Discussion Of Study Limitations Research Articles

Implementing a Picture Prompt and Proximity Intervention in a Classroom with an Adult Learner: A Case Study

The current case study investigated the use of a picture prompt and teacher proximity with an adult learner with significant disabilities during a postsecondary classroom management class and generalization setting. Results indicated that the learner had a higher percentage of intervals of on-task behavior during intervention than baseline. Teacher and learner satisfaction ratings suggested that the intervention was an acceptable strategy. A discussion of study limitations, implications, and future research directions are included.• A simple low tech instructional strategy can improve student on-task behavior.• Teachers can use an antecedent strategy to improve student behavior.• Strategies used in K–12 environments may work in higher education settings.• Successful applied behavior analysis strategies help include students in group participation.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Gun Violence Across Census Tracts in NYC

This study explores the impact of COVID-19 on gun violence in NYC and its interactive effects with neighborhood factors at the census tract level. Random effects negative binomial models are used to analyze monthly data from January 2017 to March 2021. There was a significant increase in gun violence during the pandemic. In addition, poverty, economic inequality, African Americans, Hispanics, residential mobility, and total population were significantly associated with increases in gun violence. However, there were no significant interaction effects between the pandemic and neighborhood characteristics. This study concludes with a discussion of study limitations and implications.

Psilocybin for the Treatment of Depression: A Promising New Pharmacotherapy Approach.

Depression is highly prevalent and represents the leading cause of global disability and primary contributor to overall global burden of disease. Several lines of evidence from early-phase experimental trials suggest that serotonergic psychedelics, particularly psilocybin, with therapeutic support show great promise in the treatment of depression with large effect sizes. Neuroimaging data have also revealed the dynamic effects of psilocybin on functional activity within and between neural regions. This chapter reviews the methods and findings from three small human laboratory clinical trials examining the effects of psilocybin therapy for patients with major depressive disorder and treatment-resistant depression. Insights from functional magnetic resonance imaging and qualitative analyses are also presented, as well as a discussion of study limitations and future directions for the research.

Examining the Developmental Pathways of Online Posting Behavior in Violent Right-Wing Extremist Forums

ABSTRACT Many researchers, practitioners, and policymakers are concerned about online communities that are known to facilitate violent right-wing extremism, but little is empirically known about these digital spaces in general and the developmental posting behaviors that make up these spaces in particular. In this study, group-based trajectory modeling—derived from a criminal career paradigm—was used to identify posting trajectories found in the open-access sections of the Iron March and Fascist Forge forums, both of which have gained notoriety for their members’ online advocacy of violence and acts of violence carried out by them. Multinomial logistic regression and analysis of variance were then used to assess whether posters’ time of entry into the violent forums predicted trajectory group assignment. Overall, the results highlight a number of similarities and differences in posting behaviors within and across platforms, many of which may inform future risk factor frameworks used by law enforcement and intelligence agencies to identify credible threats online. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of this analysis, followed by a discussion of study limitations and avenues for future research.

The Role of the Internet in Facilitating Violent Extremism: Insights from Former Right-Wing Extremists

ABSTRACT While a growing body of evidence suggests that the Internet is a key facilitator of violent extremism, research in this area has rarely incorporated former extremists’ experiences with the Internet when they were involved in violent extremism. To address this gap, in-depth interviews were conducted with ten Canadian former right-wing extremists who were involved in violent racist skinhead groups, with interview questions provided by thirty Canadian law enforcement officials and ten community activists. Participants were asked about their use of the Internet and the connection between their on- and offline worlds during their involvement in the violent right-wing extremist movement. Overall, our study findings highlight the interplay between the Internet and violent extremism as well as the interactions between the on- and offline worlds of violent extremists. We conclude with a discussion of study limitations and avenues for future research.

Improving scientific rigour in conservation evaluations and a plea deal for transparency on potential biases

AbstractThe delivery of rigorous and unbiased evidence on the effects of interventions lay at the heart of the scientific method. Here we examine scientific papers evaluating agri‐environment schemes, the principal instrument to mitigate farmland biodiversity declines worldwide. Despite previous warnings about rudimentary study designs in this field, we found that the majority of studies published between 2008 and 2017 still lack robust study designs to strictly evaluate intervention effects. Potential sources of bias that arise from the correlative nature are rarely mentioned, and results are still promoted by using a causal language. This lack of robust study designs likely results from poor integration of research and policy, while the erroneous use of causal language and an unwillingness to discuss bias may stem from publication pressures. We conclude that scientific reporting and discussion of study limitations in intervention research must improve and propose some practices toward this goal.

