Nurse Specific Stuff
Define nursing research versus healthcare research
Research - systematic inquiry that uses disciplined methods to answer questions and solve problems
Nursing research - the generation of new knowledge within the practice or science of nursing
Healthcare research - the generation of new knowledge that encompasses the entirety of health care, not just within the realm of nursing practice
What is a quantitative study?
Researchers start with a theory and use deductive reasoning to make predictions about how phenomena would behave in the real world if they were valid.
In these types of studies, concepts are called variables (weight, fatigue, anxiety). They are central to quant studies.
What are the steps involved in the planning stage of a study?
Identifying the research problem
Doing a literature review
Developing an overall approach
Selecting and gaining entry into research sites
Developing methods to safeguard participants
What is a directional hypothesis?
Bonus: Give an example
A hypothesis that makes a specific prediction about the direction of the relationship between two variables
Ex: Older patients are more likely to fall than younger ones
What is blinding?
The process of preventing those involved in a study from having information that could lead to a bias, particularly information about which treatment group a participant; also called masking
Different from bracketing
What is the role of the nurse in research? (Must list at least 3)
Contribute an idea for clinical inquiry
Assist in collecting research information
Offer advice to clients about participating in a study
Search for research evidence
Discuss the implications of a study in a journal club in your practice setting with involves meetings to discuss research articles
Describe a longitudinal study?
Involves collecting data multiple times over an extended period. These types of studies are useful for looking at things over a long period of time and establishing the sequencing of phenomena.
Nursing research longitudinal studies are often follow-up studies of a clinical population.
For example patients who received a smoking cessation intervention it could be filed up to it to assess its long-term effectiveness.
State what information is expected in the IMRAD format of the abstract?
IMRAD format: organizes content into four main sections, Introduction, method, results, and discussion
State what Generalizability in research mean?
Bonus Point: How does it differ from transferability?
Generalizability
The degree to which the research methods justify the inference that the findings are true for a broader group that the study participants; in particular, the inference that the findings can be generalized from the sample to the population
Transferability
The extent to which qualitative findings can be transferred to other settings or groups; analogous to generalizability
What are participants called in qualitative vs quantitative studies?
In a quantitative study, the people being studies are called subjects or participants
In a qualitative study, the people cooperating in the study are called study participants, or informant.
What are the important questions the nurse should ask the researcher or principal investigator when asked to help with the research?
What is the research study about?
What is my role in the study as the nurse?
Has the study been approved by the IRB?
Have consent forms been signed?
What is a randomized control study?
(A true experiment) Are the best possible designs for illuminating causal relationships but it is not always possible to use these types of designs.
There is always an intervention (The experimenter does something to participants by manipulating the independent variable) control (The group that does not receive the intervention) and randomization (depends are assigned to groups on a random basis) in these studies.
For example if you were going to investigate the effect of gentle massage (I) compared to no massage(C) on pain in (O) nursing home residents (P).
What are the advantages of a longitudinal study?
Collecting data multiple times over an extended period
Useful for study changes over time and for establishing the sequencing of phenomena
Necessary for inferring causality
Yield valuable information about time-related phenomena
In nursing research they are often follow-up studies of a clinical population
Undertaken to assess the subsequent status of people with a specified condition or who received an intervention
Pts who take a smoking cessation program could be followed up with to assess the long term effectiveness
What is bracketing and what does it prevent?
Bonus: Components of bracketing
Bracketing is a method used in qualitative research to mitigate the potentially deleterious effects of preconceptions that may taint the research process.
Bonus:Dialogue - talk about biases and experiences with researchers - write them down
Take memos or a bracketing journal during data collection and analysis or writing research paper - helps researcher keep biases in check and on record
Write bias in research report to alert readers to their own views that could potentially sway the results
What is the IOWA model?
The Iowa model is a framework used to guide development and implementation
Identify phases of quantitative research activities and what activity would be expected in each. When presented with a study one would compare it to the framework provided above to decide the value of the information presented .
The nurse knows who requires an assent form and what you should know about the consent form versus assent forms?
A consent form is required for anyone who is participating in research. Without a consent form it is unethical and illegal to use the patient in your research.
