Assignment

RESEARCH ARTICLE: Is aspirin associated with diabetic retinopathy? The Singapore Epidemiology of Eye Disease (SEED) study by Yuan Shi, Yih-Chung Tham, Ning Cheung, Jacqueline Chua, Gavin Tan, Paul Mitchel, Jie JinWang, Yin Bun Cheung, Ching-Yu Cheng and Tien YinWong.

1) What was/were the outcome(s) of interest in the study? If there is more than one, list all of them

2) Evaluate whether the discussion section of the article adequately addresses the strengths and limitations of the study. Explain your reasoning in complete sentences.

3) Discuss future research studies that would be appropriate given the study findings. Please answer in complete sentences.

4) What are the social change implications of the study results? Please answer in complete sentences.

5) What potential effect modifiers were assessed in the study, and how were they assessed? Please answer in complete sentences

6) What are the limitations of the study, and how do these limitations impact how the study results are interpreted? Please answer in complete sentences.

7) Describe how the study participants were selected for the study, including the inclusion and exclusion criteria used.

8) How were the data on the exposure(s) in the study collected and measured? Were they collected and measured the same way for all participants? Explain using complete sentences.

9) How were the data on the outcome(s) in the study collected and measured? Were they collected and measured the same way for all participants?

10) Given what you have learned in this course about confounding, was the adjustment for confounding adequate, or is residual confounding a concern?

11) What types of selection bias might be affecting this study? Please describe the biases and how they might be affecting the results of the study

12) Please describe the major results of the study. Include the major numerical/statistical results as well as interpretations of them in your own words.

13) Given what you have learned in this course about effect modification, was the assessment adequate? Why or why not? Explain using complete sentences.

14) How well did the study participants represent the larger population from which they were selected? Explain any concerns about generalizability with the study results.

15) What measure of disease frequency, association, and/or impact was calculated to answer the main research question(s)? Please answer in complete sentences.

Study Guide for the Article Critique

Reminders:

· Before opening the critique questions

· As indicated by your teacher, use the guidelines in Chapter 14 of the text as well as information that has been discussed throughout the course to analyze the article.

· The checklist on pg. 365 of the text may help guide you for the critique.

o Exhibit 14-1 Outline for Critiquing Epidemiologic Studies

· Once you have read the article and are able to articulate answers in your mind for the questions provided on pg. 365 then you may open up

· You will randomly receive 15 questions about the article to answer. These are short-answered questions and are presented in a "test" format.

o Please make sure your responses meet academic writing standards.

o Responses do not need citations or references

o Each question is worth 5 points

o Partial credit is possible

· You are being given 2 hours to complete the questions and submit them to Blackboard. Please note that once you have opened the critique, the 2-hour time window starts and does not stop. Please be mindful of this and ensure that you are prepared and have time available to complete the critique before opening it.

· It is a relatively short research article to read so please do not feel overwhelmed

Questions may include the following:

· Ethical concerns

· Effect modifiers

· Strength of association

· Information bias

· Inclusion criteria

· Exclusion criteria

· Data collection methods

· Statistical test used

· Selection bias

· Statistical significance

· Future implications

· Social change implications

· Research question being asked

· Outcome of interest

· Study limitations

· Study designs

· Representation of the population

Tips for Success:

· It is important to note that research articles are comprised of the following sections:

o Title

o Abstract

o Introduction

o Materials and Methods

o Results

o Conclusions/Discussion

o Bibliography

· Typically, each section you are able to find particular information pertaining to the research question, study design, population, etc.:

o Abstract:

- Here you would find a short summary of the entire paper. It should include goals and objectives, results, and conclusions. This is usually the last part of the paper to be written.

o Introduction:

- It provides background on the topic, review of the literature, focus and purpose of the paper, overview of what is contained in the paper, outcome of interest, and the research question being asked.

o Methods:

- This section describes what the researcher did and how the researcher did it. Within the methods you will be able to determine the population, where they gathered the participants of the study, data collection methods: interview, questionnaire, focus group, etc., statistical tests used, and study design used.

- In this section you may also be able to gauge selection bias, information bias, inclusion/exclusion criteria, ethical concerns, and the effect modifier.

o Results:

- This section simply provides the results from the statistical analysis (not an interpretation of the results). This may be displayed through graphs or tables. It will indicate whether the results are considered statistically significant or not.

o Discussion/Conclusion:

- The discussion goes over what the results mean and why the results may have ended up as they have. The researcher is able to discuss take home messages, interesting observations, future implications, social change implications, what worked, and what did not work.