Impact of peer review on discussion of study limitations and strength of claims in randomized trial reports: a before and after study

BackgroundIn their research reports, scientists are expected to discuss limitations that their studies have. Previous research showed that often, such discussion is absent. Also, many journals emphasize the importance of avoiding overstatement of claims. We wanted to see to what extent editorial handling and peer review affects self-acknowledgment of limitations and hedging of claims.MethodsUsing software that automatically detects limitation-acknowledging sentences and calculates the level of hedging in sentences, we compared the submitted manuscripts and their ultimate publications of all randomized trials published in 2015 in 27 BioMed Central (BMC) journals and BMJ Open. We used mixed linear and logistic regression models, accounting for clustering of manuscript-publication pairs within journals, to quantify before-after changes in the mean numbers of limitation-acknowledging sentences, in the probability that a manuscript with zero self-acknowledged limitations ended up as a publication with at least one and in hedging scores.ResultsFour hundred forty-six manuscript-publication pairs were analyzed. The median number of manuscripts per journal was 10.5 (interquartile range 6–18). The average number of distinct limitation sentences increased by 1.39 (95% CI 1.09–1.76), from 2.48 in manuscripts to 3.87 in publications. Two hundred two manuscripts (45.3%) did not mention any limitations. Sixty-three (31%, 95% CI 25–38) of these mentioned at least one after peer review. Changes in mean hedging scores were negligible.ConclusionsOur findings support the idea that editorial handling and peer review lead to more self-acknowledgment of study limitations, but not to changes in linguistic nuance.

Teachers' ratings of social skills and problem behaviors as concurrent predictors of students' bullying behavior

This study analyzed teacher ratings from the national standardization sample of the Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS) to examine the role of elementary and secondary students' social skills, problem behavior, and academic competence as they relate to bullying behavior. Regression analyses indicated slightly different concurrent predictors of bullying behavior for elementary (N = 544) and secondary (N = 200) students. Specifically, low levels of empathy skills and concurrent high levels of externalizing behaviors were relatively strong correlates with bullying behavior of both elementary and secondary school children. For secondary students, assertion skills exhibited at high frequency levels were also a significant predictor of bullying behavior. The resulting predictive models featured social behaviors that educators and other professionals can successfully improve with existing evidence-based intervention programs. A discussion of study limitations and future research concludes the report.

Dietary Supplement for Core Symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder: Where Are We Now and Where Should We Go?

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a class of severe and chronic conditions and core symptoms are deficits in social interaction, language communication impairments, and repetitive/stereotyped behavior. Given the limitations of available treatments and substantially increased prevalence of the disease, additional interventions are needed. Since the use of dietary supplements for ASD is of high prevalence, up-to-date information about those supplements are required for both parents and clinicians. Relevant articles were identified through a systematic search of PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane library, and PsychINFO databases (through May 2017). Current best evidences of 22 randomized controlled trials on 8 different dietary supplements for core symptoms of ASD were reviewed. For each supplement, this report focuses on the definition and potential therapeutic mechanisms, the latest advances, and discussion of study limitations and future directions. Most studies were small and short term, and there is little evidence to support effectiveness of dietary supplements for children with ASD.

Social Media for Identifying Lead Users? Insights into Lead Users’ Social Media Habits

An important and frequently researched concept in the field of open innovation is the integration of lead users into the process for developing innovative product concepts. Social media has offered promising new possibilities for companies in terms of supporting lead user integration. This paper provides an overview of relevant aspects of lead user research, as well as the identification of lead users. Furthermore, we connect lead user theory with social media and discuss possible ways to identify lead users. Based on the conclusion that existing research does not yet sufficiently provide a detailed understanding on identifying lead users in social media, we conducted an empirical study to gain deeper insights in the social media habits of lead users; this involved a case study comprising 20 interviews. This study’s findings present a rather ambivalent picture, concluding that identifying lead users via social media may work with some limitations. Social media can contribute complementary with established approaches like pyramiding to the identification of lead users, but it is not a standalone solution. It strongly depends on the content of the project and on the group of individuals where lead users should be originated. Based on these findings, we derive theoretical and managerial implications and show how companies can utilize social media in addition to established methods for identifying lead users. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of study limitations and recommendations for areas of further research.

