Research Methods & Evidence-Based Practice Flashcards
7 cards from real CMD practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Research Methods & Evidence-Based Practice flashcards as text
A long-term care facility tracks fall rates monthly. The control chart shows a data point 3 standard deviations above the mean. This indicates:
Answer: Special cause variation
A data point beyond 3 standard deviations on a control chart signals special cause variation, suggesting an assignable, non-random factor requiring investigation.
In an intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis, participants who drop out of a trial are:
Answer: Analyzed in the group to which they were originally assigned
ITT analysis includes all randomized participants in their original assigned groups regardless of adherence, preserving the benefits of randomization and reducing bias.
A CMD notices that a new medication study was funded exclusively by the drug manufacturer. This raises concern about:
Answer: Funding bias (industry bias)
Industry-funded studies are systematically more likely to report favorable outcomes, representing a form of funding or publication bias that can distort evidence.
Which measure of central tendency is LEAST affected by extreme outliers in a dataset?
Answer: Median
The median represents the middle value and is resistant to skewing by extreme values, making it more robust than the mean in skewed distributions.
A CMD implements a new wound care protocol and uses a run chart to track healing rates. Run charts are primarily used to:
Answer: Display process performance over time
Run charts plot data points sequentially over time to identify trends, shifts, or patterns in a process, supporting ongoing quality monitoring.
Confounding in a research study occurs when:
Answer: A third variable distorts the relationship between exposure and outcome
A confounder is associated with both the exposure and the outcome, creating a spurious or masked association between them if not controlled.
The GRADE framework in evidence-based medicine is used to:
Answer: Rate the quality of evidence and strength of recommendations
GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation) systematically assesses evidence quality and translates it into recommendation strength for clinical practice.