2. NURSING RESEARCH
Is a systematic inquiry designed to develop knowledge about issues of importance to the nursing profession, including nursing practice, education, administration, and informatics.

3. PURPOSE OF NURSING RESEARCH
To test, refine and advance the knowledge on which improved education, clinical judgment, and cost-effective, safe, ethical nursing care rests.

4. DEVELOPMENT AND PROGRESSION OF NURSING RESEARCH

5. THE ORIGIN OF NURSING RESEARCH
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE – viewed as the person who first elevated nursing to the status of a PROFESSION, as presented in her first book NOTES ON NURSING (1859)
Believed in the importance of “naming nursing” by the use of observed data to support the need for health-care reforms.
Methodical Data gathering

6. A Look at Nursing Education
1923 – Committee for the Study of Nursing Education
Studied educational preparation of nurse teachers, administrators, public health nurses and the clinical experiences of nursing students.

7. Gold Mark Report – identified many inadequacies in the educational backgrounds of the group studied and concluded that advanced educational preparation was essential.

8. 1940s (WWII) – tremendous need for educated nurses
Nursing education practices were evaluated in the study commissioned by the National Nursing Council for War Service headed by Brown
Brown revealed numerous inadequacies in nursing education and thus, recommended that education of nurses occur in the collegiate level.

9. CENTER FOR NURSING RESEARCH
Walter Reed Army Institute of Research – center for nursing research
Nursing Research (journal)

10. SOURCE FOR NATIONAL DATA
1986
National Center for Nursing Research

11. EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE
Defined as the use of the best clinical evidence in making patient care decisions to achieve cost-effective, high quality care based on scientific inquiry.

12. PARADIGMS AND METHODS: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

13. POSITIVIST PARADIGM ASSUMPTION POSITIVIST PARADIGM
Ontologic (what is the nature of reality?)
Reality exists; there is a real world driven by real natural courses
Epistemologic (How is the inquirer related to those being researched?)
The inquirer is independent from those being researched; findings are not influenced by the researcher
Axiologic (What is the role of Values in the inquiry?)
Values and biases are to be held in check; objectivity is sought
Methodologic (How is knowledge obtained?)
Deductive process, emphasis on discrete, specific concepts; fixed design, tight controls over context, emphasis on measured, quantitative information; statistical analysis; seeks generalization

14. NATURALISTIC PARADIGM
ASSUMPTION
NATURALISTIC PARADIGM
Ontologic (what is the nature of reality?)
Reality is multiple and subjective, mentally constructed by individuals
Epistemologic (How is the inquirer related to those being researched?)
The inquirer interacts with those being researched; findings are creation of the interactive process
Axiologic (What is the role of Values in the inquiry?)
Subjectivity and values are inevitable and desirable
Methodologic (How is knowledge obtained?)
Inductive process; emphasis on entirely of some phenomenon, holistic; emerging interpretations grounded in participants’ experiences; flexible design; context-bound; emphasis on narrative information
Qualitative analysis

15. RESEARCH METHODS
Are the techniques used by researchers to structure a study and to gather and analyze information relevant to the research question.

16. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
SCIENTIFIC METHOD – refers to a general set of orderly, disciplined procedures used to acquire information.

17. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
Uses deductive reasoning
Systematic
Uses control
Uses measurements
Researchers gather empirical evidence (objective in nature)
Information gathered is usually (but not always) quantitative/numerical
Uses statistical analysis
Cannot be used to answer moral or ethical questions

18. NATURALISTIC METHODS AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
NATURALISTIC METHOD – attempt to deal with the issue of human complexity by exploring it directly.
Investigations place a heavy emphasis on understanding the human experience as it is lived.

19. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH Uses inductive reasoning
Used for theory development
Approach is flexible
Always takes place in the field
Concurrent collection and analysis of data
Gathers rich and in-depth information (subjective in nature)
Report is written in narrative form
Involves small group of people or subjects
Cannot be used to answer moral or ethical questions

20. KEY CONCEPTS AND TERMS IN QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

21. People who are being studied
Quantitative – subjects, study participants, respondents
Qualitative – informants, key informants, study participants
Sample – composed of the people being studied
Person who undertakes the research
Quantitative – researcher, investigator, scientist
Qualitative – researcher, investigator

22. Research Settings – specific places where data collection occurs
Quantitative – laboratory setting, (sometimes) field settings
Example: Pierce and Clancy (2001) studied the effects of hypoxia on diaphragm activity in anesthetized rats.
Qualitative – naturalistic setting/field
Example: Carlisle (2000) studied the search for meaning in the care giving experience among informal carers of people living with HIV and AIDS. The researcher gathered in-depth information from carers in their homes and in HIV/AIDS org.

