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Neonatal jaundice

Prospective study A study in which people are entered into the research and then
followed up over a period of time with future events recorded as they
happen. This contrasts with studies that are retrospective.
Protocol A plan or set of steps which defines appropriate action. A research
protocol sets out, in advance of carrying out the study, what question
is to be answered and how information will be collected and
analysed. Guideline implementation protocols set out how guideline
recommendations will be used in practice by the NHS, both at
national and local levels.
Psychomotor Refers to neurological and motor develoment
Publication bias Studies with statistically significant results are more likely to get
published than those with non-significant results. Meta-analyses that
are exclusively based on published literature may therefore produce
biased results. This type of bias can be assessed by a funnel plot.
P value If a study is done to compare two treatments then the P value is the
probability of obtaining the results of that study, or something more
extreme, if there really was no difference between treatments. (The
assumption that there really is no difference between treatments is
called the ‘null hypothesis’.) Suppose the P value was P = 0.03.
What this means is that if there really was no difference between
treatments then there would only be a 3% chance of getting the kind
of results obtained. Since this chance seems quite low we should
question the validity of the assumption that there really is no
difference between treatments. We would conclude that there
probably is a difference between treatments. By convention, where
the value of P is below 0.05 (i.e. less than 5%) the result is seen as
statistically significant. Where the value of P is 0.001 or less, the
result is seen as highly significant. P values just tell us whether an
effect can be regarded as statistically significant or not. In no way
does the P value relate to how big the effect might be, for this we
need the confidence interval.
Qualitative research Qualitative research is used to explore and understand people’s
beliefs, experiences, attitudes, behaviour and interactions. It
generates non-numerical data, e.g. a patient’s description of their pain
rather than a measure of pain. In health care, qualitative techniques
have been commonly used in research documenting the experience
of chronic illness and in studies about the functioning of
organisations. Qualitative research techniques such as focus groups
and in depth interviews have been used in one-off projects
commissioned by guideline development groups to find out more
about the views and experiences of patients and carers.
Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) A measure of health outcome which looks at both length of life and
quality of life. QALYS are calculated by estimating the years of life
remaining for a patient following a particular care pathway and
weighting each year with a quality of life score (on a zero to one
scale). One QALY is equal to one year of life in perfect health, or two
years at 50% health, and so on.
Quantitative research Research that generates numerical data or data that can be converted
into numbers, for example clinical trials or the national Census which
counts people and households.

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