various costs (such as duration, intensity, training time required, equipment or tools needed, and soon) and the various benefits (direct improvements in targeted outcome, indirect improvements to quality of life, etc) would you consider the treatment to be "worth it"? I have actually never seen a research article directly answer that question, and even if they did, you'd want to think very carefully about what biases they may have that might influence what they say. For example, someone who spent 10 years designing and validating a fancy new treatment and wants it to be widely accepted into clinical practice might have some bias toward the benefit of the treatment and not see clearly the potential costs of the treatment. So questions like this require you to make judgments about the research. This requires deep critical thinking and analysis. And there won't always be a "right" or a "wrong" answer. I know that will make many of you uncomfortable, but in research, and in life, answers to important questions are rarely "right" versus "wrong". What matters when you answer these questions is that you ask yourself "what is the relevant evidence?" "How do I justify my answer with evidence from the research article?" All of you could read the same research study and half you think the benefits outweigh the costs, while the other half of you think the costs outweigh the benefits. The people who are "right" are those that justify their answer persuasively with evidence they drew from the research article.

4b part 2 slide 6

So, what does this mean for you from a big-picture perspective. First, operational definition is very relevant to your PICO questions. Many of you have received feedback from me to try to make the "outcome" or "O" in your PICO question more specific and/or measurables. Another way of thinking about this is that when you are considering your "O" in your PICO question, you should try to operationally define it. Make it specific and measurable. Think of how you'd measure your "O" in the clinic to document evidence (or lack thereof) of progress toward a treatment goal. The second way in which operational definition matters to you is that when you are evaluating research, such as the treatment study in your Case Study Project, you should be thinking critically about how the variables are operationally defined. Did the researchers clearly operationalize their variables? Could another researcher come along and repeat the procedure based on what is written in the article?

4a slide 2

The introduction generally consists of a statement of the problem, the rationale for the research study, and a review of the relevant literature. These three elements are often interwoven; rarely will you find them in separate, conveniently labeled subsections. But it's important that you are able to identify these elements and evaluate them on their quality. We'll cover these sections in Part 1 of this lecture. These three elements build up to the final section of the introduction, which usually includes the objectives of the study and the research questions and hypotheses of the study. We'll cover that section in Part II. Now, let's dig into each of these components in more detail.

3a part 2 slide 6

The main problem with using quotations happens when writers assume that the meaning of the quotation is obvious. Writers who make this mistake believe that their job is done when they've chosen a quotation and inserted it into their text. In other words, they plop the quotation down on the page and force it to "speak for itself". But quotations can rarely stand on their own and make sense or be effective. So, what ends up happening is a lot of misinterpretation on the reader's part. The reader doesn't know the context of that quotation, they're just trying to figure out what it means at face value. It's important to know that this sort of use of quotation screams "lack of deep understanding".

3a part 2 slide 4

The only reasons you should ever use a quotation in scientific writing are, 1: if you're using the quotation to support your own argument, 2: you're establishing another person's position relative to your own argument, or 3: someone has said something much better and more clearly than you can.

4a slide 7

The rationale is composed of a logical series of logical arguments. So, let's take a deep dive into the structure of an argument, and no, I don't mean that fight you had with your significant other last week, I mean the kind of argument that is meant to persuade or convince you of something, in this case, the reason a study should be conducted. That is called the proposition, it's the claim or main point being made. Then, premises, or reasons, are used to provide support for the proposition. Arguments fail to be persuasive or effective when the premises they're based upon are false or unreliable. So, when providing premises, scientists must include verifiable evidence, and this is where citations of previously published research come into play!

