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Assignment Questions

Evaluation & Analysis of Research Format

This assignment is a critical evaluation of research conducted by others; it is not an opinion piece. You will need to synthesize what you have learned so far this semester (study designs, interpretation of relative risk, odds ratios, data tables, etc), information learned from other classes in your course of study (history, geography, psychology, sociology), and apply critical analysis to a journal article. At a minimum, I would recommend 10 hours of effort to receive an adequate grade. A’s for this assignment range from four to eight pages of Word document on average (depending on how succinct your writing is) before being pasted into the assessment. Be detailed, be thorough; if you paste directly from the article, you will receive a 0 for the question. This single assignment is worth 100 points and translates to 12.5% of your final grade. Both assignments combined therefore are worth 25% of your final grade and are weighted in the gradebook accordingly.

I suggest you do this assignment in a word processing document beforehand. If you highlight your selected text and press and hold the CTRL button and then the C button, it will copy. You then place the cursor in the answer box in BB. Press and hold the CTRL button and then the V button and it will copy your selected text into the answer box. Save as you go.

This article critique assessment will be completed in Blackboard. It will consist of individual questions (how you see online test questions) composed of short answer and essay blocks. The following questions are provided so that you may prepare in advance. These are the exact questions you will be asked to answer:

Reference for the Article (2 points)
1. Short answer, (APA format, 5th edition or newer; it is understood you will not be able to italicize)

Section: How did the researchers collect their data? (60 points total)
2. What was/were the objective(s) of the study? (4 points)
— paragraph; be specific and thorough

3. Why was the study conducted? (6 points) – one to two paragraphs; be specific and thorough
Why/how is this study different? What did the researchers do that is new? Why?

4. What was the primary exposure(s) of interest? (4 points)
– short answer, < 160 characters

5. What were the primary outcome(s) of interest? (4 points)
– short answer, < 160 characters

6. What type of study is this? What is the definition of this kind of study? (4 points)
– short answer and a definition; be specific.

7. Describe the source of this study population. (4 points) –paragraph; be specific and thorough
Where/how did the researchers find the study participants?

8. Describe the selection process for this study population. (6 points) – one to two paragraphs
How did researchers obtain their final study/sample population? What was the process?

9. Describe the sample size for this study. (2 points) – numerical value

10. Describe and define the types of selection bias both present and potentially present in this study. (10 points) – several bulleted paragraphs; use your text and the YES Observational Studies and Bias lab exercise to discuss the five specific types of selection bias.
Be thorough and specific and discuss the five types of selection bias possible, even if the researchers did not address them. This is where you will apply critical analysis to bias.

11. Describe and define the types of information bias present and potentially present in this study. (10 points) – several bulleted paragraphs; Use your text and the YES Observational Studies and Bias lab exercise to discuss the four specific types of information bias.
— Be thorough, specific, and discuss the four types of selection bias possible, even if the researchers did not address them. This is where you will apply critical analysis to bias.

12. List/describe confounding variables researchers controlled for in the study. What did the researchers fail to control for? (6 points) – several paragraphs or one long well-structured essay
If you do not understand confounding, go research it. What did the researchers control for? What did they fail to control for that are of concern in relation to their conclusions (think outside the box here, think about the population under study: country, culture, socio-economic status, etc.)?

Section: Analysis of Data (5 points total)
13. During the statistical analysis, what measures of association were used? (5 points)
–short answer, < 160 characters
What statistical measures did the researchers use? Be specific and thorough

Section: Interpretation of Data (33 points)
14. Give the major results, both text and from tables. (5 points) – bullet points or paragraphs
You must show evidence that you have critically evaluated the researchers’ results
Do not cut and paste or you will receive a zero for this question

15. How was the interpretation affected by selection bias, information bias, and confounding?
(10 points) – three paragraphs
You identified the types of bias in this article earlier. How did these biases influence the researchers’ interpretation of the results and the conclusions? How did uncontrolled confounders alter the study results and conclusions?

16. How could the interpretation of study results be affected by misclassification? (5 points)
— one to two paragraphs
What is misclassification? How does it occur? How could misclassification occur in this study and how does that affect or potentially affect the study conclusions?

17. What were the limitations of the study? Were adequately addressed? Why or why not?
(4 points) – one to two paragraphs
What did the researchers report as limitations to their study? What did they compare their study to?

18. Are the conclusions justified by the findings? Why or why not? (4 points)
— one to two paragraphs

19. Does this study have external validity? Who can the study be generalized to? (5 points) –one to two paragraphs; be specific and thorough

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