NURSING RESEARCH.pptx

Nursing Research

1. NURSING RESEARCH DEFINITION, TERMINOLOGIES, NEED AND IMPORTANCE OF NURSING RESEARCH

2. The word research is derived from the French term recerchier , a compound word composed of a prefix, re, and a verb, search. Re means ‘intensive’, ‘once again’, ‘anew’, or ‘afresh’ and search means ‘to look for something or examine closely and carefully’, ‘to look for information’, ‘to test and try’, or ‘to prove’.

3. Research is defined as a systematic and scientific process to answer questions about facts and relationship between facts. It is an activity involved in seeking answers to unanswered questions. Research essentially is a problem-solving process, a systematic, intensive study directed towards full scientific knowledge of subject studies. (Ruth M. French, 1968) Research is the process of systematically obtaining accurate answers to significant and pertinent questions by the use of the scientific method of gathering and interpreting information. (Clover and Balsley, 19 79)

4. CONTD.. Nursing research is defined as the application of scientific inquiry to the phenomena of concern to nursing. Nursing research seeks to find new knowledge that can eventually be applied in providing nursing care to patients . The term research refers to the application of scientific enquiry to phenomenon of concern to nursing. The systemic investigation of patients and their health experiences is the primary concern of nursing research. ( Schlotfeldt , 1977)

5. Nursing research refers to the use of systematic, controlled, empirical, and critical investigation in attempting to discover or confirm facts that relate to a specific problem or question about the practice of nursing. (Walls and Bausell , 1981) Nursing research is a way to identify new knowledge, improve professional education and practices and use of resources effectively. (International Council of Nurses, 1986) Nursing research is the testing of knowledge that can be used to guide nursing practice. It is concerned with examining questions and verifying interventions based on human experiences. (National Center for Nursing Research, 1986)

6. CONTD.. Nursing research is defined as a systematic detailed attempt to discover or confirm facts that relate to a specific problem to improve the practice and profession of nursing. ( Abdellah and Levine, 1994) Nursing research is defined as a systematic search for knowledge about issues of importance to nursing. ( Polit and Hungler , 2001) Nursing research is a scientific, systematic and orderly process to find out solutions for problems concerned with nursing or generating and refining the nursing knowledge to improve quality of nursing care, nursing education, and nursing administration. (S. K. Sharma, 2005)

7. EBP in nursing is a process of locating, appraising, and applying the best evidence from the nursing and medical literature to improve the quality of clinical nursing practices. Evidence-based nursing (EBN) is a recently emerged term and EBN is a type of EBP in nursing. It involves identifying solid research findings and implementing them in nursing practices to increase the quality of patient care.

8. TERMINOLOGIES Abstract: A clear, concise summary of a study that communicates the essential in information about the study. In research journals, it is usually located at the beginning of an article. Data: Units of information or any statistics, facts, figures, general material, evidence, or knowledge collected during the course of the study . • Variables: Attributes or characteristics that can have more than one value, such as height or weight. In other words, variables are qualities, quantities, properties, or characteristics of people, things, or situations that change or vary.

9. CONTD.. • Dependent variables: Variables that change as the independent variable is manipulated by the researcher; sometimes called the criterion variables. • Independent variables: Variables that are purposely manipulated or changed by the researcher; also called manipulated variables. • Research variables: These are the qualities, properties, or characteristics that are observed or measured in a natural setting without manipulating and establishing cause-and-effect relationship.

10. CONTD.. • Demographic variables: The characteristics and attributes of the study subjects are considered demographic variables; for example, age, gender, educational status, religion, social class, marital stastatus , habitat, occupation, income, medical diagnosis, and so on. • Extraneous variables: Extraneous variables are the factors that are not the part of the study but may affect the measurement of the study variables; they are commonly known as confounders or confounding variables.

11. CONTD.. Operational definition: The way by which a researcher clarifies and defines the variables under investigation. In addition, the researcher must also specify how the variables will be observed and measured in the actual research situation. Concept: A word picture or mental idea of a phenomenon. Concepts are the words or terms that symbolize some aspects of reality. For example, stress, pain, or love. Concepts are the building blocks of theory.

12. CONTD.. A construct term is used to indicate a phenomenon that cannot be directly observed but must be inferred by certain concrete or less-abstract indicators of the phenomenon. For example, wellness, mental health, and self-esteem are constructs, and they can only be measured through indefinable and measurable concepts; for example, wellness can only be assessed through laboratory data.

13. • Proposition: A proposition is a statement or assertion of the relationship between concepts. For example, there is relationship between level of anxiety and performance; or virus causes acute illness. Propositions are drawn from theories or empirical data. • Conceptual framework: Interrelated concepts or abstractions that are assembled together in some rational scheme by virtue of their relevance to a common theme; sometimes referred to as a conceptual theoretical framework if based on the concepts of an existing theory or theories.