A Probation Profanation

Racial and ethnic disparities in criminal justice have received increasing scrutiny recently. Little attention, however, has been directed toward understanding inequality in the area of probation. The current study addresses this dearth through two analyses of 14,365 probation cases. The first involves a logistic regression analysis, which examines race/ethnicity against probation failure. Using probation success as a control outcome, the second analysis uses a multinomial regression to examine the effects of race and ethnicity across four types of probation failure—administrative failure and revocations resulting from technical violations, new felonies, and new misdemeanors. Across both models, racial/ethnic categorization were found to be significantly and positively associated with probation failure outcomes. In addition, the standardized coefficients indicate that Black and Hispanic racial/ethnic categorization presented a moderate to strong effect sizes across outcomes studied. The strongest effect sizes for these two variables were found in the multinomial model within the administrative failure outcome. Across both models, other racial categorization (Asian/Pacific Islander or Native American/Alaskan Native) was statistically significant but consistently produced some of the weakest effect sizes. Potential explanations for these findings are offered along with a discussion of study limitations, future research suggestions, and policy implications.

The Relationship Between Test Anxiety and Achievement in Accounting Students with Different Cognitive Styles: The Mediating Roles of Self-Regulation

<p>Previous research has indicated that accounting is a very important basic course for undergraduate business and management students. Studies have also shown that most accounting teachers and students are anxious about their ability to effectively teach and learn the course curriculum, respectively, which may result in a poor outcome for the students. Attempts have been made to improve accounting education and reduce anxiety by enhancing students’ learning strategies and reducing the stress related to testing. The purpose of this research was to establish and model the effects of accounting anxiety on achievement, to examine the mediating role of self-regulation in the relationship between test anxiety (TA) and achievement, and to compare the achievement and learning processes of students with different cognitive styles. Participants were 498 students from Taiwan business colleges. Our results revealed that self-regulated learning mediated the relationship between TA and accounting achievement. Additionally, with significant differences noted between students with analytical and intuitive cognitive styles. A discussion of study limitations and of implications for accounting education follows.</p>

Reporting in studies of protein biomarkers of prognosis in colorectal cancer in relation to the REMARK guidelines.

The REMARK guidelines give authors comprehensive and specific advice on the complete and transparent reporting of studies of prognostic tumor markers. The aim of this study was to use the REMARK guidelines to evaluate the quality of reporting in a sample of studies assessing tissue-based protein markers for survival after resection of colorectal cancer. Eighty pertinent articles were scored according to their conformity to 26 items derived from the REMARK criteria. Overall, on a scale of adequacy of reporting that potentially ranged from 26 to 78, the median for these studies was 60 (interquartile range 54-64) and several criteria were adequately covered in a large proportion of studies. However, others were either not dealt with or inadequately covered, including description of the study design (35%), definition of survival endpoints (48%), adjuvant therapy (54%), follow-up procedures and time (59%), neoadjuvant therapy (63%), inclusion/exclusion criteria (73%), multivariable modeling methods and results (74%), and discussion of study limitations (85%). Inadequacies in presentation militate against comparability among protein marker studies and undermine the generalizability of their findings. The quality of reporting could be improved if journal editors were to require authors to ensure that their work satisfied the REMARK criteria.

Inclusion of Students With an Intellectual Disability in the General Education Classroom With the Use of Response Cards

The passage of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act and the No Child Left Behind Act has highlighted the importance of all students having access to the general education curriculum. Because students with disabilities are being included in the general education classroom in greater numbers, teachers need to implement research-based instructional strategies. To extend research on one effective strategy, the authors used a single case ABAB reversal design to investigate the effects of using response cards on active student responding and on-task behavior for five students with intellectual disabilities during science and social studies lessons in the general education classroom. Results suggest increased active student responding and on-task behavior for all five participants. A discussion of study limitations, implications, and future research directions is included.

