Practice Exam Questions
The standard expectation is that a study's analyses should have a power of what value or greater?
80%
What section of the manuscript is used to thank individuals who did not earn coauthorship but who benefited the study with their contributions?
Acknowledgements
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 would be classified as a routine practice activity? A) An epidemiologist working for a health department tracks down the source of an outbreak of gastroenteritis. B) An outbreak investigation team identifies an unusual food item as the cause of the outbreak, does additional survey and laboratory work to confirm the hypothesis, and then shares that discovery by writing a formal report describing their methods and results. C) A clinician conducts a systematic search of the literature, completes a novel synthesis of the compiled articles, and then writes and disseminates that summary. D) A client survey uses a validated questionnaire and sampling methods, is approved by an ethics committee, answers a question that builds on the evidence base provided by previously published articles, and has the results shared through presentation or publication.
An epidemiologist working for a health department tracks down the source of an outbreak of gastroenteritis.
For international research projects, how many local researchers at the study site should be a co-investigator who is involved in every step of the research process, including the identification of the study question, the design of the study, and the collection of data?
At least 1
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?
Closed-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
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
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
What type of studies seek to recruit a study population that is representative of a well-defined larger population?
Cross-sectional studies
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? A) Define a source population B) Develop a strategy for recruiting a representative sample C) Decide on methods to be used for data collection D) Describe the exposure and/or disease status in a population
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
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 (Correction: No matter what the goals of a research project are or what methods are used to achieve those goals, the five steps of the research process are the same.)
True or False? Anthropometric measurements are physiological measurements that can be quantified accurately after minimal instruction
False. (Correction: Basic vital signs are physiological measurements that can be quantified accurately after minimal instruction); Anthropometry is the measurement of the human body and anthropometric measurements are often important in health research, especially in studies of nutritional status; individuals taking the measurements should be trained to use all equipment properly and to record results to the appropriate level of precision.
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. (Correction: Cross-sectional surveys measure the prevalence of various exposure histories, disease states, and demographic characteristics in one well-defined population at one point in time (or over a short duration of time, with all data collected within a few days, weeks, or months))
True or False? Once a meeting is scheduled, all conversations will yield a mentor-mentee relationship.
False. (Correction: Even if a meeting is scheduled, not all conversations will yield a mentor-mentee relationship.)
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. (Correction: If new data will be collected, the researcher has great freedom in selecting study topics, but may struggle to recruit adequate numbers of participants.)
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. (Correction: If the plan is to synthesize current knowledge by conducting a literature review, the researcher must be prepared to track down the full text of all relevant articles.)
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. (Correction: If too few participants are recruited, the whole study will be almost worthless because the sample will not have enough statistical power to answer the study question.)
True or False? Investigators who make their data available to the public expect to be coauthors on papers written by independent analysts.
False. (Correction: Investigators who make their data available to the public often do not expect to be coauthors on papers written by independent analysts. However they may expect their contributions to be recognized and/or the sources of funding and technical support to be acknowledged.)
True or False? One senior researcher can provide all of the professional mentorship that a rising researcher requires
False. (Correction: No one senior researcher, or even a team of research coaches, can provide all of the professional mentorship that a rising research requires.)
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. (Correction: Studies that measure individuals randomly sampled from the same populations at different points in time (that is, repeated cross-sectional surveys) are not using a cohort study approach, because they do not necessarily capture the same individuals in each round of questioning.)
True or False? The goal of concept mapping is to create a long list of possible research topics.
False. (Correction: The goal of brainstorming is to create a long list of possible research topics); Concept mapping is a visual method for listing ideas and then grouping them to reveal relationships which can be useful when identifying a study question and as part of narrative analysis of qualitative data.
True or False? The senior author must be heavily involved in the day-to-day details of the study and meet authorship criteria by providing clarity and direction along the way and by providing critical feedback on the manuscript.
False. (Correction: The senior author may or may not be heavily involved in the day-to-day details of the study but meets the authorship criteria by providing clarity and direction along the way and by providing critical feedback on the manuscript.)
True or False? The variables used as matching criteria must be considered as exposures during analysis.
False. (Correction: The variables used as matching criteria cannot be considered as exposures during analysis.)
True or False? The sample population consists of individuals from the study population who are invited to participate in the research project.
False. (Correction:The sample populations consists of individuals from the source population who are invited to participate in the research project)
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
An individual who is given honorary coauthorship without having significantly contributed to the work is referred to as which of the following?
Gift authorship
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 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
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
In what manner are authors generally listed on a manuscript?
In order according to contribution to the project
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 commonly used type of cross-sectional study asks participants about their knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, practices, and behaviors?
KAP survey
Which of the following may be helpful for identifying the presence of a disease or markers for a disease?
Laboratory analysis of biological specimens
The researcher who will do the majority of the work is defined as which of the following?
Lead researcher
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
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)
Most researchers serve as what type of coauthors before moving into the lead author role for the first time?
Middle coauthors
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? A) Strong B) Moderate C) Weak D) Nonexistent
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?
Nonrandom sampling bias
Which of the following is the measure of association that readers will expect to be reported for a case-control study?
Odds ratio
Secondary data collection might become labor intensive if which of the following have to be retrieved, read, coded, and entered into a database?
Old hospital charts
Which of the following points toward the selection of key indicators that would provide evidence for the success of the intervention?
PICOT
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?
Pearson correlation coefficient
Which of the following is the highest cost associated with interviews?
Personnel
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 are the two main threats to the validity of a meta-analysis?
Poor quality of included studies and publication bias
Factors that might influence the relationships between key exposures and outcomes are referred to as which of the following?
Potential confounders
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
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
For what type of questions must decisions be made about how many entries to include on a scale and whether there will be a neutral option?
Ranked questions
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
Which of the following should always be the top priority when designing and implementing an experimental study?
Safety
The timeline for what type of study might be very short if an entire data file and the relevant supporting documentation can be downloaded from a website?
Secondary study
Before conducting a statistical analysis of aggregate data, the data from each population must be entered into which of the following? A) Histogram B) Matrix C) Scatterplot D) Spreadsheet
Spreadsheet
What type of study revolves around a thorough review of existing literature?
Tertiary study
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? Case definitions are essential for any outbreak investigation no matter which study approach is used to investigate the epidemic.
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? 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 goal of the study is to understand populations, describe patterns, or ask research questions that are not focused on causality, the best design may be a cross-sectional or cohort study.
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.
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? Only a few out of every hundred calls made by random-digit dialing may yield one person willing to participate in the survey.
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? Primary studies are often time-consuming because they require the collection of new data from participants.
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? Questions derived from practice often point toward an unmet demand for needs assessments, program evaluations, and clinical effectiveness studies.
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? 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.
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 only way to truly understand a study is to read the full text of the article.
True
True or False? The senior author, usually the primary research supervisor for a student or research group, is often listed as the last author even if he or she was heavily involved in all aspects of the work and might otherwise be the second author.
True
True or False? When interpreting the 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
What type of table is used in case-control studies to compare two dichotomous (yes/no) variables?
Two-by-two (2x2) 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
A needs assessment answers which of the following questions?
What is the health status of this population?
