Swift Research & Evidence-Based Practice 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A social worker administers the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and PHQ-9 to the same client and obtains similar scores. This demonstrates:
- Predictive validity
- Convergent validity (Correct answer)
- Discriminant validity
- Face validity
Correct answer: Convergent validity
Convergent validity is supported when two instruments measuring the same construct yield highly correlated results.
Question 2: Survivor bias in research occurs when:
- Participants with the most severe problems drop out of a study
- Only participants who completed the program are included in outcome analyses (Correct answer)
- Researchers exclude outliers to improve statistical significance
- Follow-up data is collected over too long a period
Correct answer: Only participants who completed the program are included in outcome analyses
Survivor bias occurs when analyses include only those who remained in a program, ignoring dropouts who may have had worse outcomes, leading to inflated estimates of success.
Question 3: Which level of measurement allows for meaningful ratios (e.g., 'twice as much') and has a true zero point?
- Nominal
- Ordinal
- Interval
- Ratio (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Ratio
Ratio-level measurement has a true zero point, meaning the absence of the variable, which allows meaningful ratio comparisons between values.
Question 4: In evaluating research for EBP, the PICO framework stands for Population, Intervention, Comparison, and:
- Outcome (Correct answer)
- Observation
- Overview
- Operation
Correct answer: Outcome
PICO structures clinical questions by specifying the Population, Intervention, Comparison condition, and Outcome of interest to focus literature searches.
Question 5: A researcher recruits participants by asking initial participants to refer others from their social networks. This is called:
- Systematic sampling
- Cluster sampling
- Snowball sampling (Correct answer)
- Stratified sampling
Correct answer: Snowball sampling
Snowball sampling leverages social networks to recruit hard-to-reach populations, with each participant referring additional participants.
Question 6: Internal validity in a research study refers to:
- The degree to which results can be generalized to other populations
- The consistency of measurement across time
- The extent to which observed changes are due to the intervention, not confounds (Correct answer)
- The appropriateness of the sample for the research question
Correct answer: The extent to which observed changes are due to the intervention, not confounds
Internal validity is the degree to which a study's design controls for confounding variables, allowing confident attribution of outcomes to the intervention.
Question 7: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study is cited in social work research ethics primarily to illustrate:
- The benefits of longitudinal research designs
- The dangers of deception and failure to protect vulnerable populations (Correct answer)
- How to obtain large probability samples
- The importance of controlling for confounding variables
Correct answer: The dangers of deception and failure to protect vulnerable populations
The Tuskegee study exemplifies egregious ethical violations, including withholding treatment from Black men with syphilis without their knowledge, leading to the Belmont Report and modern IRB requirements.
Swift Research & Evidence-Based Practice 5
A social worker administers the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and PHQ-9 to the same client and obtains similar scores.
This demonstrates: