Biology and Biological Sciences

Do you feel the article was reputable and free from biases? 

I feel the article was reputable and free from biases because of a number of reasons. Foremost, the fact that the authors borrowed information from reputable sources to aid in their research is a concrete evidence of the article being reputable. Not only did the author of the article fetch information from other sources but the materials used were also current and had all the relevant information. Current sources are important because they contain information that is up to date ( Steckler, A., & McLeroy, 2018) . Besides, the authors of these sources are some of the most reputable in the field of health sciences. Also, the authors of this particular article are individuals who are internationally acclaimed in the field of sciences and are thus definitely writing from experts points of view coupled with thorough research in related topics. Therefore, it can be agreed that the article presents facts that can be verified as it contains hard data gotten after surveys.

Another reason behind the article’s credibility is the use of information from real people and not doctoring any information from individuals who did not take part in the interview ( Boddy & Ernst, 2018) . Furthermore, this article presents new facts not just information paraphrased from other sources on the internet. More importantly, the fact that it is hosted in a credible website gives authority ( Walsham, 2016) . Also, the language used in the article is objective and free of emotions. Critical to note still is the fact that the directory where the article is found seeks to inform the audience but not to persuade towards a particular standpoint.

Did the author reference his work with notable people or articles that came from trustworthy journals? 

All the twenty references used in the article are drawn from trustworthy journals. The materials are peer-reviewed, as they can be found in multiple sites, containing all articles that present empirical research. Some of the journals where the authors drew their research include Journal of the American College Of Cardiology, the New England Journal of Medicine, European Heart Journal, and the Spanish Journal of Cardiology among others. These are journals that have been important critical points for researches since they are written by individuals who have been tried and tested in the field of medicine ( Nicholas, Williams, Rowlands, 2010) . Articles from this journal are thus reputable and can be used as reference points for studies revolving around medicine and health sciences.

Was the study performed on a large or small group? Why would this affect your opinion of the study? 

The study was conducted on a large group. The cohort involved patients between 1999 and 2008 ( Jacobsson et al., 2019) . Notably, they have a commonality as they had received CRT device with or without CRT defibrillator at a tertiary care center and their identification was done through a registry. Information about the participants in the research was retrieved from the health records after being approved by the local ethics committee. While it is not possible to have everybody participate in a study, having a large sample has significant advantages to it. The big number of participants in this particular study affected my opinion of the research because it implied a smaller marginal error ( Suresh & Chandrashekara, 2012) . Indeed, this means that the accuracy of the study can be relied on. A margin of era refers to the range of sampling era in the result of a survey (Sathian et al., 2011).

While studies are meant to isolate a specific variable, using a large sample size, like in this case, goes a long way in ensuring more representation of an entire population. Furthermore, studies are more credible if the sample size is significant ( Calder, 2013 and Sandelowski, 2015) . The field of medicine and health sciences requires utmost precision not only when it comes to handling patients but also when in research and surveys. Because using big numbers has been identified to result into better precision, I am convinced that the size of the sample in this experiment makes all the difference needed. Another reason why the large number made me recognize the research as authoritative is because it got rid of the outliers in the sample. Small samples are often prone to outliers which are always a misrepresentation of the data in the sample ( Takeda et al., 2009) . Notably, it is also worth noting that while outliers usually complicate statistical representation, it is imperative to give a practical picture and a real representation of the population.

A large sample size gives the best results of a medical research because it is not likely that one would encounter type 1 and type 2 errors. Even so, this also hinges on the fact that other sections of the research are cautiously worked on and all other problems responded to adequately. Compared to a smaller sample size, a large sample size often gives an impressive confidence level thereby boosting the significance of the research ( MacCallum, Widaman & Zhang, 2019) . This idea comes from the fact that larger sample sizes are likely to mirror results of the entire group. In a nutshell, the sample size affected my opinion because it quickly led to the rejection of null hypothesis.

Did the charts or tables help to clarify the points the authors were making? 

