PTP 560 Research Methods – Week 13 Thomas Ruediger, PT

Next Thur. at 10:00 will have 55 questions.

Data Collection – What is/are your independent variable(s)? – What is/are your dependent variable(s)? – How are you going to analyze your data? – Produce a Data Collection Form! – Review it with a colleague

Data Management – Record your independent variable(s) – Record your dependent variable(s)b – Clean your data: enter same data twice then subtract to see if everything is zero – Manipulate your data as needed Reorganize/Sort Mathematically – Mass and height to BMI – Distance and speed to rate Mathematically transform – Negative inverse – Square root – etc – Product is a Data Summary Document (I like Excel) – Review it with a colleague

ID Age Sex (M=1, F=0) Height (0.5 cm) Mass (0.1 kg) BMI Finger girth (mm) SDL onset SDL onset2 SDL peak SDL peak2 FA onset FA onset2 FA peak FA peak2 AE-BE onset AE-BE onset2 AE-BE peak AE-BE peak2 Wrist-Amp1Wrist-Amp2 BE-Amp1BE-Amp2AE-Amp1AE-Amp

Searching the Literature – Index Medicus in the old days (by hand) – Electronic now – Pubmed/PEDro/CINAHL/Cochrane ………… – – Open Door (Let’s use some Boolean Logic) mplate=/MembersOnly.cfm&ContentID=32251 – Use your Research Librarian!

Writing a Research Proposal – Title – Abstract – Statement of Research Problem – Purpose Statement – Background – Method-(what you did) Subjects Materials Procedures (Chronological Sequence) Data Management – Discussion: why u did, what u did. – Cited Literature – Documentation for Informed Consent

Writing a Research Proposal – Budget With justification (why are you spending it) Feasibility check If seeking funds, source wants to know – Resources and Environment – Personnel Education Certification Research record

Reporting the Results Select a Journal – Who do you want to know about your results? – Can you publish there? – What are the Journal’s priorities? Structure – Title – Abstract – Introduction – Method Design Subject selection Subjects description Measurements Data analysis procedures – Results Emphasize the variables of interest in narrative – Discussion: why we saw what we saw. – Results – Cited Literature

Reporting the Results Writing Style – People first People with…. – Suggest active voice Exceptions – When it distracts from the event being reported – Calling unnecessary attention to the authors – Pt. did, We did, the results showed instead of = “I did” – Subject, verb, object, period with citation. – Keep it simple, not flowery

Evaluating the Results Validity of the study – Want to know validity, to know if it is useful for the patient. – Who were the subjects? – Can the results be generalized ? Importance of the intervention effects – Statistically significant? – MCID? Clinically important. – If negative, was power reported Can I use it for my patient? – Critically Appraised Topic (CAT) Alternative to systematic Review Popular to summarize literature on focused clinical questions

Truth Determinants of power? 1. Effect Size (INC) 2. Sample Size (INC) 3. Variance (DEC) 4. Alpha Level (INC) Fail to reject H o Saying there is no difference α Type I error 1- β Power β Type II error H o is true: There is No Difference Reject H o Saying there is a difference H o is False Is a difference Decision Saying there is a difference when none exists Error Free: Correctly finding a difference Saying there is no difference when one exists Error Free: Correctly finding no difference