Ch11 Exam Questions Statistics For Evidence-Based Practice

Chapter 11: Statistics for Evidence-Based Practice

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. Human service agencies are increasingly expected to demonstrate that they:

a. serve their clients

b. seek funds as needed

c. employ evidence-based practices

d. report on clients who are not complying with service requirements

Answer Location: Statistics for Evidence-Based Practice

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Evidence-based practice requires:

a. treating evidence of treatment effectiveness as information of secondary importance

b. scientific evidence to be taken into consideration when making practice decisions

c. only the use of descriptive statistics

d. establishing theoretical relationships

Answer Location: Statistics for Evidence-Based Practice

Cognitive Domain: Application

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. In the scientific world, evidence refers to:

a. information collected according to the practices of a specific treatment modality

b. information collected according to the principles of practice wisdom

c. information collected according to the principles and practices of scientific inquiry

d. information collected based on client satisfaction only

Answer Location: Statistics for Evidence-Based Practice

Cognitive Domain: Application

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. Attributes of evidence-based practice are:

a. clinical practice in the human services and judicious use of the best available evidence

b. clinical practice in the human services and considerations of client preferences and therapist expertise

c. clinical practice in the human services and judicious use of the best available evidence, along with considerations of client preferences and therapist expertise

d. clinical practice in the human services, judicious use of the best available evidence, considerations of client preferences and therapist expertise, making practice decisions in collaboration with the client to decide on the goals of treatment, and choosing a practice that is best according to several factors

Answer Location: What Is Evidence-Based Practice?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. The evidence-based practice movement has generated a number of new ideas about how to examine evidence. One of these ideas is that:

a. practitioners should cherry-pick studies according to whether they support the professional’s preconceived view of reality

b. practitioners can usually find some evidence to support just about any assertion they would like to make

c. practitioners can choose the studies they want to use in support of their evidence as they can claim that the results of scientific studies are quite varied and inconsistent

d. the evidence must be examined in terms of criteria determined prior to the search of the literature, with the result that preconceived ideas may need to be revised

Answer Location: What Is Evidence-Based Practice?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. Which one of the following is not one of the four levels of evidence that this textbook discusses?

a. the single research study

b. traditional review of the research literature

c. articles that report the opinions of experts or practitioners

d. meta-analysis

7. The single research study does not examine which of the following?

a. a given sample of people

b. using a given method of measurement

c. combined results of a number of studies on a common theme

d. a given statistical analysis of data

Answer Location: The Single Research Study

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Single studies are only the first level of scientific evidence to consider because:

a. they are useful but limited in their scope

b. it is possible to find a single study that perfectly fits your practice situation

c. single studies are not vulnerable to being misused by people

d. they cannot be used by those who wish to cherry-pick evidence to prove a point

Answer Location: The Single Research Study

Cognitive Domain: Application

Difficulty Level: Difficult

9. What does a traditional literature review of the evidence do?

a. reports on a selective group of studies of a given practice issue and provides a partial view of what the body of literature tells us

b. reports on a number of studies of a given practice issue and provides a summary of what the body of literature tells us

c. reports on one specific study of a given practice issue

d. reports on client reports on the practice

Answer Location: Traditional Literature Review of the Evidence

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. What is a bias?

a. a systematic viewpoint in the methods used to collect or analyze data that influences the data and the conclusions that can be drawn from it

b. a systematic approach in the methods used to collect or analyze data that enhances the data and the valid conclusions that can be drawn from it

c. a systematic error in the methods used to collect or analyze data that influences the data and the conclusions that can be drawn from it

d. a systematic modification in the methods used to collect or analyze data that accurately describes the data and the conclusions that can be drawn from it

Answer Location: Traditional Literature Review of the Evidence

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Difficulty Level: Difficult

11. What is meta-analysis?

a. a technique for combining the results of a small number of studies on a common theme

b. a specific scientific technique for combining similar study results into a single metric

c. a technique for combining the results of a number of studies on different themes

d. a specific scientific technique for combining disparate study results into a single metric for drawing conclusions about the research question

Answer Location: Meta-Analysis

Cognitive Domain: Application

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. A key contribution of meta-analysis is that it:

a. begins with the conclusion of the relevant literature

b. begins with the establishment of a protocol for searching the literature

c. ends with the establishment of a protocol for searching the literature

d. ends with the analysis of the data

Answer Location: Meta-Analysis

Cognitive Domain: Application

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. The protocol for searching the literature in conducting meta-analysis does not include:

a. the selection of the electronic literature databases to review

b. the keywords that will be used to search the databases for articles

c. the criteria that will be used to select studies for the meta-analysis from all the articles that appear

d. the deletion of the studies whose findings the author does not agree with from the meta-analysis

