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1-An article which describes the aim of the research reported as to ‘explore’

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1-An article which describes the aim of the research reported as to ‘explore’

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https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10433-012-0234-8

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Abstract

Cognitive scales are used frequently in geriatric research and practice. These instruments are constructed with underlying assumptions that are a part of their validation process. A common measurement scale used in older adults is the Folstein Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE). The MMSE was designed to screen for cognitive impairment and is used often in geriatric research. This paper has three aims. Aim one was to explore four potential threats to validity in the use of the MMSE: (1) administering the exam without meeting the underlying assumptions, (2) not reporting that the underlying assumptions were assessed prior to test administration, (3) use of variable and inconsistent cut-off scores for the determination of presence of cognitive impairment, and (4) failure to adjust the scores based on the demographic characteristics of the tested subject. Aim two was to conduct a literature search to determine if the assumptions of (1) education level assessment, (2) sensory assessment, and (3) language fluency were being met and clearly reported in published research using the MMSE. Aim three was to provide recommendations to minimalize threats to validity in research studies that use cognitive scales, such as the MMSE. We found inconsistencies in published work in reporting whether or not subjects meet the assumptions that underlie a reliable and valid MMSE score. These inconsistencies can pose threats to the reliability of exam results. Fourteen of the 50 studies reviewed reported inclusion of all three of these assumptions. Inconsistencies in reporting the inclusion of the underlying assumptions for a reliable score could mean that subjects were not appropriate to be tested by use of the MMSE or that an appropriate test administration of the MMSE was not clearly reported. Thus, the research literature could have threats to both validity and reliability based on misuse of or improper reported use of the MMSE. Six recommendations are provided to minimalize these threats in future research.

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References

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2. Barbarotto R, Cerri M, Acerbi C, Molinari S, Capitani E (2000) Is SIB or BNP better than MMSE in discriminating the cognitive performance of severely impaired elderly patients? Arch Clin Neuropsychol 15(1):21-29. doi: 10.1093/arclin/15.1.21

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge Gail Spake for her editorial refinement of this article. This work was funded by The Alma and Hal Reagan Cancer Research Fellowship, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

Author information

Affiliations

1. John A. Hartford Foundation & Atlantic Philanthropies Claire M. Fagin Fellow, Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, 461 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA

Todd Monroe

2. The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA

Michael Carter

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Todd Monroe or Michael Carter.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: D.J.H. Deeg.

About this article

Cite this article

Monroe, T., Carter, M. Using the Folstein Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE) to explore methodological issues in cognitive aging research. Eur J Ageing 9, 265-274 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-012-0234-8
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# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Using the Folstein Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE) to explore methodological issues in cognitive aging research

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Cognitive scales are used frequently in geriatric research and practice. These instruments are constructed with underlying assumptions that are a part of their validation process. A common measurement scale used in older adults is the Folstein Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE). The MMSE was designed to screen for cognitive impairment and is used often in geriatric research.

# data[].attributes.headline
2. An article which describes the aim of the research reported as to ‘explain’

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2. An article which describes the aim of the research reported as to ‘explain’

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https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/3/3/478
Anxiety and Depression during Transition from Hospital to Community in Older Adults: Concepts of a Study to Explain Late Age Onset Depression

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3. An article which reports a case study

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3. An article which reports a case study

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https://ajet.org.au/index.php/AJET/article/view/1044

Learning to play games or playing games to learn? A health education case study with Soweto teenagers

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the use of an educational computer video game in teaching and learning. Cultural-historical activity theory is used heuristically to explore the social and cultural interactions during game play. It is argued that knowledge construction occurs when video games function as a tool to mediate learning rather than as instructional media. The unit of analysis is not the game as instruction but engagement with the game. Twelve 14 to 19 year old black orphans from Soweto, South Africa, participated in a case study. Groups of three participants, which included both sexes, played the game for at least six hours, kept a personal reflective journal, and after play answered a knowledge test and participated in a round-robin discussion. Results show that participants gained new knowledge, recognised that the game mediated their learning, identified the object of the activity and discussed how they might help their community. Results support the use of games as tools to mediate learning.

