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TOPIC: INTRODUCTION TO NURSING RESEARCH
(Nursing Research 1 - NCM111)
Research and Contemporary Nursing
The development and utilization of nursing knowledge is essential for continued improvement in patient care. Conducting researches in nursing, as all other sciences, is important to establish a knowledge-based for practice, improvement, and development.
Definitions:
Definitions:
Research - it is a systematic, formal, rigorous, and precise process used to gain solutions to problems or discover and interpret new facts and relationships.
Nursing research - is a systematic inquiry designed to develop knowledge about issues of importance to nurses, including nursing practice, nursing education, and nursing administration.
Research-based practice - using research findings to inform the decisions, actions, and interaction of nurses with clients.
Importance of research in nursing
Importance of research in nursing
Emphasizing on the development and utilization of nursing knowledge, which is essential for continued improvement in patient care.
Nurses' need to document the effectiveness of their practices not only to the profession, but also to the clients, administrators, and other professionals.
Research enables nurses to describe the following:
The characteristics of a particular nursing situation about which little is known.
Explain phenomena that must be considered in planning nursing care.
Predict the probable outcomes of certain nursing decisions.
Control the occurrence of undesired outcomes.
Initiate activities to promote desired client behavior.
Roles of nurses in nursing research
Roles of nurses in nursing research
It is every nurse's responsibility to engage in one or more roles along the research participation, from these roles are the following:
Indirect participation - This is a minimum nurse involvement in a research responsibility. It is done when a nurse reads a research report to keep up-to-date on relevant findings that may affect their practice. This level is called "research utilization".
Research Utilization: "Is the use of the research findings in a practice setting".
Direct participation: in which nurses are nursing research producers. They are actively participating in designing and implementing research studies.
Between these two dimensions of research participation, there are a variety of roles for nurses to play, from these roles:
Attending research presentations at professional conferences.
Evaluating completed research for its possible use in practice.
Discussing the implications and relevance of research findings with clients.
Giving clients information and advice about participation in studies.
Assisting in the collection of research information (e.g., distributing questionnaires to clients).
Reviewing a proposed research plan for its applicability in clinical settings.
Assisting with the development of an idea for a clinical research project.
Sources of knowledge
Sources of knowledge
Tradition: Within nursing profession, certain beliefs are accepted as truths (and certain practices are accepted as effective) simply based on customs,
Authorities:
An authority is a person with specialized expertise and recognition for that expertise.
Dependency on nursing authorities (such as nursing faculty) is inevitable.
Authorities as a source of information have limitations as:
May depend on their personal experiences.
Their knowledge often goes unchallenged.
Personal experience:
We all solve problems based on observations and experiences.
Personal experiences are based on recognition, generalization, and predictions based on observations.
Personal experience has limitations as:
Each person's experience may be too restricted to be useful.
Personal experiences are often biased.
Trial and error:
The trial and error approach to nursing knowledge usually involves multiple attempts to solve a particular problem until a satisfactory solution is found.
Limitation of this method:
This method of knowing is inefficient because:
A number of attempts are usually required before a solution is found.
It could be hazardous to client safety.
The solution found may be specific to a particular client and setting and not generalizable to a broad population.
Intuition
Intuitive knowing is "the ability to understand a situation or phenomena as a whole without reasoning or previous study".
It causes a nurse to respond appropriately in unfamiliar situations (as a personal experience).
However, controversy exists regarding its validity because it does not conform to the recent requirements for evidence-based practice in health care (that is, intuitive knowing is not predictable, measurable, and generalizable).
Logical Reasoning
Reasoning "is the mental processing of ideas to solve problems".
Two intellectual mechanisms are used in reasoning: deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning.
Deductive reasoning: "is the process of developing specific predictions from general principles".
In this method, a nurse reaches a conclusion by moving from the general to the specific.
It is the approach used to test predictions and validate existing relationships.
Inductive reasoning: "is the process of developing conclusions and generalizations from specific observations".
It moves from the specific to the general.
Specific situations are observed and then combined into a larger, more general statement that can be tested through research.
Reasoning, in general, is limited because its validity depends on the accuracy of the information used to start with.
7. Disciplined research (Scientific research):
Research conducted within a disciplined format is the most sophisticated method of acquiring knowledge.
Nursing research creates systems of problem solving that tend to be more reliable than other sources of knowledge.
Types of Scientific Research
Types of Scientific Research
Quantitative vs. Qualitative Research
A. Quantitative Research
It seeks to convert observations to numbers, (i.e., to quantify observations about human behavior).
The testing of hypotheses based on a sample of observations, and a statistical analysis of the data.
Quantitative researchers attempt to describe relationships among variables mathematically and to apply some form of numerical analysis to the examined relationship.
Types of questions asked: often describe variables, examine relationships among variables, and determine cause-and-effect interactions between variables.
B. Qualitative Research
It emphasizes verbal descriptions and explanations of human behavior, (i.e., careful and detailed descriptions of life experiences in an attempt to understand how the participants experience and explain their own world and give meaning to it).
The tools for gaining information include participant observation, in-depth interviews, or an in-depth analysis of a single case.
2. Descriptive vs Explanatory vs Predictive Research
A. Descriptive Research (Exploratory Research)
It emphasizes the accurate description of some aspect of society.
A researcher may wish to assess specific characteristics of individuals, groups, situations, or events by summarizing the commonalities found in discrete observations.
The descriptive research is directed toward studying "what" and how many of this "what". Thus, it is directed toward answering questions such as, "WHAT IS THIS?".
Explanatory Research
Its primary goal is to understand or to explain relationships.
It uses correlations to study relationships between dimensions or characteristics of individuals, groups, situations, or events.
Explanatory research explains (HOW THE PARTS OF A PHENOMENON ARE RELATED TO EACH OTHER). Explanatory research asks the "WHY" question.
Predictive Research
This type of research moves beyond explanation to the prediction of precise relationships between dimensions or characteristics of a phenomenon or differences between groups.
The area of health promotion provides a rich source for predictive studies on the impact of such intervention on health outcomes in various populations.
3. Basic (pure) vs Applied Research
A. Basic Research
This type of research focuses on understanding phenomena of interest.
It is conducted to accumulate information, extending the base of knowledge in a discipline to improve understanding, or to formulate a theory.
Basic research is appropriate for discovering general principles of human behavior and biophysiology processes.
B. Applied Research
This type of research focuses on finding an immediate solution to an existing problem.
Applied research is designed to indicate how the principles of human behavior can be used to solve problems in nursing practice.
Characteristics of a Scientific Research
Characteristics of a Scientific Research
The good scientific research should have the following characteristics:
Should include a problem that need a solution or a question that need an answer.
Should achieve a general objective rather than a personal objective.
It should follow the scientific approach that characterized by order and control.
It should add new information through:
New facts that was not known before.
Validates results of previous research.
Test theories.
Explains findings of a previous research.
Find out new relationships among present phenomena.
Research results should be liable to:
Testing _______ when another researcher choose the same problem and follows the same steps, he/she probably gets the same results.
Generalization ______ that is the results could be generalized from the study sample to the study population.
The research should be ethical (i.e., does not violate the rights of patients, profession, community, or the researcher himself/herself).
Limitations of a Scientific Research
Limitations of a Scientific Research
It is inadequate for addressing moral or ethical questions (e.g., Should abortion be legal?).
It must contend with problems of measurement, thus, any phenomena must be translated to measurable items.
It typically focuses on a relatively small portion of the human experience (e.g., weight gain, depression) in a single study.
REFERENCES/SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS
REFERENCES/SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS
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