Research for Nurses: Methods and Interpretation

Chapter 1

What is research?What is nursing research?What are the goals of Nursing research?

Research

A planned and systematic activity that leads to new knowledge and relationships and/or the discovery of solutions to problems or questions.

Nursing Research• Is research into phenomena that are the

primary responsibility of nurses in their professional practice

• It follows the same rigorous steps as other disciplines

• It is a systematic investigation of nursing practice, nursing education, & administration of health services

VARIETIES OF NURSING KNOWLEDGE

• Research-Based Knowledge

• Nonresearch-Based Knowledge

Goals of Nursing Research

•produce an understanding of human responses to health and illness•improve care and promote health•acknowledge nursing as a science •enhance autonomy over nursing services•empower nurses to change practice

Sources of Nonresearch-Based Nursing Knowledge

• Tradition

• Authority

• Trial and Error

• Personal Experience

• Intuition

• Common Sense Reasoning

WAYS OF KNOWING IN NURSING

• AESTHETICS or the art of nursing

• ETHICS or the moral component of nursing knowledge

• PERSONAL or the interpersonal interactions and relationships in nursing

• EMPIRICS or the science of nursing

Scientific Method• Used by quantitative researchers to

acquire knowledge

• Combines the process of logical reasoning with systematic planned investigation, data collection, analysis, and evaluation

PHILOSOPHY OF NURSING• Provides a framework for

identifying central concepts

• Provides assumptions that guide theory development

• Relates nursing to a world view

• Shapes how one learns about the world

STAGES OF A QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH PROJECT

• Problem Identification

• Literature Review

• Selection of a Framework or Theory

• Formulation of a Research Question or Hypothesis

• Implementation of Methodology Plan

• Interpretation of Findings

• Communication of Results

RESEARCH DESIGNS

• Experimental & Quasi-Experimental

• Survey

• Qualitative

• Field Studies

• New Wave Applied

PERSPECTIVES IN NURSING SCIENCE

• Positivist

• Interpretive

• Critical

Positivist Assumptions

• All behavior is naturally determined

• Humans are part of the natural world

• Nature is orderly

• All objective phenomena are knowable

• Nothing is self-evident

• Truth is relative

• Knowledge comes from experience

Criticisms of Positivism• Value-free

research is not possible

• some aspects of nursing are not scientifically measurable

• value neutrality is itself a value

• People perceive reality differently

• Treat data as isolated parts rather than holistically

INTERPRETIVE ASSUMPTIONS

• Humans act and interact on the basis of symbols that have meaning for them

• a single reality does not exist

• reality is different for each person and can change with time

• all values are valid

• meaning is produced by putting pieces together to make wholes

Criticisms of Interpretive Perspective

• subjectivity

• can not make clear generalizations

• can not replicate findings

• emphasis on small samples leads to knowing more and more about less and less

CRITICAL PERSPECTIVEASSUMPTIONS

• Groups with power enhance their position at the expense of less powerful groups

• scientists have an obligation to work as advocates for positive social change

• research knowledge empowers citizens to become agents of social transformation

Criticisms of Critical Perspective

• May report only findings that are compatible with researchers’ values

• Unlikely to make an attempt to exclude competing explanations or find support for competing value systems

Quantitative Research• Quantifies observations

• emphasizes precise measurement, testing of hypotheses based on a sample of observations, and statistical analysis of data

• describes relationships among variables mathematically

• treats subject matter like an object

Qualitative Research

• Emphasizes verbal descriptions and explanations of human behavior

• focus on detailed descriptions of life experiences to understand how participants experience and give meaning to their own world

Qualitative Research

• Tools for data collection include participant observation, in-depth interviews, or an in-depth analysis of a case

• Macro level-look at whole institutions

• Micro level-focus on individual behavior and responses

Methodological Triangulation

• application of diverse methods to generate and collect data about a phenomenon

• Navigational term, refers to use of multiple referents to draw conclusions about what is truth

• based on assumption that bias would be neutralized when multiple methods, data sources, and investigators are used

Descriptive Research• Concerned with accurate description

• States “What is”

• Involves observation of a phenomenon in its natural setting

• Case study, survey, grounded theory, ethnography, phenomenology

Explanatory Research• Goal is to understand or explain

relationships

• study relationships between characteristics of individuals, groups, situations, or events

• engage correlational designs

• ask “Why” questions

Predictive Research

• Aims to predict precise relationships between dimensions of a phenomenon or differences between groups

• Typically involves experimentation with manipulation of some phenomenon to determine its effect on some other phenomenon or aspect of it

Pure vs Applied

PURE• Aim is to test existing

theories of human behavior

• Explain observed patterns

• Document knowledge of the persistence of patterned human behavior

APPLIED• Aim is to discover

knowledge that will bring about specific changes in practice, education, or administration