Author Biography

Alan Amory, University of Johannesburg

Professor, Department of Mathematics, Science, Technology and Computer Education
Faculty of Education, University of Johannesburg

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Learning to play games or playing games to learn? A health education case study with Soweto teenagers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The aim of this study was to investigate the use of an educational computer video game in teaching and learning. Cultural-historical activity theory is used heuristically to explore the social and cultural interactions during game play. It is argued that knowledge construction occurs when video games function as a tool to mediate learning rather than as instructional media.

# data[].attributes.headline
4. An article reporting an experiment or a quasi-experiment

# data[].attributes.subject
4. An article reporting an experiment or a quasi-experiment

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0738059317303711

Improving education equality and quality: Evidence from a natural experiment in China

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Highlights

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Using a large longitudinal dataset with sample size of 480,507 students and a natural experimental design, this study discusses a very important topic for educational researchers and policy makers.

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It investigates whether education policies that aim at improving education equality can achieve such ends without impacting quality.

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Based on a nationwide policy implemented for more than a decade, this study provides a successful case study of relevance to other countries.

Abstract

Education policies which return both quality and equality are important not only to students but also for the sustainable development of society as a whole. It is important to investigate the efficacy of such policies to build a knowledge base for future research and practice. Framed by prior research and a model of policy optimization, this paper reports on a natural experiment which involved analysis of nine years of panel data. The results indicate that the case study high school quota admission policy can effectively reduce education inequality and improve quality. The paper notes insights and implications for policy and research.

View full text

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Improving education equality and quality: Evidence from a natural experiment in China

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Using a large longitudinal dataset with sample size of 480,507 students and a natural experimental design, this study discusses a very important topic for educational researchers and policy makers. * It investigates whether education policies that aim at improving education equality can achieve such ends without impacting quality.

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5. An article reporting narrative research

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5. An article reporting narrative research

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https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03323315.2018.1475149

Engaging in educational narrative inquiry: making visible alternative knowledge

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This Special Issue on Narrative Inquiry has its origins in a series of conferences convened by Dr Grace O' Grady, Maynooth University, Dr Jacqueline O' Toole, Institute of Technology, Sligo, and Dr Anne Byrne, National University of Ireland, Galway. All three had been engaged with narrative ideas in their respective research. Indeed many conversational spaces on narrative were already in place in Ireland i.e. the Centre for Transformative Narrative Inquiry, Maynooth University, and the Narrative Cluster, NUI, Galway, among others. We recognized, however, that a wider forum was needed to discuss, debate and disseminate narrative studies in a broader context, hence was born the Irish International Narrative Inquiry Conferences. The first conference took place in IT Sligo in 2014 and in subsequent years moved to Maynooth University and NUI Galway. What was immediately in evidence was the thirst for these conferences. In addition to the huge output of narrative inquiry studies across the island of Ireland, internationally renowned scholars including Professors Maria Tamboukou, Ann Phoenix and one of the editors of this Special Issue, D. Jean Clandinin, delivered keynote addresses at the conferences. The conference series continues to offer an incredible learning space to share and learn about narrative inquiry.

Focus of this special issue

Contemporary theories of self view subjectivity as fluid and contextual, constructed and reconstructed through the stories people tell themselves and others about who they are (Riessman ). These stories/narratives are stitched into the ways of seeing, knowing and being that are made available to us in our culture: discourses that are often invisible. Construing the self as discursively structured has led to the bourgeoning of narrative inquiry in the social sciences away from the realist assumptions of inherited positivist research methodology. Feminist/Poststructuralist and Postcolonialist writers have produced transgressive, experimental and emancipatory research genres that attempt to make visible alternative knowledge often silenced and/or contested (Speedy ). Locating itself in this critical paradigm, the articles in this issue explore how unquestioned, taken-for-granted meta-narratives can dominate the production of knowledge in multiple social/educational contexts and how narrative methods enable silenced knowledge to be articulated.

