Deck 10: Bias

Question 1

The evaluation of which of the following, or "external validity," requires review of study methods; the makeup of the study population; and subject-matter knowledge, such as the biological basis of the association?

A) Validity
B) Reliability
C) Accuracy
D) Generalizability

Answer 1

Generalizability

Question 2

The healthy worker effect is a form of which type of bias that occurs in two special types of cohort studies-proportional mortality ratio (PMR) and standardized mortality ratio (SMR) studies?

A) Recall bias
B) Interviewer bias
C) Information bias
D) Selection bias

Answer 2

Selection bias

Question 3

Case-control studies with low and moderate participation rates are susceptible to which form of bias arising from refusal or nonresponse by participants that is related to both the exposure and disease or agreement to participate that is related to both the exposure and disease?

A) Recall bias
B) Information bias
C) Self-selection bias
D) Control-selection bias

Answer 3

Self-selection bias

Question 4

Which type of bias can be thought of as a measurement error that distorts the true association between an exposure and a disease?

A) Recall bias
B) Interviewer bias
C) Information bias
D) Selection bias

Question 5

Which type of bias occurs when there is a differential level of accuracy in the information provided by compared groups?

A) Recall bias
B) Interviewer bias
C) Self-selection bias
D) Control-selection bias

Question 6

Which of the following are used to validate information provided at interviews and to provide evidence for or against recall bias?

A) Biomarkers
B) Medical records
C) Questionnaires
D) Death certificates

Question 7

One way to avoid which type of bias is to design standardized questionnaires consisting of closed-ended, easy-to-understand questions with appropriate response options?

A) Recall bias
B) Interviewer bias
C) Self-selection bias
D) Control-selection bias

Question 8

Only after an observed study result is deemed valid is it appropriate to assess whether the exposure has actually caused the outcome.

Question 9

Prospective studies are more susceptible to bias than retrospective studies.

Question 10

Bias can account entirely for a weak association, but it is unlikely to account entirely for a strong association.

Question 11

If systematic bias, confounding, and random error have been ruled out as alternative explanations, the investigator may conclude that the association is true and the study has which of the following?

A) Internal validity
B) External validity
C) Specificity
D) Sensitivity

Question 12

The evaluation of which of the following requires review of the study methods, the makeup of the study population, and subject-matter knowledge (such as the biological basis of the association)?

A) Internal validity
B) External validity
C) Specificity
D) Sensitivity

Question 13

Which type of bias can be avoided by remembering the purpose of the control group?

A) Recall bias
B) Information bias
C) Self-selection bias
D) Control-selection bias

Question 14

The best way to ensure that which type of bias does not occur is to obtain high participation rates among both cases and controls?

A) Recall bias
B) Information bias
C) Self-selection bias
D) Control-selection bias

Question 15

The most common method for minimizing which type of bias is to select a diseased control group?

A) Recall bias
B) Interviewer bias
C) Self-selection bias
D) Control-selection bias

Question 16

Writing understandable questions is both an art and a science, which falls under which discipline?

A) Isometrics
B) Biometrics
C) Psychometrics
D) Ergonomics

Question 17

Defining the exposure and disease using sensitive and specific criteria is a method of reducing which of the following?

A) Misclassification
B) Interviewer bias
C) Self-selection bias
D) Control-selection bias

Question 18

Bias can be introduced at any stage of a study, including during the design, data collection, analysis, or even publication stage.

Question 19

Retrospective studies are more susceptible to bias than prospective studies because of differences in the timing of the study.

Question 20

When the direction of the bias is toward the null, it means that the error causes the true measure of association to be overestimated.