Research in Health Science set I

At what point should the researcher identify three or more specific objectives that stem from the main study goal?

After finalizing the overarching study goal

Which of the following is a statistical estimate of how close to the population value a sample of a particular size is expected to be?

Confidence Interval

Which of the following should provide enough information in the title, figure, and/or legend or key for a reader to be able to interpret it without reading the related portion of the text?

Graphs

Which of the following is defined as the percentage of members of a population who die of any condition during a specified time period?

Mortality Rate

Which of the following applies advanced techniques from information science and computer science to the compilation and analysis of health data?

Health Informatics

Recording responses to open-ended questions verbatim without rephrasing, paraphrasing, "correcting," or interpreting them is an example of what type of characteristic of well-trained interviewers?

Honest

A benefit of which of the following is that it helps ensure that the article being cited has been understood?

Paraphrasing

Research questions often point towards what?

point towards an unmet demand

True or False? Because most journal articles in the health sciences follow the same outline, it is possible to know exactly which paragraphs are needed for a draft even before the first word is written.

True

True or False? Correlational studies are a useful starting point for generating hypotheses about associations, but they are not the final word on risk factors for a disease.

True

True or False? Cross-sectional surveys are used to establish baseline data prior to the initiation of longitudinal studies.

True

True or False? Decisions about the types of questions to ask must include considerations of which statistical tests the researcher wants to run on the collected data.

True

True or False? Determining whether an article is a fit with a specialty or regional journal is often straightforward.

True

True or False? Direct age adjustment requires knowing the exposure or disease rates by age group in each population.

True

True or False? Focus group participants are recruited through purposive sampling because they are able to provide insights about the study question.

True

True or False? For a research project to be considered original, it needs to have only one substantive difference from previous work.

True

True or False? If the power estimates for a study are lower than desired, the easiest way to improve the power is to increase the sample size. Correct!

True

True or False? In a case-control study, the controls must be similar to the cases in every way except for their disease status.

True

True or False? It is not uncommon for conference guidelines to prohibit the submission of abstracts for studies that will be published in a journal prior to the conference.

True

True or False? One of the advantages of the initial review process is that it allows authors whose submission is declined to quickly submit their work to a more suitable journal.

True

True or False? Paraphrasing accurately requires a level of comprehension that direct quoting does not

True

True or False? Population health involves humans as the unit of investigation, rather than focusing on molecules, genes, cells, or other smaller biological components.

True

True or False? Presenting new research in the form of a poster or an oral presentation can be a particularly useful way to get feedback on a project before submitting the work for review by a journal.

True

True or False? Prospective cohort studies examining rates of incidence of disease require a series of questions about both exposure status and disease status.

True

True or False? Publication is a priority for many health researchers because a project that has not been published is not contributing to advancing knowledge in their discipline.

True

True or False? Recruiting based on exposure status makes retrospective and prospective cohort studies the optimal study approaches for uncommon exposures.

True

True or False? Regardless of which analytic approach is used, the research protocol should include specific plans for promoting compliance and minimizing dropouts.

True

True or False? Selecting a target journal early in the writing process makes it easier to hone the paper's message for the journal's audience.

True

True or False? Short reports may be limited to as little as 800 to 1,000 words with only one table or figure allowed.

True

True or False? Some universities require a professor to be listed as the PI on any research project that involves human subjects even if a student is taking the lead role in the conduct of the project.

True

True or False? The Delphi method is a structured decision-making and forecasting process in which participants engaged in completing individual questionnaires. Correct!

True

True or False? The abstract of the report should tell the entire story in one compelling paragraph.

True

True or False? The author guidelines of each journal will indicate what information should be provided in the endmatter of submissions

True

True or False? The goal of recruiting is to maximize the participation rate among members of a sample population so as to yield a study population that is reasonably representative of the source population.

True

True or False? The medical information in patient files is not recorded for research purposes, so records are unlikely to contain all the information that researchers would like to know.

True

True or False? The methods section should provide information about ethical considerations such as whether inducements were offered, how informed consent was documented, whether community groups were consulted, and which research ethics committees reviewed the project

True

True or False? The only way to truly understand a study is to read the full text of the article. Correct!

True

True or False? When interpreting results of a systematic review, studies that find no statistically significant results for an item of interest are just as valuable as those that find a significant association.

True

True or False? When starting a tertiary analysis, the most important decision is the selection of a topic that is narrow enough that all the relevant publications can be acquired.

