Assignment Task

1. Describe what the article states about the below 4 biases (only if directly addressed): 

• Funding sources;
• Conflicts of interest;
• Coercion; and
• Compensation of participants.

Overall, considering these points, would you consider bias to be a problem for this article? Yes or No.

2. Discuss how two (2) of the following ethical issues were considered in your chosen article:

Informed consent;

• Do good or do no harm (beneficence/ non-maleficence);
• Respect anonymity, confidentiality and privacy;
• Avoid deception (integrity);
• Right to refusal or withdrawal; and
• Vulnerable groups of people.

3. Was formal ethical approval obtained for this study? If so, where from? If not, how could you assume it was obtained?

4. How did the study address validity (accuracy) of the measurement instrument? Include one aspect of internal validity and one aspect of external validity.

• Internal validity = accuracy of measure
• External validity = application to other contexts

5. Did the study mention reliability of the measurement instrument ? Yes or no?

6. Considering your personal demographics, reflect on what meaning reading this study had for you. The study is over 20 years old now, do you think the findings are still useful? (max. 200 words)

7. What is the problem (research aim or question) that is being investigated?

8. What justification was provided for this problem (e.g., a gap in the existing literature or professional knowledge)?

9. Explain how numbers influence the alignment (connection) in this article between the:

• Research question ;
• Research design ;
• Analysis ; and
• Conclusions .

10. What was the population of interest?

11. Describe the sampling techniques used to address the research question:

• Method of recruitment ;
• Method of selection ; and
• Sample size; and
• Sample characteristics .

Choose the best answer and type the letter and response in the right-hand answer column.

a) Most participants were 51 years or older, had been edentulous for over five years, and were wearing dentures. There were significantly more males than female participants.

b) Most participants were 51 years or older, had been edentulous for over five years, and were wearing dentures. There was an equal representation of males and females.

c) Most participants were 71 years or older. All the participants were wearing dentures.

d) All participants were 31 years or older. Most had dentures for less than five years and were male.

12. What sort of descriptive statistics were used to describe the sample characteristics?

a) Percentages

b) Counts / frequencies

c) Chi square

d) Standard deviation

13. Was this an observational or experimental study? Why do you think so?

• What was one (1) possible confounding variable that the authors mentioned?
• How might this have affected the results?

14. What was the event that participants were exposed to?

15. Describe how the data were analysed by answering the following questions:

• Did they divide the data into any groups? If so, what were these?
• They used Chi square tests with some adjustment tests. What do these tests do generally?

a) Tests whether the observed frequencies were different from the expected frequencies.

b) Calculates means and standard deviations.

c) Tests for confounding variables.

d) Tests whether the expected frequencies are significant.

16. How did they present the data they did not use statistical tests for in Table 2?

a) They used graphs.

b) They used inferential statistics.

c) They used descriptive statistics of their sample characteristics.

d) They used descriptive statistics of the responses.

17. Discussion - What is one (1) implication for practice suggested by the authors?

18. According to the author(s) what was one (1) future research recommendation?

19. Which statement best represents the conclusion?

1. More research on edentulous people is required to investigate the issue further.

2. The majority of participants did not have issues adjusting to tooth loss.

3. Forty-five percent of the participants had difficulties dealing with tooth loss which indicates it is an issue that needs appropriate attention by dentists to prepare people.

4. Forty-five percent of participants who were edentulous were impacted emotionally by their tooth loss.