Answer Location: Meta-Analysis

Cognitive Domain: Application

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. The systematic review of the literature:

a. unlike meta-analysis does not employ a protocol for searching the literature

b. employs a protocol for searching the literature and may include one or more meta-analyses

c. does not include meta-analyses

d. includes a protocol similar to meta-analysis for searching the literature

Answer Location: Systematic Review of the Literature

Cognitive Domain: Application

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. The highest-quality scientific inquiry normally available to the human service professional is:

a. meta-analysis

b. single research study

c. systematic review of the literature

d. traditional literature review

Answer location: Systematic Review of the Literature

Cognitive Domain: Application

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. In looking for evidence for the practice, the order for searching that is presented in this textbook is:

a. meta-analysis then systematic review of the literature

b. traditional literature review then meta-analysis

c. systematic review of the literature, meta-analysis, then traditional literature review

d. systematic review of the literature, meta-analysis, then traditional literature review and if all else fails to generate sufficient evidence for the researcher’s purposes, the researcher can seek articles that report single studies that are of interest to the research question

Answer Location: What Should the Practitioner Do?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. The use of effect size in systematic review involves:

a. combining the effect sizes of various studies to compute the overall effect of a given intervention on a given target behavior even when the various studies employed different tools to measure the common dependent variable

b. individually looking at the effect sizes of various studies to compute the overall effect of a given intervention on a given target behavior when the various studies employed different tools to measure the common dependent variable

c. combining the effect sizes of various studies to compute the overall effect of a given intervention on a given target behavior only when the various studies employed the same tools to measure the common dependent variable

d. combining the effect sizes of random studies to compute the individual effect of a given intervention on a given target behavior even when the various studies employed different tools to measure the common dependent variable

Answer Location: The Effect Size as an Indicator of Gain for the Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review

Cognitive Domain: Application

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. What is sensitivity analysis?

a. the examination of whether certain aspects of the protocol, such as inclusion criteria, may have made a difference in the results

b. the examination of whether all aspects of the protocol may not have made a difference in the results

c. the examination of whether the protocol was coherent

d. the examination of whether all aspects of the protocol were flawed

Answer Location: The Analysis of Bias in the Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review

Cognitive Domain: Application

Difficulty Level: Medium

True/False

1. Professionals’ years of practice experience can be construed as evidence-based practice.

Answer Location: Statistics for Evidence-Based Practice

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Articles that provide information on the nature of a given practice along with the opinions of the author about the effectiveness of a specific treatment are forms of evidence as used in the textbook.

Answer Location: Levels of Evidence

Cognitive Domain: Application

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. The only way you will really know the effectiveness of your own service is to engage in evaluative research, evaluating your service with your own clients.

Answer Location: The Single Research Study

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. The research literature on a given theme varies a great deal from study to study in the conclusions that are drawn, and therefore, the review of a single article can be misleading.

Answer Location: Traditional Literature Review of the Evidence

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. A literature review does not inform you of the limitations of the intervention or whether it is better than other interventions.

Answer Location: Traditional Literature Review of the Evidence

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. One of the ways to reduce the filtering of information based on the researcher’s bias in setting up the criteria for review is to include only studies that used a randomized control trial in the experimental design.

Answer Location: Meta-Analysis

Cognitive Domain: Application

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. A systematic review is usually conducted by a team of researchers who receive the benefit of ongoing peer review from others.

Answer Location: Systematic Review of the Literature

Cognitive Domain: Application

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. The advantage of the effect size for a review of evidence is that it is a standard measure can be applied regardless of the particular tool used to measure the target behavior.

Answer Location: The Effect Size as an Indicator of Gain for the Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review

Cognitive Domain: Application

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. Moderator analysis does not use statistical tests.

Answer Location: The Analysis of Bias in the Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review

Cognitive Domain: Application

Difficulty Level: Medium

Short Answer

1. Explain the importance of meta-analysis in evidence-based practice.

Answer Location: Meta-Analysis

Cognitive Domain: Application

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. What factors do you look for when you review the statistics of studies in the review of literature? Provide a rationale.

Answer Location: Statistics for Review of Evidence

Cognitive Domain: Application

Difficulty Level: Medium

Essay

1. Explain the relevance of meta-analysis for evidence-based practice and provide an example.

Then the terms group psychotherapy, group therapy, group dynamics, psychotherapy, and support groups were added. To be included, studies had to have measurements of client gain and test group psychotherapy. A total of 44 studies were found in this search that together included 1,381 clients. The authors of this meta-analysis concluded that group psychotherapy was generally effective in the treatment of a variety of target behaviors. The effect sizes of the various studies included in this analysis ranged from .24 to .42, indicating a modest effect of group psychotherapy on the conditions being treated.

Answer Location: Meta-Analysis

Cognitive Domain: Application

Difficulty Level: Difficult