Station Two Final Quiz

A systematic review and meta-analysis can require hundreds, sometimes more than 1,000, hours of orchestrated time and planning. Which single sentence from Station 1.2 most precisely explains why a protocol is essential, given this reality?

A) "Protocols are the administrative gateway to international registration platforms like PROSPERO and OSF."

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B) "Without a protocol, teams cannot assign tasks or manage timelines effectively."

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C) "A protocol is not a to-do list. It is a contract with the principles of ethical and transparent research, your North Star, road map, and credibility shield, all in one document."

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D) "Protocols make possible for researchers from vastly different fields to speak the same evidence-based language."

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Arrange the following elements of the “virtuous cycle of transparency” in the correct sequence, from the starting action to the final outcome, as taught in Lesson 1.2.2.

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An education researcher completes their systematic review and discovers, during data extraction, that test scores, the outcome they pre-specified, showed no significant effect, but an unexpected pattern around teacher confidence emerged strongly in the data. They are tempted to reframe the review around teacher confidence in their write-up. According to the accountability principles of Station 1.2, what is the correct course of action?

A) Reframe the review around teacher confidence, this is a more important and novel finding that will have greater real-world impact

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B) Report only the test score finding and suppress the teacher confidence pattern to maintain fidelity to the protocol

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C) Report the pre-specified test score outcome fully and honestly, then document the teacher confidence pattern as an exploratory, post-hoc observation with a clear explanation that it was not pre-specified and flag it as a hypothesis for future investigation

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D) Amend the protocol retrospectively on PROSPERO to include teacher confidence as a co-primary outcome before writing up

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Lesson 1.2.4 teaches that conflicts of interest extend beyond the obvious. Which of the following should be declared in a protocol, according to what was taught? Select all that apply.

A) Financial affiliations with companies that produce interventions related to the review topic

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B) Professional relationships with authors of key studies likely to be included

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C) Institutional ties that may create pressure toward certain conclusions

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D) The researcher's own intellectual biases, pre-existing beliefs about the likely direction of the evidence

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E) Personal opinions about the quality of a specific database, which are not relevant to the research question

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According to Lesson 1.2.5, checking for existing or ongoing systematic reviews on your topic before finalizing your protocol is a professional courtesy but is not an ethical obligation.

A) False

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B) True

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The Lesson 1.2.6 reflection exercise asks learners to identify their personal “why” from four motivating principles: integrity of the promise, intellectual honesty of transparency, professional responsibility of accountability, and practical benefit of efficiency. What is the purpose of this exercise within the broader MetaSyn framework?

A) To help learners select the principle most useful for journal publication cover letters

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B) To identify which principle learners will report in their PROSPERO registration

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C) To anchor the learner's personal motivation to the ethical foundation of their work so that when the review becomes difficult, their protocol remains their compass and their 'why' keeps the review grounded and meaningful

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D) To select the professional language style most appropriate for the learner's disciplinary context

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A multi-disciplinary review team includes a clinical psychologist, a health economist, and a medical librarian. At the protocol stage, they are debating whether to include qualitative studies alongside RCTs. Each team member argues strongly for their own discipline’s preferred approach. According to Lesson 1.2.5, what is the most valuable function this disagreement serves?

A) It demonstrates that the team lacks the shared scientific language needed to work effectively together and should seek external mediation

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B) It is precisely the kind of intellectual challenge that collaboration is designed to produce, different perspectives challenging assumptions and preventing intellectual blind spots before execution, leading to a more robust and defensible protocol

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C) It confirms that the study design question is too complex for a pre-specified protocol and should be decided during the review

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D) It signals that the eligibility criteria need to be narrowed to a single study design to ensure the team can reach consensus

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