Like in other research studies, tables and graphs are a critical part of the entire research piece. Notably, this particular study had large data involved and therefore did thorough analysis to be understood. The tables and graphs clarified the points that the authors were making by presenting them in a manner that is not only coherent and logical, but also in a way that makes it easy to comprehend. Primarily, tables are used by researchers to provide a summary of a set of data ( Wainer, 2012) . If the research data was presented in text form, it would be unwieldy and confusing. Therefore, it comes as a relief because of the enormous and complex data. Furthermore, the charts and graphs used in the paper made it possible for me to see the bigger picture which makes the general presentation more precise. Also worth mentioning is that charts and graphs add interest and break the boredom while enabling one to grasp the central issues more concisely. By capturing interest, it means the reader is able to appreciate the facts faster than if it were presented in text form ( Gelman, 2011) . Similarly, the graphs used by the author came in handy because they do not only catch the reader’s eye but also strive to put the data into proper perspective and boost the reader’s ability to appreciate the data presented. Hence, the charts and tables could not come in handier in helping to clarify the points the author was making.

In the references, look up 2 to 3 references; were you able to find the articles the author used and were they relevant in the study? 

The first article I was able to look up was Guidelines for the Management of Atrial Fibrillation: The Task Force for the Management of Atrial Fibrillation of the European Society of Cardiology (Esc) (Camm et al., 2010). The article is found in the European Heart Journal and was authored by Camm AJ, Kirchhof P, Lip GY, Schotten U, et al. and published in 2010. The article was relevant because it gave deep insight into the manner in which atrial fibrillation needs to be managed. Since the authors of the article are reputable industry professionals, it is authoritative to reiterate that the article can be relied on. 

The second article is ‘Outcomes of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy in Patients with Versus Those without Atrial Fibrillation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis’ (Wilton et al., 2011). The article was authored by Wilton SB, Leung AA, Ghali WA, Faris P, and Exner DV in 2011. In this article also, authority can be derived from the fact that the information is current as it not older than ten years. Notably, it is important for articles to be less than ten years old because information is highly dynamic and can change within a short time. Besides, the article’s authors are acclaimed industry professionals who have done myriad researches in the field of medicine. 

References 

Steckler, A., & McLeroy, K. R. (2018). The importance of external validity. 

Boddy, K., & Ernst, E. (2018). Review of reliable information sources in research.  Hematology/oncology clinics of North America ,  22 (4), 619-630. 

Walsham, G. (2016). Doing interpretive research.  European journal of information systems ,  15 (3), 320-330. 

Nicholas, D., Williams, P., Rowlands, I. (2010). Researchers’e-journal use and information seeking behaviour.  Journal of Information Science ,  36 (4), 494-516. 

Jacobsson, J., Reitan, C., Carlson, J., Borgquist, R., & Platonov, P. G. (2019). Atrial fibrillation incidence and impact of biventricular pacing on long-term outcome in patients with heart failure treated with cardiac resynchronization therapy.  BMC cardiovascular disorders ,  19 (1), 1-9. 

Suresh, K. P., & Chandrashekara, S. (2012). Sample size estimation and power analysis for clinical research studies.  Journal of human reproductive sciences ,  5 (1), 7. 

Sathian, B., Sreedharan, J., Baboo, S. N., Sharan, K., Abhilash, E. S., & Rajesh, E. (2010). Relevance of sample size determination in medical research. Nepal Journal of Epidemiology, 1(1), 4-10.

Calder, K. (2013). Statistical inference.  New York: Holt . 

Takeda, K., Mishiba, M., Sugiura, H., Nakajima, A., Kohama, M., & Hiramatsu, S. (2009). Evaluated reference intervals for serum free thyroxine and thyrotropin using the conventional outliner rejection test without regard to presence of thyroid antibodies and prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in Japanese subjects.  Endocrine journal ,  56 (9), 1059-1066. 

Sandelowski, M. (2015). Sample size in qualitative research.  Research in nursing & health ,  18 (2), 179-183. 

MacCallum, R. C., Widaman, K. F., Zhang, S (2019). Sample size in factor analysis.  Psychological methods ,  4 (1), 84. 

Wainer, H. (2012). Understanding graphs and tables.  Educational researcher ,  21 (1), 14-23. 

Gelman, A. (2011). Why tables are really much better than graphs.  Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics ,  20 (1), 3-7. 

Developed with the special contribution of the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA), Endorsed by the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS), Authors/Task Force Members, Camm, A. J., Kirchhof, P., Lip, G. Y., ... & Al-Attar, N. (2010). Guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation: the Task Force for the Management of Atrial Fibrillation of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).  European heart journal ,  31 (19), 2369-2429. 

Wilton, S. B., Leung, A. A., Ghali, W. A., Faris, P., & Exner, D. V. (2011). Outcomes of cardiac resynchronization therapy in patients with versus those without atrial fibrillation: a systematic review and meta-analysis.  Heart Rhythm ,  8 (7), 1088-1094.