Articles in this special issue draw on research across all sectors of education from early childhood through to post-primary and higher education: studies that disrupt common understandings, perceptions and practices. Power dynamics and our ethical responsibilities to avoid replicating power abuses are foregrounded. In Ruth Leitch's article 'On Being Transgressive in Educational Research: An Auto-ethnography of borders', we are guided through a strikingly personal narrative composed of Leitch's academic career marked by what she has labelled as 'episodic' moments of 'transgressing limits'. While she does not take up her journey as one of a marginalized academic, we see many of the themes suggested by Tamboukou in Leitch's analysis of her own career. From her standpoint close to her retirement from one academic institution, she shows us ways she has shifted and changed in response to changing institutional narrative plotlines but continued to transgress institutional plotlines in order to sustain herself in her work. She, too, as did Gonne as portrayed in Tamboukou's article, continually worked to reimagine her future so that she could both work within the academy but in ways that created possibilities for reform and change in education and educational research.

Jacqueline O' Tool broadens the focus as she considers questions of the critical relevance and 'value' of narrative inquiry in her article 'Institutional Storytelling and Personal Narratives: Reflecting on the "Value" of Narrative Inquiry'. With her main theoretical and methodological focus on the complex relationships between institutional storytelling and personal narratives, O' Toole attends to these questions through an analysis of the procedures undertaken in conducting a narrative inquiry study on narratives of women and weight management. Beginning with the assertion that a 'cacophony of stories' about any social phenomenon cannot be ignored by social researchers, which in O' Toole's research are the widespread circulation of stories about weight loss and dieting, she outlines the contours of designing and implementing a narrative ethnography. Asserting that the social context of the production of stories and narratives must be heard as 'stories are never told in isolation', O' Toole concludes that narrative ethnography serves as an innovative approach to analyse the relationship between institutional storytelling and personal narratives in a variety of settings including schools, classrooms, curricula and wider informal learning spaces.

In their research with Aboriginal youth and families, Sean Lessard, Vera Caine and D. Jean Clandinin problematize the labelling of young people as 'vulnerable', making visible the moral and ethical considerations necessary in representation and voice. 'Exploring neglected narratives: Understanding vulnerability in narrative inquiry', takes up questions around reducing the complexities of Indigenous youth's lives to a certainty that they are vulnerable. They argue that attaching a label of vulnerability erases the youth as people with complex experiences lived in multiple places, within multiple relationships over time. The concern about labelling Indigenous youth as vulnerable may be rooted in a belief that someone else needs to speak for youth, that is, they cannot be seen as research participants who are able to co-compose, inquire into their experiences or make decisions. By co-opting their stories of experience, by writing over their stories or by unintentionally minimizing the complexity of their experiences, the youth's stories of experience are silenced. Lessard, Caine and Clandinin show that narrative inquiry, as we also see in Tamboukou and Leitch's articles, is a way of making people visible in the research and, consequently, to make their stories matter. Resistance to viewing the experience of the youth and their families from within a single story of vulnerability is central to their work as narrative inquirers.

The potential of digital storytelling in researching reflective practice is explored by Thompson Long and Hall in 'Educational Narrative Inquiry Through Design-Based Research: Designing Digital Storytelling to Make Alternative Knowledge Visible and Actionable'. Using interventionist and iterative, practitioner-oriented design-based research, a well-established methodology in the educational technology and learning sciences fields (Sommerhoff et al. ), the authors have developed a bespoke model for technology-enhanced narrative enquiry, R-NEST, which can be adopted and adapted to support innovative reflective practice in education. The digital storytelling initiative mediated alternative knowledge about PME students' school placement experience and helped them to make visible critical incidents in their practice. Furthermore, the innovative perspectives made possible through digital storytelling helped significantly to inform deepening reflection and effective changes in educational practice. Insights into how novel digital media can be integrated with narrative to make alternative knowledge both visible and actionable are offered.

