CET Research Methods & Evidence-Based Practice 3

Question 1

Which type of error occurs when a researcher fails to reject a false null hypothesis in an echocardiographic outcome study?

Accepted Answer

Type II error (beta error)

Answer

A Type II (beta) error is a false negative — failing to detect a true effect that actually exists.

Question 2

In evaluating interobserver variability of tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) measurements, which statistic is MOST appropriate?

Accepted Answer

Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC)

Answer

The ICC is the preferred statistic for assessing agreement between two or more raters measuring a continuous variable like TAPSE.

Question 3

A case-control study examines whether smoking is associated with aortic root dilation detected on echo. Researchers select 100 patients with dilation and 100 without. What is the key limitation of this design?

Accepted Answer

It cannot calculate relative risk directly

Answer

Case-control studies calculate odds ratios but cannot directly calculate relative risk because the disease prevalence in the population is not known from the study design.

Question 4

When reviewing a study on strain echocardiography, you notice the authors used p<0.05 as the significance threshold. What does this threshold represent?

Accepted Answer

There is a 5% probability of observing the results by chance if the null hypothesis is true

Answer

A p-value of <0.05 means there is less than a 5% probability of obtaining the observed results if the null hypothesis (no effect) were true.

Question 5

A systematic review on speckle tracking echocardiography uses GRADE criteria to rate evidence quality. Which factor would DOWNGRADE the evidence rating?

Accepted Answer

Serious risk of bias in included studies

Answer

Serious risk of bias in included studies is a primary reason to downgrade evidence quality in the GRADE framework.

(CET) Certified Echocardiography Technician Practice Test

(CET) Certified Echocardiography Technician Practice Test

CET Research Methods & Evidence-Based Practice 3