True

True or False? When the entire 95% confidence interval is less than 1, the odds ratio is statistically significant and the exposure is deemed to be protective in the study population.

True

rue or False? Questions derived from practice often point toward an unmet demand for needs assessments, program evaluations, and clinical effectiveness studies.

True

True or False? Submitting to a journal as soon as a revised and polished manuscript has been crafted and all the coauthors have signed off on it is critical.

Ture

Reviewers usually provide how many sets of comments to the journal?

Two

What type of table is used in case-control studies to compare two dichotomous (yes/no) variables?

Two by Two Table

What type of error occurs when a study population yields a significant statistical test result even though a significant difference or association does not actually exist in the source population?

Type 1 Error

What are some examples of Research benefits? (5)

-acquiring new skills -satisfying personal curiosity -fulfilling degree or work requirement -becoming a published author -contributing to individual or population health

What are some purposes of health research? (4)

-needs assessment (community health profiles) -risk assessment (risk factors for disease) -applied practice (clinical effectiveness) -outcomes evaluation (impact of interventions)

Which of the following are the two main threats to the validity of a meta-analysis?

1. Poor quality of included studies 2. publication bias

What are the logical sequence sections of a proposal?

1. abstract 2. background/introduction 3. hypothesis 4. aims 5. discussions/alternatives

what are the logical sequence sections of a Scientific Article?

1. abstract 2. background/introduction 3. methods 4. results 5. discussion/ conclusion

What are the logical sequence sections of a review?

1. abstract 2. background/introduction 3. premises 4. conclusions

what are the six steps of the scientific method?

1. ask a question 2. perform background research 3. create hypothesis 4. conduct experiment 5. analyze experimental data and draw conclusions 6. communicate results

what are the results of persuasion and the steps taken to get to that point?

1. awareness 2. interest 3. evaluation 4. purpose 5. *retention*

What are the five steps of research?

1. identify a study question 2. select a general study approach 3. design the study and collect data 4. analyze data 5. write and share a report about findings

What are the four ways that we explain? (exposition)

1. organization 2. logic 3. evidence 4. supporting documents

What are the four ways that we persuade?

1. organization 2. logic 3. evidence 4. supporting documents

What are the two things that Scientific writers do?

1. they try to explain something that they or others found (explanations direct and definite) 2. They try and convince the reader that what they found fits with a specific conclusion (conclusions are logical and based on the evidence)

When should the present tense be used in reports, papers, and presentations?

1. when referencing established knowledge 2. when referencing work you are currently reporting

What is the impact factor for the most prominent journals such as Science, Nature, JAMA, The Lancet, and the New England Journal of Medicine?

10 or greater

The standard expectation is that a study's analyses should have a power of what value or greater?

80%

Hypothesis

A question that is testable

In which citation style is the first article cited referred to a reference number any time it is cited in the manuscript?

AMA Style

Which of the following would be classified as a routine practice activity?

An epidemiologist working for a health department tracks down the source of an outbreak of gastroenteritis.

In a few scientific subspecialties, which of the following is considered to be equivalent to peer-reviewed journals?

Conference Papers

Which of the following is a compendium of journals with problematic practices that provides helpful guidelines about evaluating questionable journals?

Beall's List

What type of randomization randomly assigns groups of people to an intervention group and other groups of people to a control group?

Block Randomization

What type of question forces respondents to select answers that do not truly express their status or opinions?

Close-Ended Questions

Some case series follow patients for days, months, or even years. In this type of study approach, the case series functionally becomes what type of study?

Cohort Study

The major advantage of what type of survey is that they eliminate the need for later data entry?

Computer-Assisted Surveys

Which of the following is sketched out using boxes and arrows that illustrate the various relationships that will be evaluated during the study?

Conceptual Framework

During a conference, what type of sessions occurs in which multiple panels of oral presentations are held at the same time in different rooms?

Concurrent Sessions

Which of the following are generally considered to be previews of works in progress and not final products like published journal articles?

Conference Abstracts

Under which paradigm do researchers have a relativist perspective that considers reality for each individual to be a function of that person's lived experiences?

Constructivism

Even though most submissions are made via computer instead of by postal delivery, most online submission systems still expect which of the following to be uploaded?

Cover Letter

At what point is the full research cycle complete?

Once the published article has been cited for the first time in another article

Which of the following is the first step when designing an experimental study?

Decide on the intervention and eligibility criteria

Which of the following would be the first step in conducting a cross-sectional survey?

Define a source population

Which process of qualitative data analysis uses the tools of linguistics to analyze the written, spoken, or nonverbal language used by participants?