4a part 2 slide 3

The research question is the specific question that this research study aims to answer. There can be more than one research question in a study. It is usually stated as a question, though not always. The research question may focus on providing a description, determining a difference, or establishing a relationship. It's important that you are able to deduce what type of question is being asked, because that provides major clues as to the methods that should follow, and if the methods don't match up with the research questions, then there's a problem with the study. It's also important to note that the research questions represent a logical culmination of the parts of the introduction that preceded them. If the research questions don't match up with the rationale that was presented, that's also a problem. Now, let's look at the research hypothesis. The research hypotheses is a plausible generalization or conjecture or what I like to call an "educated guess" about the answer to the research question. It should be brief and to the point, it should be supported by the literature that has been reviewed in the introduction thus far, and it should be testable. One important point is that a research hypothesis is NOT a prediction about the statistical results of the study. For example, here in green is an example of a research hypothesis. Toddlers with ASD will show reduced preference for words with the predominant stress pattern in their native language compared with contrast groups. Note that the authors are making a generalization about preference for certain language stress patterns. What is written here in orange is a prediction about the statistical results of the study. Toddlers with ASD will exhibit significantly shorter fixation times than contrast groups to stimuli paired with the predominant stress pattern. Notice how a specific statement about the statistical results of the study - significantly shorter fixation times - is included. This is not an appropriate research hypothesis.

4b part 1 slide 12

To summarize, there are 4 measurement scales, two of which are categorical or qualitative and two of which are numeric or quantitative. Nominal data are "named variables", Ordinal data are named variables that can be ordered, Interval data are named data that can be ordered and have equal or proportionate intervals between the data points, and ratio data can be named and ordered, have equal or proportionate intervals between the data points, AND can accommodate a true or absolute zero. But you're probably sitting there, drooling because you're half asleep, or pulling your hair out because "WHAT COULD THIS POSSIBLY HAVE TO DO WITH WHAT I NEED TO LEARN IN THIS CLASS?" Well, I hate to break it to you, measurement scales do matter, and they matter quite a bit. First off, measurement scale determines a statistical analysis approach. In other words, the type of data collected, whether it's nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio, is what determines what types of statistical analyses are appropriate and valid. For example, the way you analyze the difference between apples and oranges - a nominal scale - is different than how you compare the difference between 1 apple and 10 apples - which is a ratio scale. Generally speaking, in health sciences research, we tend to place more value on quantitative data than qualitative data. Again, that is a generalization, and qualitative data does have an important place in research, particularly when assessing the needs and values and opinions of individuals. But when it comes to treatment research, it tends to be all about the numbers. And continuous ratio variables are considered the most precise and powerful from a statistical perspective. Finally, I want to point out something that might not be obvious to you just yet - these levels of measurement are not only about the variable itself or how it is measured. It is also important to keep in mind that the meaning of the variable within the research context and how it was measured must match up. Some data can be represented by multiple measurement scales. If that's the case, which scale is "best"? That absolutely depends on the research questions being answered. And as a critical consumer of research, you need to be able to identify whether the measurement scale used is the most appropriate or powerful scale that could have been used.

3b slide 1

Welcome to Module 3, Lecture B. This lecture will provide an overview of the different sections of a research article. The great thing about research articles is that they tend to follow a very specific framework, so you can always know what to expect when you're reading an article.

4c slide 5

When independent variables are categorical, we often refer to the different subcategories of the independent variable as "levels" or "conditions", and sometimes they're called "groups" as well. These words are often used interchangeably, they mean pretty much the same thing. The levels or conditions of the IV are directly compared to see if the dependent variable is different between them. This is important to understand, as you'll be asked many times this semester to identify the conditions or levels of an independent variables. Let's walk through this together. Remember the paper you read for your "Reading a Research Article" assignment in Module 3? In that study, 58 children with specific expressive language delay were randomly assigned to either an intervention group (n = 29) or a 12-month waiting group (n = 29). Expressive language abilities were assessed at 6 and 12 months later. In the intervention group, mothers participated in the 3-month Heidelberg Parent-based Language Intervention (HPLI). In this study, the independent variable is "treatment". That is what is actively manipulated by the researchers, in other words, the researchers determine whether a child receives the treatment or not, and they determine this via random assignment, which we'll discuss at length later in the semester. Broadly speaking, the levels of the IV are "intervention" and "control". Those are the two "groups" that the participants are randomly assigned into. More specifically, the intervention group received the Heidelberg Parent-based Language Intervention (HPLI), while the control group had to wait 12 months and then received the Heidelberg Parent-based Language Intervention (HPLI). The reason they had to wait 12 months is because the researches measured expressive language abilities - which is the dependent variable - at 6 and 12 months post-treatment. In order to be very sure that any change in expressive language abilities that occurred in the treatment group within that 12-month period was due to the treatment provided, they needed to ensure that the children in the control group didn't receive that treatment in that time period.

