Nursing Research Questions, Frameworks, and Models Assignment

Nursing Research Questions, Frameworks, and Models Assignment

Nursing Research Questions, Frameworks, and Models Assignment

Find one scholarly, quantitative research article in an area of your interest that fulfills the following criteria. The article must contain:

• A conceptual or theoretical framework or model.
• One of the quantitative methods covered in the unit readings, media, or research.
• One of the research designs covered in the unit readings, media, or research.

In your initial post, address the following. Consider all the readings, resources, and media from this unit as you formulate your post:

• Describe the study’s research question or problem.
• Describe (briefly) the conceptual or theoretical framework or model used in the study.
• Describe the quantitative method and study design used. What strengths and weaknesses are associated with this method?

Include at least two APA-formatted citation (in-text, as well as the full reference). The citation may be from course textbooks, assigned readings, or an outside source. Your initial post must be a minimum of 300 words in length.

Research Questions, Frameworks, and Models Find one scholarly, quantitative research article in an area of your interest that fulfills the following criteria. The article must contain: • • • • • • A conceptual or theoretical framework or model. One of the quantitative methods covered in the unit readings, media, or research. One of the research designs covered in the unit readings, media, or research. In your initial post, address the following. Consider all the readings, resources, and media from this unit as you formulate your post: Describe the study’s research question or problem. Describe (briefly) the conceptual or theoretical framework or model used in the study. Describe the quantitative method and study design used. What strengths and weaknesses are associated with this method? Include at least two APA-formatted citation (in-text, as well as the full reference). The citation may be from course textbooks, assigned readings, or an outside source. Your initial post must be a minimum of 300 words in length. Nursing Research Questions, Frameworks, and Models Assignment

Nurse Researcher

When to use mixed methods Leslie Gelling outlines the advantages and challenges in using this approach to research Cite this article as: Gelling L (2014) When to use mixed methods. Nurse Researcher. 21, 4, 6-7. Date of submission: March 6 2014. Date of acceptance: March 10 2014. Correspondence to leslie.gelling@anglia.ac.uk Leslie Gelling is reader in research ethics, Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK; and editor of Nurse Researcher Author guidelines nr.rcnpublishing.com 6 IT WAS not that long ago that combining one methodological approach with another, most obviously qualitative and quantitative research designs, would have been considered fundamentally flawed. Indeed, there were many researchers who would have described themselves as either qualitative or quantitative researchers and, regardless of the research question or the objectives of the research, they would have adopted their favored methodological approach to seek to answer their research question.

Many students will have written about the qualitative-quantitative debate, which some authors described as the qualitative-quantitative battle (Goodwin and Goodwin 1984, Duffy 1987). Fortunately, sense has prevailed and there has been a growth in pragmatic attitudes to planning and conducting research where answering the research question, using the most appropriate methodological approach, is more important than being confined within methodological or philosophical constraints. The result has been an expansion in the number of researchers adopting a mixed methods approach. Seeking to undertake research within a mixed methods framework is not without its challenges, not least because of the additional expertise required to ensure that each of the elements of the research is conducted with due regard for the principles inherent within that design. Nursing Research Questions, Frameworks, and Models Assignment. Mixed methods research is about undertaking research where there is an interaction between the different methodological components (Simons and Lathlean 2010). It is not uncommon for the term ‘mixed methods’ to be used inappropriately where methods from the same methodological paradigm are used in the same research. The themed papers in this issue explore some of the benefits and the challenges of undertaking mixed methods research. Nursing Research Questions, Frameworks, and Models Assignment