Discourse Analysis

What three things form the basis of a research question?

EDPs exposure disease population

After publication, what is the next goal of a research scientist?

Expand the research in a new but related direction

True or False? Anthropometric measurements are physiological measurements that can be quantified accurately after minimal instruction.

False

True or False? If new data will be collected, the researcher has great freedom in selecting study topics and can easily recruit an adequate number of participants.

False

True or False? If the plan is to synthesize current knowledge by conducting a literature review, the researcher must be prepared to track down the abstracts of all relevant articles.

False

True or False? If too many participants are recruited, the whole study will be almost worthless because the sample will not have enough statistical power to answer the study question.

False

True or False? Investigators who make their data available to the public expect to be coauthors on papers written by independent analysts.

False

True or False? Presenting research findings at conferences is a helpful part of the scientific conversation, which is entered into the permanent record of scholarly discourse.

False

True or False? Researchers who are kinesthetic learners may find it helpful to create a poster about the research project or to create a slideshow for a presentation about it.

False

True or False? Studies that measure individuals randomly sampled from the same populations at different points in time are using a cohort study approach.

False

True or False? Submitting a manuscript to a journal for review is the final step of a series of conversations about a research report.

False

True or False? The five steps of the research process can vary according to the goal of the research project or according to what methods are used.

False

True or False? The goal of concept mapping is to create a long list of possible research topics.

False

True or False? The sample population consists of individuals from the study population who are invited to participate in the research project.

False

True or False? The sensitivity is the proportion of people who do not have the disease who test negative with the new test.

False

True or False? The variables used as matching criteria must be considered as exposures during analysis.

False

True or False? Cross-sectional surveys measure the incidence of various exposure histories, disease states, and demographic characteristics in one well-defined population at one point in time.

False (because they actually measure prevalence)

Longitudinal studies use what type of population in which all participants start the study at the same time and no one is permitted to join later?

Fixed Population

In which model of publishing do authors or their funders pay to make an article freely available to the public?

Gold Open Access

Because many peer-reviewed journals are not included in the databases, especially journals in languages other than English, which search engine may be helpful for identifying additional relevant abstracts?

Google Scholar

Which of the following tasks would need to be performed by the researcher if existing data is going to be analyzed?

Identify an appropriate data source and supporting materials

Critical reading involves asking a series of questions about what aspect of a study in order to ascertain how well a particular study was designed, conducted, interpreted, and reported and to assess how likely it is that the resulting paper presents the truth about a particular research question in a particular population at a particular place and time?

Internal Validity

What section of a paper in the health sciences should spell out the core question that the paper will explore and answer?

Introduction

What type of learners may find it helpful to take a long walk away from a computer and use that time to think through the story that needs to be written?

Kinesthetic learners

Which of the following is a key characteristic to watch out for when performing a case series study?

Lack of Generalizability

Which of the following, related to the candidate question, will assist the researcher in determining what is already known about the topic and what new information a new study could contribute?

Literature Review

Participants of what kind of study are recruited based on membership in a well-defined source population?

Longitudinal Cohort Study

Which database is sponsored by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and features only journals that have applied for inclusion and passed through a review process?

MEDLINE

Which of the following is the first step in the editing process?

Making sure the big picture message is being clearly communicated

What type of matching approach is common in genetic studies that link each case to a genetic sibling or another close genetic relative for analysis?

Matched Pair Matching

What database, developed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, can be helpful for identifying the full extent of a research area and for narrowing the scope of a research area?

MeSh (Medical Subject Headings Database)

Which section of a research article can often be written even before data collection begins?

Methods

Which section of a paper in the health sciences provides all necessary clues for answering the main research question and demonstrates that those observations are valid, sufficiently comprehensive, and reasonably unbiased?

Methods and Results

On a scatterplot used to illustrate correlation, when the points are not exactly linear but a line for trend can be drawn through them, the correlation is said to be which of the following?

Moderate

Researchers attempting to generate a random sample from the source population need to avoid what type of bias that could occur if each individual in the source population does not have an equal chance of being selected for the sample population?

Non Random Sample Bias

Which of the following is the measure of association that readers will expect to be reported for a case-control study?

Odds Ratio

At what point is the research manuscript sent to a copyeditor, who checks the paper carefully for grammar, spelling, and adherence to the journal's style?

Once the paper has been formally accepted

To how many journals can a health sciences manuscript be submitted at one time?

One

Developing an "elevator pitch" that tells the main lesson learned from the project in 30 seconds can greatly assist researchers who process their thoughts in which manner?

