Student nurses are the future of our healthcare, over the years there have been a falling number of
students studying nursing (The Royal College of Nursing, 2018). This has become an issue because of
the shortages of nurses. According to, Jones-Berry, S. (2018) a quarter of student nurses are
dropping out their degree before graduating, this was data was obtained by Nursing Standard and
The Health Foundation showing 16,544 nursing students began their degree in 2014 and finished in
2017. 4,027 left earlier or suspended their degree (Jones-Berry, S, 2018). This is because of the
workload that students are faced when carrying out their degree such as the financial pressures of
student life and placement (RCN, 2018).
In this assignment I will be it will identify two pieces of research. One quantitative and one
qualitative; both studies will cover a similar matter. They will be examined using Holland and Ree’s
(2010) critiquing framework and look at the strength and limitations and how this contributes to
theory and practice.
In research, the question is one of the most important things as it narrows the researcher's aims and
objectives to the exact area the study will address (Creswell JW, 2014). The research question also
creates a baseline to guide the choice of methodology, approaches, sample size, data collection and
analysis methods (Lipowski EE, 2008). In this assignment, the Kahn et al., (2003) PEO format was
used to create a question which follows, Population, exposure, outcome/ theme. Below shows how
It was used to create a question:
P – Student nurses / nursing students
E – Stress/ pressure
O- Depression
The question that was created using Kahn et al., (2003) PEO format is ‘how does the stress of
balancing a social life and nursing degree contribute to nursing student’s depression?’.
When looking at the selection of literature. They were selected using two different databases which
are British Nursing Database and CLINAHL. These two databases were used because in nursing,
nurses need to find and use trustworthy evidence to support their work in clinical practice as a lot of
the work that is done is based on evidence-based practice (Miller et al., 2010). The Quantitative
paper was found on CLINAHL, this research was conducted in turkey. CLINAHL was used as it is one
of the leading nursing databases (Morgan, 2018). It provides a range of sources, not from just the UK
but other countries which are good as it allows nurses to explore a wider range of evidence-based
practice. The paper chosen from British nursing database was based in the UK (Briscoe and Cooper,
2014). British nursing database was used as it has UK based journals. By having a UK based literature
and one that is based in another country it would be interesting to see the comparison of how this is
not just affecting student nursing in the UK but abroad.
In the table below it shows how the selection of article was generated step by step. Conducting a
literature research was hard because using the same question used to find the qualitative paper for
a quantitative paper didn’t find similar papers that will answer the research question. By changing
the wording of the question, it enabled a more successful search when looking for the appropriate
literature. As you can see from the table there was the use of Boolean operators. One Boolean
operator that was used to select both literature pieces of research is ‘AND’. This was used because it
students studying nursing (The Royal College of Nursing, 2018). This has become an issue because of
the shortages of nurses. According to, Jones-Berry, S. (2018) a quarter of student nurses are
dropping out their degree before graduating, this was data was obtained by Nursing Standard and
The Health Foundation showing 16,544 nursing students began their degree in 2014 and finished in
2017. 4,027 left earlier or suspended their degree (Jones-Berry, S, 2018). This is because of the
workload that students are faced when carrying out their degree such as the financial pressures of
student life and placement (RCN, 2018).
In this assignment I will be it will identify two pieces of research. One quantitative and one
qualitative; both studies will cover a similar matter. They will be examined using Holland and Ree’s
(2010) critiquing framework and look at the strength and limitations and how this contributes to
theory and practice.
In research, the question is one of the most important things as it narrows the researcher's aims and
objectives to the exact area the study will address (Creswell JW, 2014). The research question also
creates a baseline to guide the choice of methodology, approaches, sample size, data collection and
analysis methods (Lipowski EE, 2008). In this assignment, the Kahn et al., (2003) PEO format was
used to create a question which follows, Population, exposure, outcome/ theme. Below shows how
It was used to create a question:
P – Student nurses / nursing students
E – Stress/ pressure
O- Depression
The question that was created using Kahn et al., (2003) PEO format is ‘how does the stress of
balancing a social life and nursing degree contribute to nursing student’s depression?’.
When looking at the selection of literature. They were selected using two different databases which
are British Nursing Database and CLINAHL. These two databases were used because in nursing,
nurses need to find and use trustworthy evidence to support their work in clinical practice as a lot of
the work that is done is based on evidence-based practice (Miller et al., 2010). The Quantitative
paper was found on CLINAHL, this research was conducted in turkey. CLINAHL was used as it is one
of the leading nursing databases (Morgan, 2018). It provides a range of sources, not from just the UK
but other countries which are good as it allows nurses to explore a wider range of evidence-based
practice. The paper chosen from British nursing database was based in the UK (Briscoe and Cooper,
2014). British nursing database was used as it has UK based journals. By having a UK based literature
and one that is based in another country it would be interesting to see the comparison of how this is
not just affecting student nursing in the UK but abroad.
In the table below it shows how the selection of article was generated step by step. Conducting a
literature research was hard because using the same question used to find the qualitative paper for
a quantitative paper didn’t find similar papers that will answer the research question. By changing
the wording of the question, it enabled a more successful search when looking for the appropriate
literature. As you can see from the table there was the use of Boolean operators. One Boolean
operator that was used to select both literature pieces of research is ‘AND’. This was used because it
