Question 1
What are the purposes of scientific research? (Select all that apply.)
1. Description
2. Review
3. Exploration
4. Explanation
5. Prediction - Answers Correct Answer: 1, 3, 4, 5
Rationale: The purposes of scientific research are description, exploration, explanation, and prediction
and control. Review is not one of these purposes as listed in the text.
Question 2
Why is research important in nursing?
1. Nurses are expected to adopt evidence-based practice into their decision making.
2. Outcomes are more important than process.
3. The nurses' prime consideration should be cost-effectiveness.
4. It uses the scientific approach. - Answers Correct Answer: 1
Rationale: Nurses are expected to be knowledgeable about research in the field and to use evidence-
based findings in their decision making. Outcomes are never more important than the process in health
care; the ends do not justify the means. Although cost-effectiveness is important, patient well-being is
the nurse's prime consideration. Although research does use the scientific approach, that alone does not
justify it as being important to nursing.
Question 3
The nurse is interested in implementing evidence-based care in practice and is conducting a search for
pertinent research studies. Which type of research is most likely to produce best evidence?
1. Literature review of the topic
2. Randomized clinical trial
3. Research that explains phenomena
,4. Descriptive research - Answers Correct Answer: 2
Rationale: Randomized clinical trials are typically the gold standard for producing the best evidence.
Literature reviews and descriptive research may provide ideas for the nurse to consider when looking
for evidence-based topics. Research that explains phenomena is interesting, but less likely to produce
best evidence practices
Question 4
In the 1970s there was a focus on translating research findings into practice. What term was used to
describe this focus?
1. Evidence-based practice
2. Randomized clinical trials
3. Research utilization
4. Scientific evidence - Answers Correct Answer: 3
Rationale: During the 1970s, research utilization became a buzzword and a focus for translating research
findings into practice. It was not until much later when that effort began to be called evidence-based
practice. Randomized clinical trials are a way to develop EBP. Scientific evidence is the result of scientific
research
Question 5
What is the final focus for nursing research?
1. Making a difference that matters for improving client care
2. Contributing to developing theory
3. Contributing to the body of scientific knowledge regarding nursing
4. Describing situations about which little is known - Answers Correct Answer: 1
Rationale: Although all of these options are correct about the importance of research to nursing, the
final focus is always making a difference that matters for improving client care.
Question 6
The nurse has been asked to support and participate in a clinical trial by administering trial medications
to clients on the nursing unit. What is the most important question the nurse should ask before
answering this request?
1. "Will I get extra pay for participating?"
,2. "Who else is participating in the trial?"
3. "Has the study been approved by the IRB?"
4. "Am I responsible if the client doesn't want to participate?" - Answers Correct Answer: 3
Rationale: The most important question for the nurse to ask is whether the study has been approved by
the institutional review board, or IRB. Typically there is no extra pay for the nurse who participates in a
clinical trial. The nurse is not responsible if the client does not want to participate in the study. The
other persons participating in the trial may influence the nurse's decision, but are not as essential as the
question about the IRB.
Question 7
The research team proposes a study in which the client is told that a lab result indicates development of
diabetes mellitus when, in fact, that is not true. The purpose of the study is to identify perceptions of
diabetes mellitus in the general public. What client right is violated in this proposal?
1. Right of self-determination
2. Right to full disclosure
3. Right not to be harmed
4. Right of privacy and confidentiality - Answers Correct Answer: 3
Rationale: This proposal violates the client's right not to be harmed. The exposure to stress or anxiety
that comes from being told a diagnosis that does not exist is potentially harmful to the client. Right of
self-determination means that subjects should feel free from constraints, coercion, or any undue
influence to participate in a study. Right to full disclosure means that deception, either by withholding
information about a client's participation in a study or by giving the client false or misleading
information about what participating in the study will involve, violates ethical principles. Right of privacy
and confidentiality is a basic right that allows the client to participate in a study without worrying about
later embarrassment or disclosure of personal information.
Question 8
The physician leading a research study asks a client to participate and infers that unless the client agrees
the physician will no longer provide medical care for the client. What client right is violated in this
situation?
1. Right of self-determination
2. Right to full disclosure
3. Right not to be harmed
, 4. Right of privacy and confidentiality - Answers Correct Answer: 1
Rationale: This proposal violates the client's right of self-determination. Right of self-determination
means that subjects should feel free from constraints, coercion, or any undue influence to participate in
a study. Right to full disclosure means that deception, either by withholding information about a client's
participation in a study or by giving the client false or misleading information about what participating in
the study will involve, violates ethical principles. Right of privacy and confidentiality is a basic right that
allows the client to participate in a study without worrying about later embarrassment or disclosure of
personal information. Right not to be harmed is the right to be free of exposure to the possibility of
injury going beyond everyday situations. Risks can be physical, emotional, legal, financial, or social.
Question 9
The researcher proposes using information from the medical records of clients currently admitted to the
nursing unit. The researcher wishes not to tell these clients about the study so that their behavior does
not change. What client right does this idea most clearly violate?
1. Right of self-determination
2. Right to full disclosure
3. Right not to be harmed
4. Right of privacy and confidentiality - Answers Correct Answer: 2
Rationale: Right to full disclosure means that deception, either by withholding information about a
client's participation in a study or by giving the client false or misleading information about what
participating in the study will involve, violates ethical principles. Not telling the client that information is
being used violates this right. Right of self-determination holds that the client should be free from
coercion; right not to be harmed is the right to be free of exposure to possibility of injury; and right of
privacy and confidentiality holds that the client has the right to participate in the study without private
information being disclosed. Although these rights might be violated by this researcher's plan, they are
not as clearly violated as right to full disclosure.
Question 10
The investigator is conducting a study in which the investigator cannot link a specific study subject to the
information being reported. Which term reflects this situation?
1. Confidentiality
2. Privacy
3. Anonymity
4. Aggregation - Answers Correct Answer: 3