Research Methodology & Design Flashcards

Results from a trial in healthy young adults may not apply to elderly patients with comorbidities. This concern relates to:

Answer: External validity

External validity is the extent to which findings generalize to other populations and settings.

Participants change their behavior simply because they know they are being observed. This is known as:

Answer: The Hawthorne effect

The Hawthorne effect describes behavior change due to awareness of being studied.

In a case-control study, cases remember past exposures more thoroughly than controls. This is:

Answer: Recall bias

Differential memory of exposures between cases and controls produces recall bias.

A third variable associated with both the exposure and the outcome, distorting their relationship, is a:

Answer: Confounder

Confounders are linked to both exposure and outcome and are not on the causal pathway.

Which design approach compares outcomes before and after an intervention at multiple time points without randomization?

Answer: Interrupted time series

Interrupted time series is a quasi-experimental design using repeated measures before and after an intervention.

A mixed-methods study that collects quantitative survey data first, then conducts interviews to explain the results, uses which design?

Answer: Explanatory sequential

Explanatory sequential designs use qualitative follow-up to explain initial quantitative findings.

In qualitative research, data saturation means:

Answer: No new themes emerge from additional data

Saturation is reached when further data collection yields no new information or themes.