Which one of the following items does not represent the value of biostatistics in the assessment of health problems of the population and determine their
... [Show More] extent?
(A) Finding patterns in the collected data
(B) Summarizing and presenting the information to best describe the target population
(C) Deciding what information to gather to help identify the health problems
(D) Accounting for possible inaccuracies in responses and measurements
(D) Accounting for possible inaccuracies in responses and measurements
A biostatistician's responsibility within a collaborating research team is to aid in the research design, analysis, and interpretation of the data. (A), (B), and (C) all describe tasks that would fall within a biostatistician's expertise area. A biostatistician would not be able to account for possible inaccuracies in the data. This is because a biostatistician only has access to the information contained within the data at hand and does not have information concerning the underlying reasoning for inaccuracies in the data.
The health department is committed to protecting and promoting the health of the country's
residents. Which of the following components of a strategic plan does this statement represent?
A. objective
B. vision
C. mission
D. goal
C. mission
Reduce the number of teenagers who begin to smoke. Which of the following components of a
strategic plan does this statement represent?
A. goal
B. mission
C. objective
D. vision
A. goal
The new director of a county health department is getting acquainted with her staff. After several
weeks of observing how her two associate directors supervise their subordinates, she notes
striking differences in their management styles.
One associate director manages employees by assuming that they are highly motivated. He
tells members of his staff that they can time-shift their work hours to accommodate their family
schedules as long as they get their work done. This director's approach to management
exemplifies which of the following leadership theories?
A. Contingency theory
B. House's path goal theory
C. McGregor's theory Y
D. Theory Z
C. McGregor's theory Y
The other associate director assumes that employees find no satisfaction in their work and are
exclusively motivated by their salaries. This associate director's approach to management
exemplifies which of the following leadership theories?
A. McGregor's theory
B. Contingency theory
C. Theory Z
D. House's path goal therapy
A. McGregor's theory
The director wants to adopt a management strategy that will meet the needs of all personnel in
her department, including the two associate directors and their diverse staffs and
responsibilities. The most appropriate leadership style for this director is one informed by which
of the following theories?
A. Theory Z
B. McGregor's theory
C. House's path to goal therapy
D. Contingency therapy
D. Contingency therapy
A community-based study of a program to increase physical activity is conducted, and the
findings are evaluated. A small p-value with an estimate is reported. Which of the following
is the best interpretation of this result?
A. It is likely the estimate differs from the true value because of bias.
B. It is likely the estimate differs randomly and systematically from the norm.
C. It is unlikely the estimate differs from the average because of chance.
D. It is unlikely the estimate differs from the null value because of random variability
D. It is unlikely the estimate differs from the null value because of random variability
A pilot study is conducted to examine whether a new drug effectively decreases cholesterol
levels over a 6-week period. Twelve participants are enrolled, and serum cholesterol levels
are measured before and after the 6-week treatment period. Investigators plan to use a
paired t-test to examine whether the drug was effective in reducing cholesterol levels.
The paired t-test is more appropriate for analysis of the results than a two-sample t-test for
which of the following reasons?
A. dependence between the pre-test and post-test measurements
B. potential non-normality of the responses
C. heterogeneous variances of the two groups
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D. non-randomness of the timing of the measurements
A. dependence between the pre-test and post-test measurements
A pilot study is conducted to examine whether a new drug effectively decreases cholesterol
levels over a 6-week period. Twelve participants are enrolled, and serum cholesterol levels
are measured before and after the 6-week treatment period. Investigators plan to use a
paired t-test to examine whether the drug was effective in reducing cholesterol levels.
Which of the following are the degrees of freedom for this paired t-test?
A. 10
B. 11
C. 12
D. 13
ANSWER B
B. 11
A pilot study is conducted to examine whether a new drug effectively decreases cholesterol
levels over a 6-week period. Twelve participants are enrolled, and serum cholesterol levels
are measured before and after the 6-week treatment period. Investigators plan to use a
paired t-test to examine whether the drug was effective in reducing cholesterol levels.
If the p-value were calculated to be 0.015, which of the following would be the most
appropriate interpretation of this p-value?
A. The probability of seeing results as unusual as the observed under the alternative
hypothesis is very small.
B. The probability of seeing results as unusual as the observed under the null hypothesis
very small.
C. The probability that the alternative hypothesis is false is very small.
D. The probability that the alternative hypothesis is true is very small.
ANSWER B
B. The probability of seeing results as unusual as the observed under the null hypothesis
very small.
Which of the following statements best describes an intent-to-treat analysis?
A. Analyses compare characteristics of participants who did and did not adhere to the
randomized treatment.
B. Analyses exclude all participants who did not adhere to the assigned randomized
treatment.
C. Analyses maintain the original randomized assignment of treatments in the definition of
intervention and control groups.
