Nursing Research & Ethics Study Notes

• These are study notes on intro to nursing, ethics, qualitative research design, and quantitative research design

Intro to Nursing

• Evidence-based practice is based on:
  • The best research evidence
  • Clinical expertise
  • The healthcare preferences of the patient/client
• Three types of research:
  • Clinical research involves clients or studies that affect a client's case and is done on the job
  • Basic/bench research generates new knowledge for the future and has never been done before
  • Applied research uses other studies to determine how to solve a problem

Ethics

• Two indicators of a well-done ethical study are informed consent and IRB approval
  • Every study should be approved by an IRB
• An IRB/Ethics Committee is an administrative body that reviews and approves research
  • They look at the protocol and informed consent
  • They either give a stamp of approval or redirect the researcher to make changes
• An IRB includes at least 5 members:
  • With appropriate backgrounds for the type of research
  • Cannot consist of just one profession
  • At least one member with primary concern in scientific areas
  • At least one member with primary concern in non-scientific areas
  • At least one member with no connection to the institution where the study is being conducted
  • They are concerned about the ethics of the study
• IMRAD format:
  • I-Introduction
  • M-Method
  • R-Results
  • D-Discussion
• Introduction:
  • Indicates what the study is examining
  • Describes central concepts or variables
  • Outlines the study purpose, research question, or hypotheses
  • Reviews existing literature
  • Includes a theoretical/conceptual framework
  • Indicates the study's significance
• Methods describes exactly what's being done in the study:
  • Research design, sampling plan, and participant characteristics must be included
  • The methods of operationalizing variables must be specified
  • A conceptual definition versus an operational definition is required; for example, the concept is anxiety, while the operational definition is the test score (anxiety test score > 100)
  • Data collection
  • Study procedures, including procedures to protect participants, must be detailed; this is where to look to see if there is informed consent
  • Analytic methods and procedures
• Results:
  • Indicate the findings of the study
  • They include a description of the subjects
  • Statistical analyses (names of statistical tests and the value of calculated stats)
  • List significant themes (qualitative)
• Discussion:
  • Discusses what's happening in the study
  • It includes the interpretation of the results, implications for nursing practice and further research
  • It includes study limitations and suggestions for improvement
• References
• An author's qualifications can be found on the first page
• CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) is the most common nursing database

Qualitative Research Design

• The general difference between quantitative and qualitative research design is:
  • quantitative research questions cover cause and effect
  • qualitative research is about understanding and gaining insight
  • Qualitative research doesn't generalize
• The four major qualitative research designs:
  • Phenomenological: lived experiences described by participants
  • Ethnographic: understanding cultural groups by living with them
  • Grounded Theory: researcher builds on ideas related to a theory
  • Case Studies: in-depth examination of people or groups
• Data saturation occurs when themes start to repeat themselves
• Coding is a system of organizing data

Quantitative Research Design

• The purpose of a hypothesis is to provide an understanding of the researchers' expectations
• Colaizzi's Method of Analysis:
  • Reviews responses
  • Makes notes about meanings
  • Organizes them into clusters
  • Formulates a description
  • Asks participants to validate
• To ensure the quality of a qualitative study:
  • Prolonged engagement occurs when the researcher spends enough time studying the population
  • Persistent Observation occurs when the researcher immerses themselves with intense focus
  • Data Triangulation occurs when you use multiple data sources to validate conclusions
• A qualitative study is validated by:
  • Clear documentation of collected data and rules used
  • Researcher asked participants to confirm validity
  • Two or more researchers were asked to interpret the data
• Different types of hypotheses:
  • Simple: 2+ variables
  • Complex: 3+ variables
  • Nondirectional: a relationship exists
  • Directional: states the nature of the relationship between variables
  • Null: No relationship
• Define independent, dependent, and extraneous variables:
  • Independent variable introduces an intervention (or treatment) that is manipulated by the researcher and Influences the dependent variable
  • Dependent variable is the thing that is being changed/the thing being measured by the researcher
  • Confounding/Extraneous variables are any variable not being investigated that has the potential to affect the outcome of a research study that is controlled for
  • They interfere with the relationship between the IV and DV
• Extraneous variables are decreased through having a control group
• The difference between target, accessible, and sample population:
• Target population: the group of people to which the researcher wishes to generalize the findings of a study
• Accessible population: the group actually available for study
• Sample: those chosen to participate in the study, which should look like the target group
• Purpose vs. Problem Statements:
  • Problem statement: a formal statement describing the problem addressed in the study
  • Purpose statement: a statement indicating the aim of the study
• The correct format for a quantitative research question aka PICOT:
  • Population
  • Intervention (exposure, issue)
  • Comparison* not always specific
  • Outcome
  • Time* not always specified
• Experimental design defines cause and effect
  • 3 requirements:
    • Researcher manipulated the IV
    • At least one experimental and one control group
    • Subjects are randomly assigned
• Randomization/a random sample happens when everyone has an equal chance of being assigned/placed in any group
  • It's a systematic and scientific process
  • Randomization protects the integrity of the study
• Internal validity refers to the degree to which changes in the dependent variable can be attributed to the independent variable
  • Having a control group is is one of the best ways to insure validity
• Other factors that could influence the dependent variable are:
  • Selection bias
  • History
  • Maturation
• External/dependent validity refers to the degree to which the study results can be generalized to the target population
• The Hawthorne Effect happens when people behave differently if they know they're being watched
  • This is reduced through having a control group
• The Experimenter/Rosenthal Effect happens when participants tell the researcher what they want to hear, rather than the truth
• Quasi-Experimental research design has either no control group or no randomization
  • The greatest threat is selection bias
• Non-Experimental research design has no manipulation or control of variables
  • Examples include surveys and correlation studies