14. • Assumption: Basic principle that is accepted as being true on the basis of logic or reason, without proof or verification. • Hypothesis: A statement of the predicted relationship between two or more variables in a research study; an educated or calculated guess by the researcher. • Literature review: A critical summary or research on a topic of interest, generally prepared to put a research problem in context or to identify gaps and weaknesses in prior studies so as to justify a new investigation.

15. • Limitations : Restrictions in a study that may decrease the credibility and generalize ability of the research findings. •Manipulation : An intervention or treatment introduced by the researcher in an experimental or quasi-experimental study; the researcher manipulates the independent variable to assess its impact on the dependent variable. • Hypothesis: A statement of the predicted relationship between two or more variables in a research study; an educated or calculated guess by the researcher.

16. • Literature review: A critical summary or research on a topic of interest, generally prepared to put a research problem in context or to identify gaps and weaknesses in prior studies so as to justify a new investigation. • Limitations: Restrictions in a study that may decrease the credibility and generalizability of the research findings.

17. • Population: The entire set of individuals or objects having some common characteristic(s) selected for a research study (e.g. patients admitted to intensive care units); sometimes referred to as the universe of the research study. •Target population: The entire population in which the researchers are interested and to which they would like to generalize the research findings. • Accessible population: The aggregate of cases that conform to designated inclusion or exclusion criteria and that are accessible as subjects of the study.

18. • Research study setting: The study setting is the location in which the research is conducted—it could be natural, partially controlled, or highly controlled. Natural or field setting is an uncontrolled real-life situation. In a partially controlled situation, the environment is partially modified to control extraneous variables, while in highly controlled situations, the study environment is fully controlled to combat the effect of extraneous variables.

19. • Sample: A part or subset of population selected to participate in research study. • Representative sample: A sample whose characteristics are highly similar to that of the population from which it is drawn. • Sampling: The process of selecting sample from the target population to represent the entire population. • Probability sampling: The selection of subjects or sampling units from a population using random procedure; examples include simple random sampling, stratified random sampling, and systematic sampling.

20. • Non-probability sampling: The selection of subjects or sampling units from a population using nonrandom procedures; examples include convenient, purposive, and quota sampling. • Reliability: The degree of consistency or accuracy with which an instrument measures the attribute it is designed to measure. • Validity: The degree to which an instrument measures what it is intended to measure.

21. • Pilot study: Study carried out at the end of the planning phase of research in order to explore and test the research elements to make relevant modifications in research tools and methodology. • Analysis: Method of organizing, sorting, and scrutinizing data in such a way that research question can be answered or meaningful inferences can be drawn.

22. NEED OF NURSING RESEARCH Research is a fundamental essential prerequisite for any profession. Nurses engage in research for a number of reasons. As professionals, nurses seek to establish a scientific base of knowledge for nursing. The specific purpose of nursing research includes identification, description, exploration, explanation, prediction, and control of facts. Therefore, nursing research enables nurses in the following ways: • Develop, refine, and extend the scientific base of knowledge, which is required for quality nursing care, education, and administration.

23. • Enhance the body of professional knowledge in nursing. • Provide foundation for evidence based nursing (EBN) practices. • Help in expansion of knowledge, which is essential for continued growth of nursing profession. • Enhance their professional identity as research is an essential component of any profession. • Define the parameters of nursing, which will help nurses to identify boundaries of nursing profession. • Refine and eliminate old knowledge so that it helps in elimination of nursing actions that have no effect on the achievement of desired care outcomes.

24. • Enhance accuracy of different nursing educational and administrative techniques. • Develop and refine nursing theories and principles. • Solve the problems or answer the questions related to nursing practices, nursing education, and nursing administration.

25. IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH IN NURSING Some of the facts that prove the importance or significance of nursing research are as follows: • The development and utilization of nursing knowledge is essential for continued development in patient care; nurses can develop or refine this knowledge by the help of nursing research. • Nurses are increasingly expected to adopt a research-based or EBP, using research findings to guide their decisions, actions, and interactions with patients, patients’ family, and community. Research is the only way that can provide nurses first-hand experiences on which they can build their EBN practices.

26. • With a fast-developing world, nurses are realizing the need to base specific nursing actions and decisions on evidences indicating that the actions are clinically appropriate, cost-effective, and result in positive patient outcome. This can be achieved through research conducted in the nursing discipline. • Another major reason for which nurses must get involved in research is rapid advancement in medical science and technology; to keep pace with this advancement, nurses must conduct research to learn about efficacy of particular technology in reference to positive patient outcome.

27. • Nursing research is essential for nurses to understand the varied dimensions of their profession. • Research enables nurses to study characteristics of particular nursing situation about which little is known, explain the phenomena that must be considered in planning nursing care, predict the probable outcome, and initiate activities to promote desired patient behaviour . • Nurses need to get involved in research because the cost of care is increasing day by day. Therefore, they must find solution for cost-effective care through research.

28. • Research also helps nurses to eliminate nursing actions that do not achieve desired care outcome for patients. Furthermore, nursing research findings may help nurses to identify the practices that improve health care outcome of patients and remain cost-effective.