Patients are considered competent to give their own consent if they are 18 years or older. Parents give consent if the subject is a minor.
Assent is an affirmative agreement of a vulnerable subject (e.g., a child 7-17 years old) to a particular study, typically to supplement formal consent by a parent of guardian.
Assent can also come into play when a child wants a treatment and the parents do not because the hospital administrator can step in certain situations when appropriate and sign a consent form to confirm this child's assent as in fact, the required consent.
What are single case control studies?
In cases with a certain condition such as lung cancer, are compared to controls without it. In designing a case control study, researchers try to identify controls who are similar as possible to cases with regards to confounding variable’s(age, gender).
These are difficult however because the two groups are almost never comparable with respect to all factors influencing the outcome.
Example would be a study of the risk factors associated with heel pressure ulcers in hospitalized patients. Patients with hospitalized acquired pressure ulcers were compared to those without such ulcers in terms of patient characteristics (immobility, vascular disease).
When is a PICO needed and what is it comprised of?
(All components needed for points)
PICO: When a specific comparison is in question, a PICO is needed!
Population (What are the characteristics of the patients or people?)
Intervention/Identifying tool/Influence (What are the interventions or therapies of interest? What are the potential harmful side effects?)
Comparative/alternative intervention (What is the alternative intervention?)
Outcome (What are the outcome or consequence in which we are interested?)
What Apriori?
Bonus: What type of study are they associated with
Means without a theory
Qualitative
Identify how secondary data analysis differ from primary research (4 differences needed)
Primary vs Secondary
Meaning
Primary data refers to the first hand data gathered by the researcher himself.
Secondary data means data collected by someone else earlier.
Data
Real time data
Past data
The process
Very involved
Less involved
Source
Surveys, observations, experiments, questionnaire, personal interview, etc.
Government publications, websites, books, journal articles, internal records etc.
Cost
Expensive
Economical
Collection Time
Long
Short
Specific
Always specific to the researcher's needs.
May or may not be specific to the researcher's need
Accuracy and Reliability
More
Relatively Less
What are some future directions for nursing research?
Continued on EBP
Stronger evidence through confirmatory strategies
Continued emphasis on systematic reviews
Expanded local research in health care settings
Expanded dissemination of research findings
Increased focus on cultural issues and health disparities
Clinical significance and patient input
What is a quasi-experimental study and is it a strong study design to use?
A type of design for testing intervention
in which participants are not randomly assigned to treatment conditions; also
called a nonrandomized trial or a controlled trial without randomization
signature of design= an intervention in
the absence of randomization
nonequivalent control group pretest posttest design:
involves comparing two or more groups of people before and after implementing an intervention
The quasi- experimental design= weaker the RCT because without randomization it cannot be assumed that the experimental and comparison groups are equivalent at the outset
State how theoretical or conceptual framework are used in research?
Theoretical framework uses broad explanation of relationships that exists between concepts and is based on one theory. Conceptual framework is theoretical and has no current theories. Theoretical frameworks start out as conceptual
What is The Hawthorne effect?
Hawthorne effect - the alteration of behavior by the subjects of a study due to their awareness of being observed
Describe the steps of a literature review?
1) Develop a search strategy
Could use an ancestry approach aka footnote chasing in which citations in relevant studies are used to track down earlier research on which the studies are based ("the ancestors")
Could also use a descendancy approach, which mean finding a pivotal early study and searching forward to find more recent studies ("descendants") that cited the key study.
Can use databases such as CINAHL, MEDLINE, Google Scholar
Need strategies to limit the amount of hits, such as limiting the time frame to last 10 years and limiting it to only written in English.
2) Screening and gathering references
You can usually surmise relevance by reading the abstract. When you find a relevant article, obtain a full copy.
3) Documentation in literature retrieval
Search strategies are often complex so you should document your exact actions and results. It should be so exact, like what you searched, where, how you limited results, etc, that is able to be duplicated.
4) Abstracting and Recording information
Once you have retrieved useful articles, you need a strategy to organize the information in the articles.
5) Analyzing and Synthesizing Evidence