Ch. 4 Research

• Research problem


  Starts the research process
• Purpose statement


  Clearly identifies what the study will accomplish
• Research question


  Makes the elements of the study explicit
• All three (problem, purpose, question) are needed to translate research into practice
• Nursing research concepts


  • Patient-sensitive
  • Staff-member-sensitive
  • Organizationally sensitive
• Sources of research problems


  • Clinical practice observations
  • Educational experiences
  • Consumer/customer feedback and personal experience
  • Theoretical models and frameworks
• Sources of research questions


  • Professional literature
  • Performance improvement studies
  • Research reports and priorities
  • Social issues
• Research question


  • Specifically identifies the key elements to be studied
  • Guides the design and methodology
  • Carefully constructed and refined
• Classifications of questions


  • Descriptive
  • Analytic
• Classifications of questions


  • Prospective
  • Retrospective
• PICO approach


  • Population
  • Intervention
  • Comparison
  • Outcome
• Problem statement


  Statements of the gap between what is known and unknown
• Purpose statement


  Objective statement indicating the general goal of the study
• Research questions


  • Specify the population of interest
  • Identify the variables to be measured
  • Describe the comparison group
  • Relate the outcome of interest
  • Sometimes include the measurement
• Problem statements, purpose statements, and research questions are all required for research
• Characteristics of a critical reader


  • Development gets more specific
  • The purpose, problem, and question are explicit and easy to find
  • These statements are unbiased
  • The design is described
  • The population, variables, and setting are described
  • The purpose and design are congruent
• FINER criteria for evaluating research questions


  • Feasible
  • Interesting
  • Novel
  • Ethical
  • Relevant
• Feasibility of the study


  • Evaluated prior to developing the study design
  • Requires resources
  • Ethical considerations
  • Specific variables to be studied
  • Availability of the population
  • Potential access to the setting
• Conclusions are provided summarizing the importance of problem statements, purpose statements, and research questions
• Descriptive study


  studies a subject of interest in a defined population or setting
• Analytic study


  compares interventions and outcomes
• Prospective study


  Is planned and carried out in the future under control of the researcher
• Retrospective study


  Uses existing secondary data to answer a research question