Orally

Which of the following points toward the selection of key indicators that would provide evidence for the success of the intervention?

PICOT

What does PICOT stand for and what are these used with?

Patient/Population Intervention Comparison Outcome Timeframe these are used with clinical research

Which of the following can be viewed as an opportunity to receive expert and constructive feedback about a draft report?

Peer-Review Process

For continuous variables and other variables with responses that can be plotted on a number line, which of the following is used to calculate the correlation?

Person Correlation Coefficient

Which of the following is the highest cost associated with interviews?

Personnel

Persuasive

Persuasion means to convince

Which approach to gather and interpret qualitative data seeks to understand how participants understand, interpret, and find meaning in their own life experiences and feelings?

Phenomenology

Which of the following examines where a new test is good at predicting the presence of disease?

Positive Likelihood Ratio Test

Factors that might influence the relationships between key exposures and outcomes are referred to as which of the following?

Potential Cofounders

Defining the study question and identifying partners is the first step in planning what type of analysis?

Primary Analysis

What type of sampling is usually the preferred option for producing a sample population that is similar to the source population as a whole?

Probability Based Sampling

True or False? An external peer review can lead to three possible results: rejection, an opportunity to revise and resubmit, or acceptance.

True

What type of study design should be used to investigate an exposure that is relatively uncommon but a source of exposed individuals is available?

Prospective Cohort Study

What type of projects might use data mining and computational linguistics to explore social media events?

Public Health Informatics

What is the major limitation when using existing clinical records?

Records are often incomplete

What type of study method is used for many of the largest studies conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention?

Repeated Cross-Sectional Survey

A Gantt chart can be very helpful for visually displaying which of the following?

Research Timeline

When preparing slides for an oral presentation, the greatest number of slides should be dedicated to which area of content?

Results

Which section of a research article should start with a description of the study population that clearly identifies the sample size and the demographics of the participants?

Results

Which of the following should always be the top priority when designing and implementing an experimental study?

Safety

What forms the foundation of backgrounds to new reports and act as the evidence for the premises in a review?

Scientific Reports

Which of the following is defined as looking up every article cited by eligible articles in order to identify other articles that might be relevant but not indexed in the selected databases?

Snowballing

Which of the following must be cited when it is referred to in a scientific paper?

Specific Knowledge

Before conducting a statistical analysis of aggregate data, the data from each population must be entered into which of the following?

Spreadsheet

Most journals will reformat which aspect of all accepted manuscripts into their house styles when they convert the text into the single-spaced, small font, multicolumn format that is popular in health science journals?

Tables

What type of study revolves around a thorough review of existing literature?

Tertiary Study

Research

The process of systematically and carefully investigating a subject in order to discover new insights about the world

Usually, what is the goal of any single research project?

To answer one well-defined question

True or False? A request for access to a private data set is most likely to be granted when the new researcher has some existing connection to the original researcher.

True

True or False? A strong protocol should be detailed enough that the entire methods section of any paper that will result from the project could be written before data collection begins.

True

True or False? A well-trained clinician can make accurate and reliable assessments of many health states that machines are unable to assess well.

True

True or False? Abstracts may incorrectly or incompletely summarize the methods and results of a study.

True

A needs assessment answers which of the following questions?

What is the health status of this population?

in developing a hypothesis, what are some questions one should ask themselves?

What message do I want to convey? Who will be interested in my message?What format is most appropriate for my message? Where will I publish this message? MOST IMPORTANT: Is it testable

Which of the following can create a negative thought cycle that can be difficult to break?

Writer's Block

What is one of the hardest part of a research topic?

choosing the subject

Critical thinking allows for one to come to better and more accurate _________ which leads to _______

conclusions // better success ratios

A good research question ends in what and is what?

ends in a question mark and is testable

Health Research

examines a broad spectrum of biological, socioeconomic, environmental, and other factors that contribute to the presence or absence of physical, mental, and social health well being

Expository

exposition means to explain

Population Health Research

involves humans as the unit of investigation

What is a proposal and when is it written?

is an overview of all findings/experimentation and is written last

Which of the following may be helpful for identifying the presence of a disease or markers for a disease?

laboratory analysis of biological specimens

are Routine Practice activities and health research the same?

no, there is a distinction between routine practice activities and health research

What is considered to be the first half of a scientific report?

the research proposal

What does the scientific method allow us to do?

to think critically

How is scientific writing organized?

written with a logical sequence to the sections