Research

• Numerical information which is analyzed statistically
• If there are numbers in the research paper, the research is quantitative
• Degree to which findings of quantitative research can be applied to other individuals is referred to as generalizability.

• Approach to structuring knowledge that emphasize verbal descriptions and the meaning of the experience for the individual
• More holistic in nature

• Defines priorities of nursing research
• Promotes research by supporting grants and conducting research

• Promoting Health and Preventing Disease
• Improving Quality of Life
• Eliminating Health Disparities
• Setting Directions for End-of-Life Research

• Promote and improve the health of communities, families, populations, and individuals.
• Enhance science and healthcare by integrating the biological and behavioral sciences, applying new technologies, promoting health equity, and developing scientists of the future.

• Review groups responsible for ensuring that researchers do not engage in unethical research or poorly designed studiesall research goes in front of the boards
• Review research proposals
• Must ensure human rights are not being violated

lawyers, lay persons, clergy, nurses, etc…

Pure research. Used to obtain empirical data which can be used to develop, refine, or test a theory.

Used to gain knowledge that can be used in a practical setting.

• Researcher manipulates or controls a variable while observing the effect on other variables.
• Control group and experimental group

• Descriptive type of research
• No manipulation/experimentation

• Examines data collected in the past
• Chart review

• Examines data collected in the present
• Taking BP measurements
• No data collection from past or future

Collects data at one point in time; no follow-up

• Collects data at different intervals over time
• May lose subjects over time

• Developed in 1947 as a result of the Nuremberg trials.
• Nazi medical experiments in 1930s and 40s – subjects could not refuse participation – used POWs and racial “enemies”

• Voluntary consent of human subjects
• Experiment expected to yield fruitful results
• Experiment should avoid necessary physical and mental suffering
• Human subject should be able to bring experiment to an end
• The degree of risk should not exceed the importance of solving the problem
• The experiment should only be conducted by scientifically qualified persons

• Begun by U.S. Public Health Service in 1932
• Studied African Americans with Syphilis compared to a control group without Syphilis
• Men were not informed they were part of research study
• Treated men with known non-effective drug after discovery of Penicillin as effective treatment
• Despite death rate for the men with Syphilis being twice as high as those in the control group, study was continued until 1972

• Children
• Mentally Handicapped
• Prisoners
• All vunerable inndividuals

• reviewers chosen by the editor for their expertise as clinicians, researchers, and/or administrators
• More scientifically valid

• Limit search to refereed journals when using search engine such as EBSCO
• Check the editorial statement or instructions to authors (usually in the first few pages of the journal or at the end) for references to the peer-review process
• Physical cues: If we are not familiar with a publication or its reputation we can turn to other physical cues such as looking at the masthead or publication information which appears usually just inside the front or back cover. Sometimes it will be clearly stated that a publication is peer reviewed or refereed

• Grand - complex and broad scoped
• Middle - relatively focused
• Practice or prescriptive - more specific than middle-range
• Borrowed - from other disciplines

• Every subject has an equal and independent chance of being chosen
• Random selection vs random assignment
• Use random selection from population to get sample then randomly assign into groups (control and experimental) from sample

• Type of sampling in which population divided into subpopulation, or strata, on the basis of one or more variables, and a simple random sample is drawn from each strata
• Used when researcher knows some of the variables in the population which are critical to achieve representativeness
• Example: If using ethnicity as strata: Researcher knows target population contains 60% Caucasians, 20% African American, 15% Hispanic, 5% other. Will select random sample from each stratum; either equal numbers from each strata, or sample that is equivalent to the target population proportions for each strata.

• Groups are randomly selected instead of individuals
• Researcher first constructs sampling frame with list of all the groups (cities, states, institution, organizations) with which elements of the identified population can be linked
• Randomized sample of these groups (cities, states etc) are then used in the study
• Selection of members of these groups may then be made by random or stratified random sampling (multistage sampling) if done in several stages
• This is used when researchers want to obtain geographically dispersed groups or researcher is unable to develop a sampling frame

• System when individuals of population are selected from a list by taking every kth individual
• All members of the population do not have an independent chance of being selected for the sample
• Considered type of probability sampling if the population list is randomly ordered
• Example: Between 1984 and 1986, 4000 mothers of toddlers who were born full-term and who were delivered vaginally or by cesarean section (sampling frame) were identified. To select 146 mothers from the list of 4,000, every 27th subject was selected

• Simple Random
• Stratified Random
• Cluster
• Systematic

• Convenience Sampling
• Snowball Sampling
• Network Sampling
• Quota Sampling
• Purposive Sampling

• Does not use random selection
• Sample subjects are not selected from the larger group of subjects
• Researcher collects data from whomever is available and meets the study criteria
• Just happened to be in the right place at the right time
• Example: A classroom of students; Patients who attend a clinic on a specific day; A sample composed of every 5th patient who enters the emergency room on a given day; Subjects who attend a support group

• Also called Network Sampling
• Relies on subjects identifying other subjects with similar characteristics
• Example: Researcher has found subjects with necessary criteria, he or she asks their assistance in finding other subjects with similar characteristics; Women who have had a pregnancy loss recruit other women that they know who have also had a pregnancy loss for the study

• The strata of the population are identified based on specific characteristics
• The quota for each stratum is determined, and subjects are solicited via convenience sampling
• Done to ensure that subject types are included which are likely to be underrepresented in a purely convenience sample
• Example: Quota sampling was used to achieve appropriate sample representation by gender, at a ratio of 4 males to 1 female. Gender subgroups were then stratified by prebaseline CD4 cell counts….