23. BUILDING BLOCKS OF A STUDY
Phenomena – occurrence or events
Concept – abstract ideas
Examples of phenomena and concepts: pain, coping, and grief
Constructs – abstractions that are systematically invented by a researcher
Example: self-care

24. THEORIES AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS
Theory – systematic, abstract explanation of some aspect of reality
Example: Nightingale’s Environmental Nursing Theory
Conceptual Frameworks/Models – interrelated concepts or abstractions assembled together in a rational scheme by virtue of their relevance to a common theme.
Example: Betty Neuman's Health Care Systems Model

26. VARIABLES Are something that varies
Examples: weight, body temperature, income, anxiety level, etc
Are central building blocks of a quantitative study
Constant – opposite of variables

27. DEPENDENT and INDEPENDENT VARIABLES

28. Independent variable – presumed cause
Dependent variable – presumed effect
Independent and dependent variables are used to indicate direction of influence rather than causal link.
The effect of initial bath timing on the temperature of newborns
The effect of sautéed garlic on the blood pressure of elderly patients
The relationship between teacher’s qualification and student education

29. RESEARCH DATA
Pieces of information obtained in the course of investigation

30. Quantitative data – numerical
Example: Thinking about the past week, how depressed would you say you have been on a scale from 0-10, where 0 means “not at all” and 10 means “the most possible.”
Subject 1 – 9
Subject 2 – 0
Subject 3 - 4
Qualitative data – narrative descriptions
Example: tell me about how you’ve been feeling lately. Have you felt sad or depressed at all, or have you generally been in good spirits?
Participant – I’ve had a few ups and downs in the past week, but basically things are pretty even keel. I don’t have too many complaints.

31. CRITERIA IN STUDY QUALITY ASSESSMENT

32. Reliability – refers to the accuracy and consistency of information obtained in the study
Generalizability – asses the extent to which the findings can be applied to other groups and settings.

33. Validity – complex concept that broadly concerns the soundness of the study’s evidence.
If methods used in the study are really measuring the concept/s that they have to measure.

34. Dependability – in qualitative studies, refers to evidence that is consistent and stable
Confirmability – is similar to objectivity; it is the degree to which study results are derived from characteristics of participants and study context.
Credibility – is achieved to the extent that the research method engender confidence in the truth of the data and in the researcher’s interpretations of the data.

35. Transferability – the extent to which qualitative findings can be transferred to other settings.

36. RESEARCH CONTROL
Involve holding constant other influences on the dependent variable so that the true relationship between the dependent and independent variables can be understood.

37. Attempts to eliminate contaminating factors that might cloud the relationship between the variables of central interest.
Example: Effect of sautéed garlic on the blood pressure of elderly patients – get subjects who are of almost the same age and engage in the same type of activities.

38. RANDOMNESS
A powerful tool in quantitative studies to eliminate biases.
Is not considered in qualitative studies

39. KEY TERMS USED IN QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
CONCEPT
QUANTITATIVE TERM
QUALITATIVE TERM
Person Contributing Information
Subject, Study Participant, Respondent
Study participant, informant, key informant
Person undertaking the study
Researcher, investigator, scientist
Researcher, investigator
Being investigated
Concepts, constructs, variables
Phenomena, concepts
System of organizing concepts
Theory, theoretical and conceptual framework,
Theory, conceptual framework
Information gathered
Data (numerical)
Data (narrative descriptions)
Connections bet. concepts
Relationships (cause-and-effect, functional)
Patterns of association
Quality of evidence
Reliability, Validity, Generalizability, Objectivity
Dependability, Credibility, Transferability, Confirmability

40. MAJOR CLASSES OF QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH – type of research wherein researchers actively introduce an intervention or treatment.
Explicitly designed to test causal relationships
Offer the possibility of greater control

41. EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
Example:
A researcher gave bran flakes to one group of subjects and prune juice to another to evaluate which method facilitated more effective elimination.

42. MAJOR CLASSES OF QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
NONEXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH – type of research wherein researchers collect data without making changes or introducing treatment.

43. NONEXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
Example: A researcher compared elimination patterns of two groups of people whose regular eating patterns differed – some normally took food that stimulated bowel elimination and others did not – there is no intervention.

44. MAJOR CLASSES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
GROUNDED THEORY – seeks to describe and understand the key social, psychological, and structural processes that occur in social setting
Focus is on a developing social experience – the social or psychological stages and phases that characterize a particular event of episode.

45. GROUNDED THEORY
Hauck and Irurita (2002) conducted a grounded theory study to explain the maternal process of managing late stages of breastfeeding and weaning the child from the breast.

46. MAJOR CLASSES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
PHENOMENOLOGY – concerned with the lived experiences of humans
An approach to thinking about what life experiences or people are like and what they mean.
Answers the question: What is the meaning of the phenomena to those who experience it?

47. PHENOMENOLOGY
Example: Sundin, Norberg, and Jansson (2001) conducted a phenomenological study to illuminate the lived experiences of care providers who were highly skilled communicators in their relationship with patients with stroke and aphasia.

48. MAJOR CLASSES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
ETHNOGRAPHY – provides a framework for studying the meaning, patterns, and experiences of a defined cultural group in a holistic fashion.

49. Ethnographers typically engage in fieldwork and often participate to the extent possible in the life of the culture under study
Aim is to learn from members of a cultural group.

50. ETHNOGRAPHY
Example: Powers (2001) undertook an ethnographic analysis of a nursing home residence focusing on the ethical issues of daily living affecting nursing home residents with dementia.