Week 1 Day 1 How do we know what we think we know? Human Inquiry v Scientific Research

1. DIE 4564 Research Methods Week 1 Day 1 How do we know what we think we know? Human Inquiry v Scientific Research

2. Human Inquiry seeking reality, truth, information, or knowledge. may be participative, experiential, political, or action oriented.

3. What is “Reality” Discussion: What are some of the things we “know” as part of our culture? What now constitutes “authority”. Who do you trust? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uZAjwN2Eho • Agreement Reality – those things we “know” as part of the culture we share with those around us. • Tradition – knowledge based on shared cultural understandings. • Authority – knowledge based on the status of the discoverer.

4. Seeking Reality • Experiential Reality – those things we “know” as part of our personal experience. • Cause and effect patterns tend to be probabilistic in nature. • Experience that the future is caused in part by the events in the present. • Anecdotal evidence

5. Errors in Human Inquiry • Inaccurate Observations • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo • Measurement devises offer accuracy. • Overgeneralizations • Large and representative samples safeguard against overgeneralization. • Replication – repeating a research study to confirm, qualify, or refute the findings of an earlier study.

6. Errors in Human Inquiry continued • Selective Observations • Avoid looking for “deviant” cases. • illogical Reasoning • Example: “Gambler’s fallacy” • Strive to use logic consciously and explicitly.

7. Scientific Inquiry • The foundations of science are logic and observation. • Logic = process of valid reasoning • Valid = true under every interpretation

8. Scientific Research • Research is a systematic and logicalmethod of inquiry • Key terms • Epistemology – the science of knowing; systems of knowledge. • Methodology – the science of finding out; procedures for scientific investigation.

9. Pure v Applied Research • Pure (basic) Research – gaining “knowledge for knowledge’s sake.” • ex. surveillance • Applied Research – systematic inquiry into the practical application of science. • ex. monitoring

10. Research in Dietetics Purposes: To uncover new knowledge To define new modes of therapy To provide the basis for education To set public policy To allow dietitians to be recognized as a valued and credible source of food and nutrition information

11. Examples of Research Goals Identifying and classifying new nutrition issues Determining nutrition-related risk factors for disease Developing and testing new dietary interventions for preventing or treating illness Evaluating the impact of health policies on nutrition-related health outcomes Synthesizing existing knowledge so that it can be applied by others http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTuSoitiJS0

12. Benefits to the Researcher Acquiring new skills Satisfying personal curiosity Becoming a published author Fulfilling degree or work requirements Contributing to individual or population health Contributing to the body of scientific knowledge

13. The Research Process … It all begins with “The Question” • In Social Science the research process may be described as: • Create a theory • Collect data • Analyze the data

14. Jumping on the “Wheel of Science”- how do you come up with “The Question”? Defining the question

15. Key terms • Hypothesis - A tentative explanation for an observation, phenomenon, or scientific problem that can be tested by further investigation. H0 or H1. It is your or your prediction of the relationship • Theory – A systematic explanation devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena, that has been repeatedly tested and can be used to make predictions about natural phenomena.

16. Types of reasoning • inductive reasoning – “bottom-up” approach, inferring general principles or rules from specific facts and observations • Observe first then develop hypothesis. • deductive reasoning–“top- down” approach, reasoning from one or more general statements or premises • Create hypothesis then observe / test it.

17. Brainstorming for “The Question” What question will keep you engaged until you find the answer?

18. Once theme identified consider types of exposures

19. PICO Strategy for Clinical Research Questions* P – Patient or problem I – Intervention C – Control or comparison O - Outcome or expected result

20. Key Words Example: Initial brainstorming about Child Health in America Obesity Poverty Iron deficiency Attention Deficit Disorder Malnutrition Allergies Violence Drug and alcohol abuse How can you transform this to a workable research question?

21. Log into Keiser Library then select EBSCOHOST

22. Deselect the automatic selections then choose CINAHL and Medline… Then click “continue”

23. Insert keywords and limitations: Keywords -attention deficit disorder, iron deficiency anemia, children, and related words in Boolean search. Limit by dates, English, peer-reviewed, and humans.

24. 8 hits are not enough. Change time frame?