• Researcher “hand-picks” certain cases to be in the study
• Usually with qualitative studies
• Chosen subjects are those though to best represent the phenomenon being studied and to be typical of the population
• Example: Subjects were clients of an output methadone treatment program for opiate addicts….subjects had either used illegal injection drugs themselves, or were the sexual partners of men who did. Purposive sampling was used to capture the richness of a wide range of perspectives. Subjects were selected on the basis of race or ethnicity, personal history of drug abuse and treatment, and personal experience with AIDS….

Random Sampling

striving for excellence that involves discipline, adherence to detail, and strict accuracy

using various combinations of research designs or instruments in the same study, or use of both quantitative and qualitative methods to collect data about a phenomenon.looking at the issue from different angles

›Degree to which findings of quantitative research can be applied to other individuals

• 1. Selecting and defining the problemw
• ›2. Selecting a research design (quantitative or qualitative)
• ›3. Collecting data
• ›4. Analyzing data
• ›5. Using the research findings

Informed Concent

right to freedom from harm and discomfort, right to protection from exploitation, respect for human dignity

right to fair treatment and right to privacy

• ›Freedom from risk of injury or harm›
• Right to privacy and dignity›
• Righty to anonymity and confidentiality
• ›Guidelines apply to all individuals involved in research
• ›Voluntary informed consent must be obtained
• ›Subjects must be aware of risk-benefit ratio
• ›Subjects vulnerability must be considered

• ——Descriptive research
• ——Correlational research
• Quasi-experimental research
• Experiemental research

Purpose to identify and describe concepts or variables, identify possible relationships between variables, delineate differences between groups

Purpose is to examine the type and strength of relationships between variables

Purpose to determine the effect of a treatment or independent variable on designated dependent variable

Highly controlled, purpose to determine effect of independent variable(s) on dependent variable(s)

lack a control group that is distinct from the experimental group, or lack random assignment of subjects to either group

• —Phenomenological
• ——Grounded theory
• ——Ethnographic

conducted to understand a human experience from an individual researcher’s perspective

The theory developed from the research has it’s roots in the data which was collected

Collecting information about cultures

• —A concise statement that indicates the gap in the knowledge needed for practice and provides a basis for the study
• Justifies the study, discusses background info already known about the topic and the relevance of the problem to practice, theory or both

• a single statement that identifies why the problem is being studied
• —Purpose statement can be written in one of three ways:—— (a declarative statement, —a question—, or a hypothesis)

• Information about what researcher is going to do
• Information about the setting for the study
• Information about the subjects

A hypothesis is a formal statement of the expected relationship(s) between two or more variables in a specified population——Can never be proved or disproved——Can be supported or not supported by data

• —To guide scientific inquiry—
• To provide direction for the research design—
• To provide direction for the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data

• Independent
• Dependent
• Extraneous
• Confounding

Manipulated by researcher to create an effect on the dependent variable

—Outcome or response that the researcher wants to predict or explain

—Other variables other than the independent and dependent variable

—Extraneous variables which are not discovered until the study is in process, or recognized before the study is started but cannot be controlled

proposes relationships among variables that occur or exist in the real world

proposes a cause and effect relationship between variables, referred to as independent and dependent variables

states the relationship (associative or causal) between two variables

states the relationship (associative or causal) among two or more independent variables and two or more dependent variables

states a relationship exists but does not predict the nature of the relationship

states the nature (positive or negative) of the interaction between two or more variables

—States that no relationship exists between variables

—States that a relationship exists between two or more variables

—A metaparadigm refers to primary phenomena of interest to a particular discipline.

• —1. Person
• —2. Environment
• —3. Health
• —4. Nursing

• Entire set of subjects, objects, events or elements being studied
• Entire set of persons who meet the sample criteria

• Subset of the population being studied
• Expected to represent the population

The part of the target population that is readily available to the researcher

• Depends on study:
• —For qualitative study, adequate sample size is one large enough to explore meanings and phenomena
• —For quantitative studies, sample size linked to data collection and type of analysis

The extent to which study results can be generalized from the study sample to other subjects, populations, measuring instruments, and settings

• Interaction of selection and treatment (When samples are confined to certain types of subjects)
• —Interaction of setting and treatment (When samples are in a specific setting, hard to generalize to other settings)
• —Interaction of history and treatment (What is found in the past may not be true in the present)

—How well does an instrument measure an intended hypothetical concept or construct