Early Childhood Education and Care is an emerging profession in Ireland. Mark Taylor in his article 'Understanding Stories of Professional Formation during Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Practice Placements' makes an important contribution to the evolving knowledge base with a particular focus on the storied experiences that early childhood practice educators and students tell as they negotiate the placement experience. Articulating a case for narrative inquiry as having 'emancipatory' potential and as a useful methodology to understand placement experiences and professional development over time, Taylor asserts that two education theories - 'Threshold Concepts' and 'Communities of Practice' - are necessary additions to narrative inquiry to understand the nature of these key learning experiences. One central finding is that the stories reveal that learning becomes embodied as early childhood students learn to exercise their voices over the course of a placement, in the process becoming more relaxed and confident. Similar to other articles in this volume, Taylor highlights the reflective, creative and emancipatory possibilities narrative inquiry offers to educational research.

Narratives are at the heart of how women have attempted to write history, and it is this marginalized area in knowledge production and in the teaching of history that Maria Tamboukou addresses in 'Action as Narration/Narration as Action: Reading Maud Gonne's Auto/Biographical Writings as Marginalized Knowledges of the Historiographical Operation'. Tamboukou explores the interconnections of action as narration and narration as action. As Tamboukou reads Gonne's texts, she reads them 'as discursive effects of fierce power relations at play' as well as theorizes them 'as recorded processes wherein Gonne as the author of her political story emerges from the margins of knowledge production and actively inserts herself and her actions in the discourses of Irish history'. Tamboukou expands Hannah Arendt's proposition on the plurality of stories we live with to suggest that not only is the world full of stories waiting to be told but of stories waiting to be written, retold, read and reread. Tamboukou uses Gonne's autobiographical stories and letters to her friends to show 'the power of stories in conveying the unexpected effects of life events, as well as the unpredictability of political action within the life of an individual and beyond'. She highlights the crucial role of education in the processes of transformation as she writes that it is

while we look back at marginalized histories, we see the role they have ultimately played in changes and future imaginings and we thus understand that we need not be determined by the past. Marginalized histories show the power of re-imagining our future in ways that were out of step at the time of their actualization, but which nevertheless created conditions of possibility for radical futures.

Located in a larger study that attempted to challenge taken-for-granted assumptions about constructions of adolescent identity and to interrogate radically the process of qualitative research in this field, Grace O' Grady in 'An Entry Into a Creative, Rhizomatic Narrative Inquiry Into Young People's Identity Construction' demonstrates how she used the figure of the rhizome (Deleuze and Guattari [] , 8) to conceptualize and frame her creative narrative inquiry. The reader is invited into a nomadic writing space as O' Grady tentatively finds footholds in the philosophical landscape in the early stages of the study and subsequently maps and enters the field of research with students in a second-level school context. In responding to questions posed to her in conversation with a colleague, she frames her rationale for a growing commitment to a form of narrative inquiry that challenges inherited dominant understandings of subjectivity and research methodology.

Finally, drawing on research based in his teaching and learning context as a lecturer in higher education, 'Getting in Tune Through Arts Based Narrative Inquiry' narrates John McGarrigle's attempts to come to terms with positionality, subjectivity and voice in educational research with Early Childhood students. Using art elicitation methods, multiple voices combine to challenge forces that continue to subjectify and marginalize the Early Childhood profession. Through a performance text, the participant voice asserts itself among critical voices from the academy and society to show the power of education to facilitate agency within limited subject positions. In using arts-based methods to inquire into learning, the value of creative research to inquire, question and problematize dominant understandings of knowledge and tell awkward stories is demonstrated.

Why the need for a special issue showcasing narrative inquiry?

