ASRB NET and ARS / SMS / STO Veterinary Research Methodology & Evidence-Based Veterinary Medicine: practice questions

1 · Research design · easy

Which feature defines an experimental study as distinct from an observational one?

1. The study collects its data prospectively rather than from existing records
2. The animals are kept in a controlled laboratory environment throughout
3. A statistical hypothesis test is applied to compare two or more groups
4. The investigator assigns the exposure or intervention to the study animals

2 · Research design · medium

A two-period crossover trial compares two analgesics in dogs with chronic osteoarthritis. Which condition is essential for this design to give a valid comparison?

1. The dogs must be of a single breed so that between-dog variation is eliminated entirely
2. A washout period long enough that the first drug has no carry-over effect in the second period
3. The disease must be acute and self-limiting so that dogs recover between the two periods
4. Each dog must receive both drugs at once so that the treatments can be compared directly

3 · Research design · easy

Which acronym summarises the features of a good research question?

1. SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timed
2. FINER: feasible, interesting, novel, ethical, relevant
3. PICO: population, intervention, comparison, outcome
4. IMRaD: introduction, methods, results and discussion

4 · Critical appraisal · medium

Which tool is widely used to appraise the methodological quality of a systematic review?

1. QUADAS-2
2. STROBE
3. CONSORT
4. AMSTAR 2

5 · Systematic reviews · medium

A PRISMA flow diagram shows 1,240 records identified and 310 duplicates removed. Titles and abstracts of the remainder are screened and 850 are excluded. How many full-text reports are sought?

1. 930
2. 390
3. 620
4. 80

6 · Systematic reviews · medium

Asymmetry of a funnel plot, with small studies showing no effect apparently missing, most suggests:

1. That the random-effects model was correctly chosen for pooling
2. Small-study effects, of which publication bias is one cause
3. That heterogeneity is absent and I-squared must be close to zero
4. That the largest studies were biased and should be excluded

7 · Research ethics · easy

The 3Rs of humane animal research were set out by Russell and Burch in 1959. What are they?

1. Replacement, Reduction and Refinement
2. Regulation, Reporting and Review
3. Replacement, Repetition and Recording
4. Reduction, Responsibility and Respect

8 · Research ethics · medium

In the UK, which body within each licensed establishment provides local ethical review of animal research under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986?

1. The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee
2. The Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body
3. The Institutional Animal Ethics Committee
4. The Committee on Publication Ethics

9 · Scientific writing · medium

A researcher's papers have been cited 25, 18, 9, 7, 5, 4, 2 and 0 times. What is the researcher's h-index?

1. 4
2. 5
3. 7
4. 8

10 · Research design · hard

A before-and-after study shows that dogs with severe pruritus improve after starting a new shampoo. Without a control group, which explanation must be excluded before crediting the shampoo?

1. Confounding by indication, since only randomised dogs can be given the shampoo
2. Regression to the mean, since dogs enrolled at their worst tend to improve anyway
3. Recall bias, since owners always forget how itchy their dogs were at enrolment
4. Lead-time bias, since earlier diagnosis falsely prolongs the dogs' survival