Polit & Beck's Essentials of Nursing Research 11th Edition by Dr. JANE M.
FLANAGAN Ph.D., CHERYL TATANO BECK (2026) ||CURRENT EDITION
11th Edition
,Table of Contents
Part 1 Overview of Nursing Research and Its Role in Evidence-Based
Practice ..................................................................................................... 3
Chapter 1: Introducing Nursing Research for Evidence-Based Practice ..................................... 3
Chapter 2: Understanding Key Concepts and Steps in Quantitative and Qualitative Research 14
Chapter 3: Reading and Critical Appraising Research Articles .................................................. 22
Chapter 4: Attending to Ethics in Research ............................................................................... 33
Part 2 Preliminary Steps in Quantitative and Qualitative Research ..... 41
Chapter 5: Identifying Research Problems, Research Questions, and Hypotheses. ................. 41
Chapter 6: Finding and Reviewing Research Evidence in the Literature .................................. 49
Chapter 7: Understanding Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks....................................... 57
Part 3 Designs and Methods for Quantitative and Qualitative Nursing
Research .................................................................................................. 65
Chapter 8: Appraising Quantitative Research Design ............................................................... 65
Chapter 9: Appraising Sampling and Data Collection in Quantitative Studies ......................... 75
Chapter 10: Appraising Qualitative Designs and Approaches .................................................. 89
Chapter 11: Appraising Sampling and Data Collection in Qualitative Studies .......................... 99
Chapter 12: Understanding Mixed Methods Research, Quality Improvement, and Other
Special Types of Research ....................................................................................................... 109
Part 4 Analysis, Interpretation, and Application of Nursing Research
............................................................................................................... 119
Chapter 13: Understanding Statistical Analysis of Quantitative Data ..................................... 119
Chapter 14: Interpreting Quantitative Findings and Evaluating Clinical Significance ............. 128
Chapter 15: Understanding the Analysis of Qualitative Data ................................................. 142
Chapter 16: Appraising Trustworthiness and Integrity in Qualitative Research ..................... 148
Chapter 17: Learning from Systematic Reviews...................................................................... 157
Chapter 18: Putting Research Evidence into Practice: Evidence-Based Practice and Practice-
Based Evidence ....................................................................................................................... 165
,Part 1 Overview of Nursing Research and Its Role in
Evidence-Based Practice
Chapter 1: Introducing Nursing Research for Evidence-Based Practice
(ANSWER KEY AT THE END OF EACH CHAPTER)
1. Which of the following groups would be best served by the development of a scientific base
for nursing practice?
A) Nursing administrators
B) Practicing nurses
C) Nurses' clients
D) Health care policymakers
2. An especially important goal for the nursing profession is to:
A) Conduct research to better understand the context of nursing practice
B) Establish a base of evidence for practice through disciplined research
C) Document the role nursing serves in society
D) Establish research priorities
3. Which of the following would not be a current priority for clinical nursing research?
A) Pain management
B) Health promotion
C) Nurses' personalities
D) Prevention of illness
4. Most nursing studies before 1950 focused on:
, A) Client satisfaction
B) Clinical interventions
C) Health promotion
D) Nursing education
5. To those espousing a naturalistic paradigm, a fundamental belief is that:
A) A fixed reality exists in nature for humans to understand
B) The nature of reality has changed over time
C) Reality is multiply constructed and multiply interpreted by humans
D) Reality cannot be studied empirically
6. To those espousing a positivist paradigm, a fundamental belief is that:
A) The researcher is objective and independent of those being studied.
B) The researcher cannot interact with those being studied.
C The researcher instructs those being studied to be objective in providing information.
D) The distance between the researcher and those being researched is minimized to enhance
the interactive process.
7. The traditional scientific method is not characterized by which of the following attributes?
A) Control over external factors
B) Systematic measurement and observation of natural phenomena
C) Testing of hunches deduced from theory or prior research
D) Emphasis on a holistic view of a phenomenon, studied in a rich context
8. Empiricism refers to:
A) Making generalizations from specific observations