As we consider the significance of narrative inquiry, the question of 'so what' always lives within our studies. The question sharpens our focus on what is important, what we may want to share with diverse audiences and the ways in which we can do this. One of the strong tenets of narrative inquiry is that we are not merely objective inquirers who study a world we did not help create. On the contrary, we are complicit in the world we study: 'Being in this world, we need to remake ourselves as well as offer up research understandings that could lead to a better world' (Clandinin and Connelly , 61). President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins asserted that '[T]hird-level scholarship has always had, and must retain, a crucial role in creating a society in which the critical exploration of alternatives to any prevailing hegemony is encouraged' (The Irish Times, April 25, 2016). Narrative Inquiry, in challenging inherited dominant understandings of subjectivity and research methodologies as well as proposing emancipatory alternatives has the potential to give voice to often silenced knowledge. A critical research methodology that works towards unveiling oppression and transforming praxis has 'the potential to implement new visions of dignity, care democracy and other postcolonial ways of being in the world' (Finley , 689).

Notes on contributors
Dr Grace O' Grady is lecturer in Education and Director of the Master of Education and Postgraduate Diploma in School Guidance Counselling. She teaches on all the programmes in the Education Department in the curricular areas of Human Development, Developmental Psychology, Child Protection and Social, Personal and Health Education and Counselling Theory. She is a founding director of the Centre for Transformative Narrative Inquiry (Dept. of Adult and Community Education and Education Dept.): https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/education/centre-transformative-narrative-inquiry and the Irish International Narrative Inquiry Conference network https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/education/events/irish-narrative-inquiry-conference-narrating-neo-liberalism-irish-context. She teaches and supervises narrative research on the Masters and Doctoral Programmes in the Department. Her current research is a Creative Narrative Inquiry into the shifting identity of teachers as they begin to situate themselves differently as guidance counsellors in the school landscape: https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/education/more-about-our-research.

D. Jean Clandinin is Professor Emeriti and the past and founding Director of the Centre forResearch for Teacher Education and Development at the University of Alberta. She is aformer teacher, counselor, and psychologist.

Jacqueline O' Toole is a Lecturer in Social Research in the Institute of Technology Sligo. Hermain interests are qualitative methodology; feminist theory; critical weight studies; andgender and social care.

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Engaging in educational narrative inquiry: making visible alternative knowledge

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This Special Issue on Narrative Inquiry has its origins in a series of conferences convened by Dr Grace O' Grady, Maynooth University, Dr Jacqueline O' Toole, Institute of Technology, Sligo, and Dr Anne Byrne, National University of Ireland, Galway. All three had been engaged with narrative ideas in their respective research.

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https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00224499.2016.1247779
Assessing Participation and Effectiveness of the Peer-Led Approach in Youth Sexual Health Education: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis in More Developed Countries

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Sexual health education for young people is crucial not only for development of norms but also for protection against vulnerabilities during this stage in life. Although several systematic reviews have examined the effectiveness of peer-led sex education, none have focused on the extent of peer participation. The purpose of this review was to evaluate peer-led sexual health education interventions in more developed countries (MDCs). Electronic and manual searches across five social science, education, and medical databases were conducted. Fifteen articles were selected in total. Most (10 of 15) studies gave low or no responsibility to peers. The majority of articles found improvements in sexual health knowledge (13 of 14) and attitudes (11 of 15) at postintervention stages. Two studies showed improved self-efficacy, and three showed behavioral changes. A preliminary synthesis of effectiveness and level of participation was done. Meta-analysis revealed a large effect on knowledge change (Hedges' g = 0.84, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.43 to 1.25) and a medium effect on attitude change (Hedges' g = 0.49, 95% CI: 0.19 to 0.80). Peer-led interventions could be a powerful tool. This review shows that this approach is effective in changing knowledge and attitudes but not behaviors. Further research and action are needed to understand optimal implementation.