When quotations are problematic...

When the quotation is forced to "speak for itself" "The therapist should be opaque to his patients and, like a mirror, should show them nothing but what is shown to him" (Freud 1912, p. 118)."

When quotations are problematic...

When used to provide a definition of a theory or construct Sensory memory or iconic memory is defined by Long (1980) as "a persistence effect in the form of a rapidly decaying image or icon following the termination of a brief stimulus" (p. 787).

When quotations are problematic...

When used to report findings from published research While Prus, Hatcher, Hope, and Grabiel (1995) found a "significant positive correlation between student motivation and persistence", Allen (1999) found that the positive relationship only existed for students of color.

4a slide 10

When you're evaluating the literature review, you should consider both the structure of the review and the nature of the literature cited. Regarding structure, it's always most effective to proceed from topic to topic, not paper to paper. When you're reading you should imagine asking the authors questions like, how do you know? Why do you think so? What evidence do you have? A well-written literature review will answer those questions. Also, you should observe the tone of the literature review. Is it critical? That's not necessarily a bad thing, but the criticism should be presented in an objective, unbiased, and justified manner. à Regarding the nature of the literature being cited, you'll want to consider how thorough the review is, and where there are any important omissions. This can be tricky if it's a topic you're not familiar with just yet. But as you build your background knowledge and expertise, this will become easier. You'll want to notice the publication dates of the papers being cited. A thorough lit review usually includes classic, seminal references as well as recent work. You'll also want to notice whether the citations are truly relevant to the purpose of the study. Irrelevant citations are misleading and suggest bias or sloppiness. Also, be very wary of excessive citation of unpublished works. Most citations should be from published sources, ideally from peer-reviewed articles, though textbooks and technical manuals are also acceptable. Ok, so that brings up to the end of the introduction, where we will generally find the research questions and hypotheses. I'll cover that in our next video, part 2.

4a slide 8

When you're thinking about the evidence that supports the rationale for a study, make sure you evaluate whether the information is relevant, to the original assertion. Irrelevant evidence should not be considered strong evidence in support of an argument. Make sure the evidence is sufficient, in that it should be provided from multiple sources whenever possible, and it should be eoungh to support the probability that something is true beyond a reasonable doubt. It should also be truthful and trustworthy. In other words, it should come from sources that are dependable, accurate, and legitimate. Usually, this means it comes from peer-reviewed published research, not anecdotal experiences, email communication, blogs, etc.

3a slide 3

You may be curious about why I would include a lecture on scientific and professional writing when you are learning to read scientific writing not necessarily write scientifically. But the truth is, as a clinician, you will be engaging in professional writing on a daily basis, as you write SOAP notes, evaluation reports, and professional emails. Some of you may even write articles or contribute to the writing of articles someday. And these forms of writing rely heavily on scientific writing principles.

4b part 1 slide 2

You may be wondering, what is a variable anyway? You may have heard this word thrown around, or you have seen those terms used in articles you've read. A variable is quite literally, something that varies. That's really profound, isn't it? A variable can be contrasted to a constant, which is something that does not vary. Imagine a research study that examined the effects of two stuttering treatments on fluency in 8-year-old children. There are two critical factors that vary in this study - the type of treatment administered and the %age of words produced without stuttering. So, those are the primary variables of the study. I'll teach you in the next lecture how to identify which variable is the independent variable and which variable is the dependent variable. Interestingly, all of the children in this study were exactly 8 years old, because the researcher intentionally only included 8-year-olds (don't ask me why, it was just a decision they made!). That means that participant age, which would normally vary in study, was a constant in this case. So, any factor in a research study that varies is a variable. There are lots of variables in every research study, even if there are only a few key variables that the researchers focus on. Variables can be measured a variety of ways. That is what this lecture focuses on.