In the first paper the authors offer an insight into how mixed methods research can contribute to the development of knowledge March 2014 | Volume 21 | Number 4 in nursing and midwifery (Larkin et al 2014). In the second themed paper, interestingly with some of the same authors as the first paper, the authors offer a reflective account of what a mixed methods approach added to a research project evaluating specialist and advanced practice (the SCAPE study) (Murphy et al 2014). While there can be advantages of using a mixed methods approach, there can also be issues that make this approach more complex and more challenging for researchers. Simons and Lathlean (2010) describe these complexities as: inappropriate justification, additional expertise, team working and maintaining quality. The two themed papers will be considered through a brief examination of these complexities because if these challenges are not addressed then the potential value of adopting a mixed methods approach risks being compromised. Inappropriate justification Mixed methods research designs have undoubtedly grown in popularity in recent years, but this methodological approach is not always the most appropriate one. Larkin et al (2014) make the important point that the choice of research design should be driven by the research question and not vice versa. Too often researchers have favored research methods and will ask questions they know can be answered using those methods. While mixing methods offers researchers an additional tool, there will also be some research questions that might be best answered using either a qualitative or a quantitative approach.

Larkin et al (2014) expand on this point by describing how they used a sequential approach in which the qualitative and quantitative part of the research complemented each other and both added depth to their research exploring women’s experiences for childbirth. It is clear, from the authors’ brief description of their research, that qualitative or quantitative research alone would not have allowed © RCN PUBLISHING / NURSE RESEARCHER Commentary the researchers to explore the topic of interest in such depth. Murphy et al (2014) take this even further by concluding that mixed methods research, when done properly, can have added benefits and values that might be treated as a third methodological paradigm. It is important that researchers only use a mixed methods approach when it is the best approach to enable them to answer the research question. Nursing Research Questions, Frameworks, and Models Assignment

Additional expertise

As noted previously, adopting a mixed methods approach will usually require that the research team include collaborators with the knowledge and experience required to plan and conduct the individual elements of the research. For example, it would be unusual for a researcher to be experienced in the skills required to collect and analyse qualitative data and also to possess the skills required to undertake detailed statistical analysis. Needing to include this expertise can result in larger than usual research teams and, sometimes, additional logistical difficulties. While Larkin et al (2014) make the point that mixed methods research introduces an additional complexity to a research project, no insight is offered into how adopting a mixed methods approach might have impacted on the methodological expertise sought to support this research. Murphy et al (2014) also highlight that expertise can be an issue when planning and conducting mixed methods research but they focus on the developmental nature of conducting this type of research, where researchers who might be experienced in one methodological approach are able to develop their understanding of different methodological approaches.

Team working

There are multiple potential difficulties associated with effective team working but when members of the research team come from very different methodological disciplines, and are possibly working on different substudies, it is essential to ensure that team working is managed carefully. There are, of course, also great benefits to be gained from interdisciplinary team working when learning environments are created facilitating personal development among the members of the research team. Murphy et al (2014) emphasise the need to bring together a team, including core working groups and a steering committee, to enable this research to happen and this is probably reflected in the number of authors contributing this paper. It is essential that no single part of the research is considered more important than any other part of the research. Mixed methods research requires that all parts of the research contribute to answering the research question.

Maintaining quality

One criticism directed at mixed methods research is that neither approach has been conducted with due regard to scientific rigour. This risks creating an imbalance in the quality of the different elements of the research and in the overall value of mixed methods research. Larkin et al (2014) highlight that there is a problem with ensuring that research is not labelled as mixed methods research inappropriately. Murphy et al (2014) argue that the volume of evidence collected for their study made the ‘results more convincing’. While it might be useful to collect multiple forms of data, it is also important that those multiple data sets collectively add value to the research. This can only happen if the individual parts of the research can demonstrate scientific rigour, so it would have been interesting to know more about how the scientific rigour of each element of their research was ensured. Nursing Research Questions, Frameworks, and Models Assignment. When used together both approaches can make a significant contribution to existing knowledge and understanding. It is important, however, that researchers adopt this approach for the right reasons and consider the additional challenges faced by mixed methods researchers. Nursing Research Questions, Frameworks, and Models Assignment

References

Duffy ME (1987) Quantitative and qualitative research: antagonistic or complementary? Nursing and Health Care. 8, 6, 356-357. Goodwin LD, Goodwin WL (1984) Qualitative vs. quantitative research or qualitative and quantitative research? Nursing Research. 33, 6, 378-380.