Response to “Vertebral fracture and intervertebral discs”

We thank Drs. Adams and Dolan for their interest in our work and the opportunity to further discuss the association between vertebral bone mineral density (BMD) and disc degeneration (DD) in the lumbar spine. Their comments arise from our discussion of study limitations, in which we acknowledged that ‘‘the age of our subjects was relatively young and a mean age of 50 years is probably too young to determine the full extent of the association studied.’’ We went on to speculate that there may be a stronger association between greater vertebral BMD and more severe DD in older spines, which they question. This was, of course, only speculation, as the association in the elderly could not be addressed with our data and was based on a number of previous studies of elderly women that revealed an association between greater vertebral BMD and more severe lumbar DD. In one such study of 630 women older than 60 years (73.3 6.9 years), higher dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) lumbar spine BMD was associated with greater disc space narrowing and Kellgren-Lawrence DD scores. In another study of older women (>60 years, 72.8 6.6 years), greater radiographic disc space narrowing was found to associate with both anterior-posterior and lateral DXA vertebral BMD measurements. An association between greater disc bulging and higher DXA lumbar vertebral BMDwas also observed in women aged up to 86 years. Such associations, however, have been less studied in men, although a similar association between greater disc space narrowing and lumbar BMD acquired with DXA was observed in a cohort of 250 men (65.4 9.0 years). We were not suggesting that the relation between the structure and function of the vertebrae and discs is a simple one. Although our study was not designed to investigate underlying mechanisms of the BMD-DD association we identified, particularly in older spines, it is an important and interesting topic that Adams and Dolan highlight. Adams and Dolan discuss a possible mechanism that could lead to focal bone loss–related specifically to severe disc narrowing, seen in late-stage DD, which may be particularly relevant in the elderly. In pursuing such knowledge, distinguishing different definitions of lumbar vertebral BMD is of great importance. Whereas BMD measured using DXA is areaadjusted, BMD measured with QCT or micro–computed tomography (mCT) is volume-adjusted. The measurements acquired in the study by Adams and colleagues, are substantially different from those used in our study. They used measures of regional bone architecture parameters, such as bone volume/total volume (BV/TV) and trabecular thickness (Tb.Th), to examine focal bone variations, whereas we measured global BMD of the whole vertebra and its vertebral body. Thus, the two studies are not directly comparable. Causal inferences are uncertain and the chicken and egg dilemma remains in cross-sectional studies, including those of the BMD-DD relation. Adams’ and Dolan’s view that ‘‘in middle age, dense vertebral bone may promote disc degeneration’’ is one possible explanation for the association observed between vertebral body BMD and DD, but there are others. We did not suggest and do not agree with the view that vertebral BMD is likely to interfere withmetabolite transport through the vertebral endplate, because we did not observe an association between endplate BMD and DD in a previous study. On the other hand, we agree with Adams and colleagues that severe disc narrowing may shift more mechanical loading posteriorly to the facet joints and thus, stress-shield the anterior vertebral body. As for the measurement of disc degeneration, disc space narrowing was not selected because it is a nonspecific DD indicator and cannot reflect early DD. Furthermore, disc height measurements are prone to bias by osteophytes and endplate sclerosis, which likely are confounders of the BMD-DD association. Therefore, we used discography, which can display ‘‘successive stages in disc degeneration,’’ as a superior measure to disc space narrowing. As we have discussed in detail, although it is possible that DD is influenced by altered mechanical loading due to BMD changes, it is also possible that elevated BMD is an adaption of the vertebral bone to the changing mechanical environment related to DD. Therefore, we agree with Adams’ and Dolan’s view that ‘‘interactions between vertebrae and their adjacent discs cannot be summarized simply.’’ REPLY JBMR

Romantic relationships of emerging adult survivors of childhood cancer: a discussion of study limitations

