Study Guide
Nursing Research - ✔✔the systematic, rigorous, critical investigation that aims to answer
questions about nursing phenomena.
Types of Research - ✔✔quantitative and qualitative.
Evidence-based practice - ✔✔the collection, interpretation, and integration of valid research
evidence, combined with clinical expertise and an understanding of patient and family values
and preferences to inform clinical decision making.
Quality Improvement - ✔✔the systematic use of data to monitor the outcomes of care
processes as well as the use of improvement methods to design and test changes in practice,
the aim of which is to continuously improve the quality and safety of health care systems.
Qualitative Research - ✔✔Seeks to understand the meaning of human experience such as
grief, hope or loss
Usually conducted in natural settings
Seeks to DESCRIBE experiences
Subjective approach
Theory generating
Data that is words or text rather than numeric to describe experiences
Small number of subjects
Quantitative Research - ✔✔Seeks to test relationships or answer a question
Explains cause-and-effect relationships
Seeks to DESCRIBE phenomena
, Tests for intervention effectiveness
Objectivity is important
Theory testing
Numeric data
Critical readers... - ✔✔actively looks for assumptions, key concepts and ideas, reasons,
justifications, supporting examples, implications and consequences, and any other structural
features of the written text, to interpret and assess it accurately and fairly.
Critical Reading Steps - ✔✔1. Preliminary: familiarizing yourself with the content-skim the
article
2. Comprehensive: understanding the researcher's purpose or intent
3. Analysis: understanding the terms and parts of the study
4. Synthesis: understanding the whole article and each step of the research process in a study-
assess the study's validity
Research Critique - ✔✔the process of critical appraisal that objectively and critically evaluates
a research report's content for scientific merit and application to practice.
Evidence based practice steps - ✔✔ASK, GATHER, ASSESS APPRAISE, ACT, EVALUATE
Levels of Evidence - ✔✔Level 1: systematic review or meta-analysis
Level 2: a well-designed RCT
Level 3: Controlled trial without randomization
Level 4: Single nonexperimental study
Level 5: Systematic reviews of descriptive and qualitative studies
Level 6: single descriptive or qualitative study
Level 7: Opinion of authorities or reports of expert committees (qualitative)