How to appropriately use quotations...

ØQuotations need to be taken from their original context and integrated fully into their new textual surroundings. ØEvery quotation needs to have your own words appear in the same sentence. ØAlways cite the source of the quotation!

Primary types of variables in research:

•Variable = something that varies •Two types of variables: ▫Independent ▫Dependent

What is a variable?

•Variable = something that varies ▫As opposed to a constant (something that does not vary)

Research Hypothesis

•Where the RQ asks a question, the hypothesis forms an answer that is •Brief and to the point •Testable •NOT a prediction about the statistical results of the study Example: Toddlers with ASD will show reduced preference for words with the predominant stress pattern in their native language compared with contrast groups.

Some templates for introducing quotations

•X states, "__________." •As claimed by X, "______." •In her article _______, X suggests that "_________." •In X's perspective, "___________." •X concurs when she notes, "_______."

Nominal Variables

•Two or more categories •No intrinsic ordering •"Nom-" -> "Name"

Study Example:

•A researcher wants to study the impact of a social skills intervention on conversational skills in autistic adolescents. ▫IV: Treatment (Intervention v. No intervention) ▫DV: Conversational skills ▫Extraneous variables: Age, IQ, verbal abilities, ASD symptom severity, prior/concurrent treatment exposure, social motivation, social anxiety, SES Random assignment à Group equivalence on age, IQ, verbal abilities, ASD symptom severity, and prior/concurrent treatment exposure, but not social motivation, social anxiety, or SES. Statistical control à social motivation and not social anxiety, but not SES

Ordinal Variables

•Can be ordered •Represent relative value •Spacing between values not always equal

Dependent variables

•Change based on the independent variables ▫They "depend" upon the independent variable ▫What is "measured" via data collection ▫Often more than one in a study ▫Compared between levels/conditions/groups •Are set up as the outcomes in a treatment study •Are usually hypothesized to be affected by the independent variables •SOMETIMES can also influence other dependent variables ▫This is called "mediation"

Interval Variables

•Data organized in order •Spaces between values are equal and meaningful •No "true zero"

Ratio Variables

•Data organized in order •Spaces between values are equal and meaningful •Zero means something!

To summarize:

•Four measurement scales ▫Two categorical/qualitative ▫Two numeric/quantitative •But why does this matter? ▫Measurement scale determines statistical analysis approach Apples v. oranges 1 apple v. 10 apples ▫Quantitative > qualitative ▫Some data can be represented by multiple measurement scales - which one is "best"?

independent variable (IV)

•Function independently ▫Sort of... these are the variables YOU (or another researcher) can actually change ▫Ex: You could change an intervention being used •Are usually hypothesized to affect the dependent variables • •Are not considered to be influenced by other variables in the study ▫Although sometimes we later find out we are wrong!

Operational Definition

•Operational definition = a description of something in terms of the operations (procedures, actions, or processes) by which it could be observed and measured ▫Exactly what was measured, and how it was measured (including measurement scale) •Variables MUST be operationally defined! •Operational definitions are critical for: ▫Allowing greater control and consistency over key variables ▫Reducing risk of bias ▫Increasing replicability

Introduction Rationale for the investigation

•Should stem from the general statement of the problem •Presents the case for studying selected aspects of the problem, and may identify limitations of previous work •Possible rationales: •Inadequacy of previous research •To follow up on previous research •To resolve conflicting or inconclusive results reported by others •To provide empirical data to test a theory •Absence of previous research in a given area (i.e., the "gap") Any one or combination of these...

Introduction General Statement of the problem

•Statement of the problem and its meaningfulness •Literature citations are used for support, and to provide perspective and context •Problem informs study design •Who was studied, what was measured, and under what conditions? •Statement of purpose: allows the reader to understand the investigator's intent (focus, goal, objective)

Research Question

•The "specific question(s)" you identified in your Module 3 exercise •Stated as a question •May ask if something exists (description), if there is a relationship, or a difference •Follows from the rationale