Purpose: Summarize and appraise an article for bias and validity in a collaborative environment. Instr

Purpose:  Summarize and appraise an article for bias and validity in a collaborative environment.

Instructions: Carefully read, summarize, and appraise your group's assigned article.  The discussion board for this week should cover the following concepts in order to have a complete draft by the end of the week. Apply the concepts discussed in the lecture and the readings.  As you provide input to your peers, be sure to state a rationale for your claims.

1. Identify and discuss the following:
   • what is known/not known about the topic and the gap in knowledge the study is intended to fill.
   • the research design, purpose of the study, and setting.
   • information about the sample: 
     • method;
     • size;
     • inclusion/exclusion criteria,
     • attrition/loss to follow up/response rate, if any;
     • important characteristics of the sample.
2. Appraise and debate the sampling methods and determine the quality of the sampling procedures in reducing bias. Consider the following questions:
   • Was the sampling method and inclusion/exclusion criteria adequate to reduce sampling bias?
   • Are the sample characteristics representative of the target population?
   • Was the sample size adequate?
   • Was there a decrease in sample size?  If so, did the researchers identify decreases early and attempt to reduce the impact?  Was a decrease, if any, adequately explained by the researchers?