D. Analyses reorganize participants into intervention and control groups based on their
actual participation.
C. Analyses maintain the original randomized assignment of treatments in the definition of
intervention and control groups.
A study is conducted to examine whether elderly women in at-home care settings maintain
more cognitive ability than women who are residents of skilled nursing care facilities. Two
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groups of 30 elderly women were recruited independently: one group included women living
at home with a caregiver, and the second group included women living in skilled nursing care
facilities. The women were asked to perform a task and received scores on the execution of
the task (higher scores indicated higher cognitive functioning). Which of the following is the
most appropriate approach for analyzing these data?
A. chi-square (χ
2
) test
B. correlation analysis
C. paired t-test
D. two-sample t-test
D. two-sample t-test
A study is conducted to evaluate the relationship between pet ownership and having
depressive symptoms. Seventy participants are recruited. Each subject is identified as a
current pet owner or a non-pet owner. Participants are categorized as having or not having
symptoms of depression. Which of the following is the most appropriate method to evaluate
the association between pet ownership and having depressive symptoms in this population?
A. paired t-test
B. two-sample t-test
C. chi-square (χ2) test
D. correlation analysis
C. chi-square (χ2) test
The epidemic of methyl mercury poisoning in Minamata, Japan, in the 1950s illustrated
contamination of which of the following?
A. water
B. fish
C. soil
D. feed grain
B. fish
The Ministry of Health of a developing country is considering the nationwide implementation of
a test using biomarkers to screen for breast cancer. The test is delivered in health clinics in two
similar regions of the country, with the following results:
Region A Region B
Sensitivity 70% 80%
Specificity 85% 95%
The positive and negative predictive values are different between the two regions. Which of
the following is the most likely cause of the difference in the test's predictive values between
the two regions?
A. The prevalence of disease is different between the two regions.
B. The test is detecting the disease earlier in its natural history in one of the regions.
C. The test was not administered in similar conditions in the two regions.
D. Length-biased sampling has occurred.
C. The test was not administered in similar conditions in the two regions.
The Ministry of Health of a developing country is considering the nationwide implementation of
a test using biomarkers to screen for breast cancer. The test is delivered in health clinics in two
similar regions of the country, with the following results:
Region A Region B
Sensitivity 70% 80%
Specificity 85% 95%
Which of the following is the most likely cause of the difference in the test's sensitivity and
specificity between the two regions?
A. The test is detecting the disease earlier in its natural history in one of the regions.
B. Length-biased sampling has occurred.
C. The test was not administered in similar conditions in the two regions.
D. The prevalence of disease is different between the two regions
D. The prevalence of disease is different between the two regions
A study investigated the effects of exposure to radioactive fallout from the Hanford Nuclear
Site in Washington State in the 1940s and 1950s and subsequent development of thyroid
cancer among persons exposed as children and adolescents. Scientists used birth data from
the study area to trace and contact subjects to participate in the study. Screening consisted of
thyroid palpation, ultrasonography of the thyroid gland, and measurement of thyroid hormone
concentrations in serum and urine. Individual thyroid radiation doses were estimated from
interview data concerning place of residence and dietary history. As a result of screening, 19
subjects were diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
Which of the following terms best describes this type of study design?
A. case-control
B. ecological
C. retrospective cohort
D. cross-sectional
C. retrospective cohort
A study investigated the effects of exposure to radioactive fallout from the Hanford Nuclear
Site in Washington State in the 1940s and 1950s and subsequent development of thyroid
cancer among persons exposed as children and adolescents. Scientists used birth data from
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the study area to trace and contact subjects to participate in the study. Screening consisted of
thyroid palpation, ultrasonography of the thyroid gland, and measurement of thyroid hormone
concentrations in serum and urine. Individual thyroid radiation doses were estimated from
interview data concerning place of residence and dietary history. As a result of screening, 19
subjects were diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
Which of the following is the most appropriate measure of effect for this type of study?
A. prevalence odds ratio
B. odds ratio
C. correlation coefficient
D. risk ratio
D. risk ratio
A study investigated the effects of exposure to radioactive fallout from the Hanford Nuclear
Site in Washington State in the 1940s and 1950s and subsequent development of thyroid
cancer among persons exposed as children and adolescents. Scientists used birth data from
the study area to trace and contact subjects to participate in the study. Screening consisted of
thyroid palpation, ultrasonography of the thyroid gland, and measurement of thyroid hormone
concentrations in serum and urine. Individual thyroid radiation doses were estimated from
interview data concerning place of residence and dietary history. As a result of screening, 19
subjects were diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
Which of the following terms is most appropriate to describe the cases of thyroid cancer
identified during the first screening in this study?
A. prevalent
B. interval
C. recurrent
D. incident
A. prev [Show Less]