CBIS Research Methods and Evidence 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A brain injury specialist wants to evaluate whether a new attention training program works better than standard care. Which outcome measure characteristic is MOST critical for detecting real change over time?
- High face validity
- Strong responsiveness (sensitivity to change) (Correct answer)
- Broad normative database
- Short administration time
Correct answer: Strong responsiveness (sensitivity to change)
Responsiveness (sensitivity to change) ensures the measure can detect clinically meaningful differences over time, which is essential in treatment efficacy studies.
Question 2: In a TBI rehabilitation study, 'intention-to-treat' (ITT) analysis means:
- Only participants who completed all sessions are included in analysis
- All randomized participants are analyzed in their assigned groups regardless of protocol adherence (Correct answer)
- Participants are analyzed based on the treatment they actually received
- Dropout participants are replaced with matched controls
Correct answer: All randomized participants are analyzed in their assigned groups regardless of protocol adherence
ITT analysis preserves randomization and prevents bias by including all participants in the groups to which they were originally assigned.
Question 3: Which type of reliability assesses the consistency of results when the same measure is administered twice to the same group within a short interval?
- Inter-rater reliability
- Internal consistency
- Test-retest reliability (Correct answer)
- Parallel forms reliability
Correct answer: Test-retest reliability
Test-retest reliability evaluates the stability of a measure over time by correlating scores from two administrations to the same participants.
Question 4: A CBIS researcher reports a Cohen's d of 0.80 for a vocational rehabilitation intervention. This effect size is considered:
- Small
- Medium
- Large (Correct answer)
- Negligible
Correct answer: Large
By Cohen's conventions, d = 0.80 represents a large effect size, indicating a substantial practical difference between groups.
Question 5: In single-subject research designs commonly used in TBI rehabilitation, a 'withdrawal design' (ABA) involves:
- Removing the participant from therapy and replacing them with a new subject
- Establishing baseline, implementing intervention, then withdrawing treatment to observe behavior change (Correct answer)
- Alternating between two different treatments across sessions
- Applying treatment across multiple behaviors simultaneously
Correct answer: Establishing baseline, implementing intervention, then withdrawing treatment to observe behavior change
An ABA withdrawal design establishes a baseline (A), introduces intervention (B), then withdraws it (A) to demonstrate experimental control.
Question 6: Ecological validity in TBI outcome research refers to the degree to which:
- Findings from laboratory settings generalize to real-world functional performance (Correct answer)
- Environmental factors are controlled in the experimental setting
- The study population reflects national TBI demographics
- Measurement tools are free from cultural bias
Correct answer: Findings from laboratory settings generalize to real-world functional performance
Ecological validity concerns whether research findings translate to real-world performance, a critical consideration since lab conditions may not reflect daily life challenges.
Question 7: When appraising a qualitative study about TBI survivors' lived experiences, which criterion is analogous to 'reliability' in quantitative research?
- Credibility
- Dependability (Correct answer)
- Transferability
- Confirmability
Correct answer: Dependability
Dependability in qualitative research parallels reliability in quantitative research, referring to the consistency and stability of the research process.
CBIS Research Methods and Evidence 3
A brain injury specialist wants to evaluate whether a new attention training program works better than standard care.
Which outcome measure characteristic is MOST critical for detecting real change over time?