Users' Guides to the Medical Literature
Guyatt G, Rennie D, Meade MO, Cook DJ
Part B Therapy
Chapter 9.1. An Illustration of Bias and Random Error
Gordon Guyatt, Toshi Furukawa
An Illustration of Bias and Random Error: Introduction
Topics Discussed:
bias (conflict of interest), bias, epidemiologic, conduct considerations, meta-analyses, random error
Excerpt:
"As is true of any area of intellectual endeavor, students of evidence-based medicine face challenges both in understanding concepts and
in becoming familiar with technical language. When asked to say
what makes a study valid, students often respond, "large
sample size." Small sample size does not produce bias (and,
thus, compromised validity), but it can increase the
likelihood of a misleading result through random error. You
may find the following exercise helpful in clarifying notions of bias—systematic
error or deviation from the truth—vs random
error...."
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