Select a diagnostic problem of interest and perform a literature search to find a published article on the

sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic procedures used with the problem.

a. What terminology is used for sensitivity and specificity? Are these terms used, or are results discussed

in terms of false positives and false-negatives?

b. Are actual numbers given or simply the values for sensitivity and specificity?

c. Does a well-accepted gold standard exist for the diagnosis? If not, did investigators provide

information on the validity of the assessment used for the gold standard?

d. Did investigators discuss the reasons for false-positives? Were the selection criteria used for selecting

persons with and without the disease appropriate?

e. Did authors cite predictive values for positive and negative tests? If so, why is this inappropriate?