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Assessing Participation and Effectiveness of the Peer-Led Approach in Youth Sexual Health Education: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis in More Developed Countries

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sexual health education for young people is crucial not only for development of norms but also for protection against vulnerabilities during this stage in life. Although several systematic reviews have examined the effectiveness of peer-led sex education, none have focused on the extent of peer participation.

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8. An article which mentions a hypothesis

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8. An article which mentions a hypothesis

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7. An article which reports both qualitative and quantitative data

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7. An article which reports both qualitative and quantitative data

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9. An article which mentions a null hypothesis

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10. An article which reports using interviews as the method of data collection

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10. An article which reports using interviews as the method of data collection

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https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1191/1478088706QP063OA

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17. An article which uses purposive or opportunistic sampling

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17. An article which uses purposive or opportunistic sampling

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https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/4804318

Network anomaly detection and classification via opportunistic sampling

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Network anomaly detection and classification via opportunistic sampling - IEEE Journals & Magazine

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IEEE Xplore, delivering full text access to the world's highest quality technical literature in engineering and technology. | IEEE Xplore

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18. An article which discusses the limitations of a small scale study

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18. An article which discusses the limitations of a small scale study

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https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0022509674900106

Limitations to the small scale yielding approximation for crack tip plasticity

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Abstract

Recent finite-element results by S.G. Larsson and A.J. Carlsson suggest a limited range of validity to the 'small scale yielding approximation', whereby small crack tip plastic zones are correlated in terms of the elastic stress intensity factor. It is shown with the help of a model for plane strain yielding that their results may be explained by considering the non-singular stress, acting parallel to the crack at its tip, which accompanies the inverse square-root elastic singularity. Further implications of the non-singular stress term for crack tip deformations and fracturing are examined. It is suggested that its effect on crack tip parameters, such as the opening displacement and J-integral, is less pronounced than its effect on the yield zone size.

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Limitations to the small scale yielding approximation for crack tip plasticity

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Recent finite-element results by S.G. Larsson and A.J. Carlsson suggest a limited range of validity to the 'small scale yielding approximation', whereby small crack tip plastic zones are correlated in terms of the elastic stress intensity factor.

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15. An article which reports descriptive statistics

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15. An article which reports descriptive statistics

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https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0167715283900548

Descriptive statistics for multivariate distributions

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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study the concepts location, scatter, skewness and kurtosis of multivariate distributions. Measures of these properties are introduced which include some new generalizations of well-known univariate statistics. Previous work is briefly reviewed.

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The purpose of this paper is to study the concepts location, scatter, skewness and kurtosis of multivariate distributions. Measures of these properties are introduced which include some new generalizations of well-known univariate statistics. Previous work is briefly reviewed. View full text

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16. An article which discusses the generalisability

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16. An article which discusses the generalisability

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https://europepmc.org/article/med/15544708

Generalisability in economic evaluation studies in healthcare: a review and case studies.

