NURSING RESEARCH
TERMINOLOGIES
TERMINOLOGIES
When a researcher addresses a problem or answer a question using a
scientific approach, it is called a study or investigation or a research
project.
Researcher, investigator or scientist.
Principal investigator or project director
People involved as focus in research studies are referred to as subjects or
study participants. When they provide information by answering questions
directly (interview) they may be called respondents or informants.
Conceptualization – refers to the process of developing
and refining abstract ideas.
Concept vs. Construct
Theory – an abstract generalization that presents a
systematic explanation about the interrelationships
among phenomena.
Variable – any quality of an organism, group, or situation
that takes on different values.
⚫ Continuous – represents values on a continuum
⚫ Categorical – represents discrete categories
⚫ Independent – presumed cause
⚫ Dependent – presumed effect. This is usually the variable the
researcher is interested in understanding, explaining, or
predicting.
Operational definition vs. Conceptual definition
Data – are pieces of information obtained in the course of the
investigation.
Relationship – refers to a bond or connection between 2
entities.
Causal relationship
Functional relationship
Research Control – is concerned with holding constant the
possible influences on the dependent variable under
investigation so that the true relationship between the
independent and dependent variables can be understood. It
attempts to eliminate any contaminating factors that might
otherwise obscure the relationship between the variables that
are really of interest.
MAJOR STEPS IN THE RESEARCH PROCESS
Phase 1 – THE CONCEPTUAL PHASE
Phase 2 – THE DESIGN AND PLANNING PHASE
Phase 3 – THE EMPIRICAL PHASE
Phase 4 – THE ANALYTIC PHASE
Phase 5 – THE DISSEMINATION PHASE
RESEARCH PROBLEMS AND HYPOTHESIS
SOURCES OF RESEARCH PROBLEMS
1. Experience
2. Nursing literature
Ideas for research often come from nursing literatures especially from nursing
journals, published reports.
Published reports may suggest areas in need for further investigation.
Search for inconsistencies in reported findings
Search whether a study similar to one reported would yield comparable results
if applied in a different setting or with different subjects.
3. Theory
To be useful in practice theories must be tested for research through their
applicability to the hospital unit or other nursing environments.
4. Ideas fro external sources
Research agenda, sponsor funding, research priorities in the profession
EVALUATING RESEARCH PROBLEMS
Significance of the problem
⚫ Has the potential of contributing to the body of knowledge in nursing.
Is the problem an important one?
Will patients, nurses, community benefit by the knowledge that will be
produced?
Will the results lead to practical applications?
Will the study help to formulate or alter nursing practices or policies?
Researchability of the Problem
⚫ Problems or issues of a moral or ethical nature are incapable of being
researched.
Feasibility of the Problem
⚫ Time and timing – deadlines, frequency and season
⚫ Availability of subjects
⚫ Cooperation of others – guardians, institutions
⚫ Facilities and equipment
⚫ Money
⚫ Experience of the researcher
⚫ Ethical considerations
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Serve as a guide to the researcher in the course of designing the study.
Should identify the key study variables and their possible interrelationships,
and the nature of the population of interest.
⚫ Stated in a declarative form as a broad statement of purpose:
“the purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between the dependency level of
renal transplantation patients and their rate of recovery.”
⚫ Stated in an interrogative form as a research question:
“What is the relationship between the dependency level of renal transplant patient and their rate
of recovery?”
RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
Hypothesis is a tentative prediction or explanation of the relationship
between 2 or more variables.
Are tentative solutions or answers to research queries.
Purpose: guides scientific inquiry and provide direction to the research design
and to the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data.
Most descriptive and exploratory studies proceed without hypothesis.
RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
Simple vs. complex hypothesis
⚫ Violence has an effect on mental health
⚫ Older nurses are less likely to express approval on the expanding role of nurses.
⚫ Infants born to heroin-addicted mothers have lower birth weights than infants with
non-addicted mothers.
⚫ Teenagers who have been sexually abused as children are at higher risk of
depression and suicide than teenagers who don’t.
Directional vs. non-directional hypothesis
Research Topic
Research Problem/Title
Statement of the Problem