I have read the article by Thompson, Marsland, Marshal, and Tersank (2009), in a recent issue of Psycho-Oncology, with much interest. The authors aimed to investigate whether childhood cancer survivors experience difficulties in their romantic relationships during emerging adulthood (age range: 18–25 years), and intended to identify individuals at risk for long-term social sequelae. In the present letter, I want to address several concerns I have regarding the design of the study by Thompson et al. First, the authors pointed out that they have particularly investigated these questions in a group of emerging adults, as that time is usually characterized by finding ones identity, becoming economically independent and searching for potential life-time partners. This reasoning and approach can be highly valued, since little research has been conducted on this interesting topic in this specific population. However, one important limitation of this study that has to be addressed is the selection of the study sample combined with the selected measurement. An adaption of the Dating/ Romantic Relationship Measure has been used, examining the participant’s relationships in the past five years. The participants, however, had a mean age of 21 and the youngest participants were 18 years. This indicates that presumably a high number of participants has been asked about their romantic relationships in their teenage years and did not give information explicitly about the span in life intended to be investigated (18–25 years). Second, the time since treatment for cancer ranged from 3 to 22 years. As a result, the investigated period of the romantic relationships (past five years) overlapped with the actual time of cancer treatment in some participants. In their paper, Thompson et al. reported an association between older age of diagnosis and lower social quality of life, explaining this with a smaller amount of time to reintegrate with peers, but they ignore the potential effect of overlapping time periods. Therefore, future research is required to test whether this association is present in young adult survivors of childhood cancer or not. Third, the sample was quite heterogeneous according to their type of cancer, which makes comparisons to controls difficult. Furthermore, valuable information might be lost when omitting effect modifications by cancer type. Finally, the authors studied potential moderators in the relationship of cancer survivorship and romantic relationships. However, the validity of their definition of treatment intensity as well as its value in terms of content and interpretation can be questioned. It was classified from mild to severe, where mild treatment indicated ‘surgery only and/ or 6 months of chemotherapy for low-risk cancers [y]’ and severe treatment included ‘e.g. bone marrow transplant, highest-risk protocols, high doses of radiation, mostly inpatient therapy.’ However, surgery only does not mean by definition that the treatment is not very intense. In some cases

Effects of Numbered Heads Together on the Daily Quiz Scores and On-Task Behavior of Students with Disabilities

Previous research has demonstrated that Numbered Heads Together, a cooperative learning strategy, is more effective than traditional teacher-led instruction in academic areas such as social studies and science. The current study compared the effects of two types of Numbered Heads Together strategies with a baseline condition during 7th grade language arts lessons. Results indicated that three students with various disabilities had higher percent intervals of on-task behavior and daily quiz scores during either Heads Together condition. Teacher satisfaction ratings suggested that Heads Together was easy to implement, and all three students preferred this strategy to baseline instruction. A discussion of study limitations, implications, and future research directions is included.

Neural tube defects

The population-based study of neural tube defects by Joel Ray and associates[1][1] raises 2 important concerns. First, as noted by the authors in their discussion of study limitations, ethnicity may simply be a confounding factor in neural tube defects caused by poor folic acid intake. Second,

Relationship of coaching with performance in situational employment interviews.

This field study addressed the question of whether voluntary participation in interview coaching is related to performance in situational interviews. Promotional procedures in 4 different police and fire department jobs were involved, allowing replication in separate samples. In 3 of 4 jobs, when controlling for indicators of candidates' precoaching job knowledge and motivation to do well on the promotional procedures, attendance at a coaching session was significantly related to interview performance. Following a discussion of study limitations, an agenda for future research is discussed, including a proposed general model of coaching process and outcome variables.

Manuscript Quality before and after Peer Review and Editing at Annals of Internal Medicine

To evaluate the effects of peer review and editing on manuscript quality. Editorial offices of Annals of Internal Medicine. Masked before-after study. MANUSCRIPTS: 111 consecutive original research manuscripts accepted for publication at Annals between March 1992 and March 1993. We used a manuscript quality assessment tool of 34 items to evaluate the quality of the research report, not the quality of the research itself. Each item was scored on a 1 to 5 scale. Forty-four expert assessors unaware of the design or aims of the study evaluated the manuscripts, with different persons evaluating the two versions of each manuscript (before and after the editorial process). 33 of the 34 items changed in the direction of improvement, with the largest improvements seen in the discussion of study limitations, generalizations, use of confidence intervals, and the tone of conclusions. Overall, the percentage of items scored three or more increased by an absolute 7.3% (95% CI, 3.3% to 11.3%) from a baseline of 75%. The average item score improved by 0.23 points (CI, 0.07 to 0.39) from a baseline mean of 3.5. Manuscripts rated in the bottom 50% showed two- to threefold larger improvements than those in the top 50%, after correction for regression to the mean. Peer review and editing improve the quality of medical research reporting, particularly in those areas that readers rely on most heavily to decide on the importance and generalizability of the findings.