25. Changed to past 10 year gave only 12 hits. Now what?

27. Additional search strategies… Find one article that correctly addresses your subject and examine the key words of that article. Try “mind mapping” or creating a Concept Map of key words Use other databases “Snowball” hand search of references in related texts

28. Health Science Databases PubMed –US National Library of Medicine (free!) EBSCOHOST – KU subscription CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health) MEDLINE LIRN – KU subscription ProQuest

29. Pub Med Searches More specific than Google Scholar Uses a controlled vocabulary (MeSH)for efficient search Built in automatic term mapping

30. Pub Med – US National Library of Medicine – universal free access

32. MeSH (Medical Subject Headings)

33. MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) The MeSHindex can sometimes help you to narrow the scope of interest

34. MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) Use the MeSH index to expand the scope of interest

35. Anatomy of a Medical Article Title / Author Sponsorship / Conflict of Interest Abstract Introduction Methods Results Discussion References

36. Full-Text Articles The only way to truly understand a study is to read the full text of the article. How to acquire full text articles: Library websites (e-journals) and physical collections Journal websites / Internet searches Request an “interlibrary loan” from a university library Check “Google Scholar” for access Email the author and request an electronic copy

37. Steps for Reading Articles Read the abstract. Read the entire text of the article Look carefully at the tables and figures for important results (compare to text) Review of the reference lists for related papers Reflect on the methods and results - Were the evaluation methods the best means to answer the study question? Did the abstract and discussion accurately reflect the results?

38. Questions to Ask Is the title neutral or is it “marketing” a result? Is it an industry-sponsored study? Was this a preliminary study? Was it on animals or humans? Was the sample size big enough? Was the study long enough? Was it published in a peer-reviewed journal?

39. So how do we “KNOW” we have the right answer?: The case for causality “Causality or causation is the relationship between an event (the cause) and a second event (the effect), where the second event is understood as a consequence of the first”

40. Social Science Criteria for Causal Relationships Correlation – a statistical relationship between two variables Time order- the cause precedes the effect Non-spuriousness- the effect can only be explained by the cause; cause cannot be explained by a third variable

41. Necessary and Sufficient Causes A necessary causerepresents a condition that must be present for the effect to follow. A sufficient causerepresents a condition that, if it is present, guarantees the effect in question. Most satisfying outcome in research includes both necessary and sufficient causes.

42. Necessary and Sufficient Causes Necessary Cause. Being female is a necessary cause of pregnancy; that is, you can’t get pregnant unless you are female.

43. Necessary and Sufficient Causes Sufficient Cause. Not taking the exam is a sufficient cause of failing it, even though there are other ways of failing (such as not studying).

44. The Bradford Hill Criteria Example: How do we know that iron-deficiency causes hypochromic microcytic anemia. 1: Strength of Association. The stronger the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable, the less likely it is that the relationship is due to an extraneous variable.

45. The Bradford Hill Criteria Example: How do we know that iron-deficiency causes hypochromic microcytic anemia. 2: Temporality. It is logically necessary for a cause to precede an effect in time.

46. The Bradford Hill Criteria Example: How do we know that iron-deficiency causes hypochromic microcytic anemia. 3: Consistency. Multiple observations, of an association, with different people under different circumstances and with different measurement instruments increase the credibility of a finding.

47. The Bradford Hill Criteria Example: How do we know that iron-deficiency causes hypochromic microcytic anemia. 4: Theoretical Plausibility. It is easier to accept an association as causal when there is a rational and theoretical basis for such a conclusion.

48. The Bradford Hill Criteria Example: How do we know that iron-deficiency causes hypochromic microcytic anemia. 5: Coherence. A cause-and-effect interpretation for an association is clearest when it does not conflict with what is known about the variables under study and when there are no plausible competing theories or rival hypotheses. In other words, the association must be coherent with other knowledge.

49. The Bradford Hill Criteria Example: How do we know that iron-deficiency causes hypochromic microcytic anemia. 6: Specificity in the causes. In the ideal situation, the effect has only one cause. In other words, showing that an outcome is best predicted by one primary factor adds credibility to a causal claim.

50. The Bradford Hill Criteria Example: How do we know that iron-deficiency causeshypochromic microcytic anemia. 7: Dose Response Relationship. There should be a direct relationship between the risk factor (i.e., the independent variable) and people’s status on the disease variable (i.e., the dependent variable).