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FACULTY OF
PSYCHIATRY
NATIONAL POSTGRADUATE
MEDICAL COLLEGE
NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY
AWKA
ABSTRACT
 ABSTRACT,
LIMITATIONS AND
CONCLUSIONS.
 Abstract: The abstract is a brief
comprehensive summary of the contents
of the article. For journal articles, it may be
the only portion that some read. For the
Part II Dissertation, assessors and
examiners first read this portion and it may
attract or put them off
NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY
AWKA
ABSTRACT

This should be a section to provide
informative balanced summary of what
was done and what was found. Editorial
policies differ. Many journals use the
structured type of abstract
NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY
AWKA
ABSTRACT
 Background.
What thought drove the
study? What was the research question?
 Objective: What was the aim of the whole
exercise/
 Design: What design was used?
 Setting: What was the context?
NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY
AWKA
ABSTRACT
 Patients/Subjects:
Specify pertinent
characteristics such as number, type, age,
sex etc.
 Measurements: Also include the
instruments.
 Results:
 Limitations:
 Conclusions: Should include the
implications and applications.
NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY
AWKA
ABSTRACT
 Only
a summary of key details is needed.
Only information provided in the main
article should be presented. STROBE
advises that key results be presented in a
numerical form that includes numbers of
participants, estimates of associations and
appropriate measures of variability and
uncertainty (e.g. ORs with 95% C.Is)
NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY
AWKA
ABSTRACT
It is considered insufficient to simply state
that an exposure is or is not significantly
associated with an outcome.
 The National Postgraduate College does
not require a structured summary.
However, these pieces of information
should be reflected all the same in the
summary.

NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY
AWKA
ABSTRACT
 Qualities
of a good abstract: 1 Accurate 2.
Self-contained. Spell out names of tests
and drugs. Define all abbreviations and
acronyms. Define unique terms.
Paraphrase rather than quote. 3. Concise
and specific. Each statement, especially
the opening statement, must be maximally
informative. Brief..
NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY
AWKA
ABSTRACT
 Most
journal articles specify less than 250
words, but the advice is that one should
not ideally exceed 150 words. How ever,
for the purposes of the Part II Dissertation,
the College has not provided guidance as
to maximum length of the abstract; looks
like one has to use good judgment
NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY
AWKA
ABSTRACT

4. Non evaluative Report rather than evaluate.
Do not add to or comment on what is in the body
the paper. 5. Coherent and readable. Write in
clear and vigorous prose. Use verbs rather than
the noun equivalents and the active rather than
the passive. Use present tense to describe
results that have continuing applicability or
conclusions drawn. Use the past tense to
describe specific variables manipulated or tests
applied.
NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY
AWKA
ABSTRACT
 (READ
SOME EXAMPLES FROM
JOURNALS AND DISSERTATIONS)
NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY
AWKA
ABSTRACT

LIMITATIONS. Every work has limitations. These
are the weaknesses of the study. Some
weaknesses can be avoided at the design stage
and others can not. Put another way, what would
have been the ideal way to go about the study,
why was it not possible to have done that and
what efforts were made to reduce these
weaknesses? Consider for example the issue of
bias. Sacket mentions 35 different types of bias;
however, bias can be broadly divided into two
NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY
AWKA
ABSTRACT

Recruitment or selection bias includes sampling
bias (non representative
identification/recruitment of subjects; response
bias (unrepresentative participation by subjects).
Measurement or information or observation bias
include interviewer bias (differential data
recording in subjects groups by researchers),
recall bias (historical data is selectively filtered
by subjects). The sources of bias and
confounding that could have affected the results
must be identified
NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY
AWKA
ABSTRACT

Discuss the relative importance of
different biases, including the likely
direction and magnitude of any potential
bias. Identify and discuss any imprecision
of the results. Imprecision may arise in
connection with several aspects of a study,
including the study size, measurement of
exposures, confounders and outcomes.
NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY
AWKA
ABSTRACT
 At
this section, it will be good to compare
the study being discussed with other
studies in the literature in terms of validity,
generalizability and precision. In this
approach, each study can be viewed as a
contribution to the literature not as a
stand- alone basis for inference and
action.
NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY
AWKA
ABSTRACT

When weaknesses are identified, one
should also recognize the strengths of the
study and not discard the material entirely;
it may still have some utility because of all
the cautions taken.
NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY
AWKA
ABSTRACT
 Irrelevant
and frivolous issues should not
be part of limitations. For example what is
the yield of schizophrenia in population
based community studies? If in a
population study of smoking, patients with
schizophrenia were omitted, would this
constitute a weakness for the study?
NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY
AWKA
ABSTRACT

This question is important because smoking rate
is very high among patients who have
schizophrenia such that omission of people with
schizophrenia will tend to suggest that any
smoking rate is underestimated. But the real
issue is, what is the rate of schizophrenia in
population based community studies?
 Do not include money as a limitation; this is
superfluous. Do not dwell compulsively on every
(trivial) flaw.
NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY
AWKA
ABSTRACT
 (READ
SOME EXAMPLES FROM A
JOURNAL ARTICLE).
NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY
AWKA
ABSTRACT
 CONCLUSION.
This should briefly
summarize the answers to the questions
posed at the beginning of the paper. It
should go beyond the particulars of the
study to address a broader significance of
the research. You should ask yourself
these four questions
NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY
AWKA
ABSTRACT




1.Were my hypotheses confirmed? If so
why? If not, why not?
2.What generalizations can be drawn
from the findings?
3.What, if any, are the policy implications
of the study?
4.What questions remain unanswered?
NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY
AWKA
ABSTRACT

Recommendations :
 This section is a part of the Conclusions.
 Any work should merely contribute to
knowledge. Therefore, recommendation must be
modest. Avoid unwarranted bogus
recommendations on the basis of a limited
investigation. Example : All patients coming to
the psychiatric clinic must undergo a 3-D Echo ;
lipid profile estimation must be routinely done
etc.
NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY
AWKA
ABSTRACT
 (READ
SOME EXAMPLES FROM A
JOURNAL ARTICLE).
NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY
AWKA