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OBJECTIVES:To review, and to develop further, the methods used to assess and to increase the generalisability of economic evaluation studies. DATA SOURCES:Electronic databases. REVIEW METHODS:Methodological studies relating to economic evaluation in healthcare were searched. This included electronic searches of a range of databases, including PREMEDLINE, MEDLINE, EMBASE and EconLit, and manual searches of key journals. The case studies of a decision analytic model involved highlighting specific features of previously published economic studies related to generalisability and location-related variability. The case-study involving the secondary analysis of cost-effectiveness analyses was based on the secondary analysis of three economic studies using data from randomised trials. RESULTS:The factor most frequently cited as generating variability in economic results between locations was the unit costs associated with particular resources. In the context of studies based on the analysis of patient-level data, regression analysis has been advocated as a means of looking at variability in economic results across locations. These methods have generally accepted that some components of resource use and outcomes are exchangeable across locations. Recent studies have also explored, in cost-effectiveness analysis, the use of tests of heterogeneity similar to those used in clinical evaluation in trials. The decision analytic model has been the main means by which cost-effectiveness has been adapted from trial to non-trial locations. Most models have focused on changes to the cost side of the analysis, but it is clear that the effectiveness side may also need to be adapted between locations. There have been weaknesses in some aspects of the reporting in applied cost-effectiveness studies. These may limit decision-makers' ability to judge the relevance of a study to their specific situations. The case study demonstrated the potential value of multilevel modelling (MLM). Where clustering exists by location (e.g. centre or country), MLM can facilitate correct estimates of the uncertainty in cost-effectiveness results, and also a means of estimating location-specific cost-effectiveness. The review of applied economic studies based on decision analytic models showed that few studies were explicit about their target decision-maker(s)/jurisdictions. The studies in the review generally made more effort to ensure that their cost inputs were specific to their target jurisdiction than their effectiveness parameters. Standard sensitivity analysis was the main way of dealing with uncertainty in the models, although few studies looked explicitly at variability between locations. The modelling case study illustrated how effectiveness and cost data can be made location-specific. In particular, on the effectiveness side, the example showed the separation of location-specific baseline events and pooled estimates of relative treatment effect, where the latter are assumed exchangeable across locations. CONCLUSIONS:A large number of factors are mentioned in the literature that might be expected to generate variation in the cost-effectiveness of healthcare interventions across locations. Several papers have demonstrated differences in the volume and cost of resource use between locations, but few studies have looked at variability in outcomes. In applied trial-based cost-effectiveness studies, few studies provide sufficient evidence for decision-makers to establish the relevance or to adjust the results of the study to their location of interest. Very few studies utilised statistical methods formally to assess the variability in results between locations. In applied economic studies based on decision models, most studies either stated their target decision-maker/jurisdiction or provided sufficient information from which this could be inferred. There was a greater tendency to ensure that cost inputs were specific to the target jurisdiction than clinical parameters. Methods to assess generalisability and variability in economic evaluation studies have been discussed extensively in the literature relating to both trial-based and modelling studies. Regression-based methods are likely to offer a systematic approach to quantifying variability in patient-level data. In particular, MLM has the potential to facilitate estimates of cost-effectiveness, which both reflect the variation in costs and outcomes between locations and also enable the consistency of cost-effectiveness estimates between locations to be assessed directly. Decision analytic models will retain an important role in adapting the results of cost-effectiveness studies between locations. Recommendations for further research include: the development of methods of evidence synthesis which model the exchangeability of data across locations and allow for the additional uncertainty in this process; assessment of alternative approaches to specifying multilevel models to the analysis of cost-effectiveness data alongside multilocation randomised trials; identification of a range of appropriate covariates relating to locations (e.g. hospitals) in multilevel models; and further assessment of the role of econometric methods (e.g. selection models) for cost-effectiveness analysis alongside observational datasets, and to increase the generalisability of randomised trials.

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Generalisability in economic evaluation studies in healthcare: a review and case studies.

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OBJECTIVES:To review, and to develop further, the methods used to assess and to increase the generalisability of economic evaluation studies. DATA SOURCES:Electronic databases. REVIEW METHODS:Methodological studies relating to economic evaluation in healthcare were searched. This included electronic searches of a range of databases, including PREMEDLINE, MEDLINE, EMBASE and EconLit, and manual searches of key journals.

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Using observation as a data collection method to help understand patient and professional roles and actions in palliative care settings

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Using observation as a data collection method to help understand patient and professional roles and actions in palliative care settings

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https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0269216311432897

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Charting the Future of Cancer Health Disparities Research: A Position Statement from the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Cancer Society, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the National Cancer Institute

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Charting the Future of Cancer Health Disparities Research: A Position Statement from the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Cancer Society, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the National Cancer Institute

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https://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/77/17/4548.short

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An analysis of the effectiveness of focus groups as a method of qualitative data collection with Chinese populations in nursing research

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An analysis of the effectiveness of focus groups as a method of qualitative data collection with Chinese populations in nursing research

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https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.1365-2648.1998.00708.x