Larkin P, Begley C, Devane D (2014) Breaking from binaries: using a sequential mixed methods design. Nurse Researcher. 21, 4, 8-12.

Murphy K, Casey D, Devane D et al (2014) Reflections on the added value of using mixed methods in the SCAPE study. Nurse Researcher. 21, 4, 13-19

Simons L, Lathlean J (2010) Mixed methods. In Gerrish K, Lacey A (Eds) The Research Process in Nursing. Sixth edition. Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell. March 2014 | Volume 21 | Number 4 7 3

Choosing Methodological Approaches

Key points r Researchers tend to associate inductive reasoning with qualir r r Copyright © 2011. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. r r tative research and theory building, and deductive reasoning with quantitative research and theory testing. Quantitative approaches emphasise cause–effect relationships and prediction. Qualitative approaches emphasise exploration. Researchers should examine the goals of their research when choosing methodological approaches. Consider qualitative approaches first for studies of experience individuals, research with excluded and hard to reach groups and pilot studies. Consider quantitative approaches first for epidemiological studies of large groups and treatment comparison studies. Nursing Research Questions, Frameworks, and Models Assignment

Introduction

The choice of a general methodological approach is informed by many different issues, some subjective, some theoretical and some practical. For example, it used to be common, for undergraduate and Research for Evidence-Based Practice in Healthcare, Second edition, by Robert Newell and Philip Burnard C 2011 Robert Newell and Philip Burnard 32 Newell, Robert, and Philip Burnard. Research for Evidence-Based Practice in Healthcare, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/capella/detail.action?docID=822493. Created from capella on 2017-10-07 08:35:19. Choosing Methodological Approaches 33 Copyright © 2011. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. pre-registration dissertations, and even up to PhD level, to encourage students to undertake studies using whatever methods most interested them. Nursing Research Questions, Frameworks, and Models Assignment

Intuitively, this seems a good course of action, because we want students to complete their projects, and have good reason to believe that they will be more likely to complete undertakings which involve them in things they are interested in. However, the counterargument is that this kind of supposed freedom has too many negative consequences to make it advisable. First, we might hope that student research will be useful to others as well as to the student, and following one’s methodological preferences in an unfettered way may lead to the undertaking of projects which lend themselves to a particular methodological approach, rather than to those of obvious benefit to patients. Moreover, if a student is sponsored by their employer, the employer will very likely have views as to the sort of project they would like to see carried out. This may not fit with student methodological preferences.

Equally, there is the possibility that methodological preference may result in a researcher making a research question fit with a particular approach, regardless of whether that approach is appropriate (see the discussion of qualitative and quantitative approaches). Perhaps most important, however, is the view of science that the ‘personal preference’ approach to methodological choice supports. This is the view that science is an individual, personal activity. Whilst this is certainly true in the sense that considerable personal skill and commitment are involved, science is mostly (and, arguably, most importantly) a social activity. It is carried out by groups of people, reviewed by and communicated to groups of people, and, at least in health research, undertaken for the good of society. In our view, any teaching of research which does not emphasise that gives at best a partial view of the nature of the research endeavour. Accordingly, we advise that the only reasonable rationale for deciding on a methodological approach is on the basis of its fitness for purpose. When is a methodological approach fit for purpose? Fitness for purpose requires that something does the job it is intended for. In research terms, this implies a number of things. First, the methodological approach must be capable, in principle, of answering the question it seeks to answer. Second, it must be practicable. Third, it must be within the expertise of the researcher. More broadly, there must, as we saw in the previous chapter, be a question which is worth answering (because it has not been adequately answered before and will tell us something of value).

Newell, Robert, and Philip Burnard. Research for Evidence-Based Practice in Healthcare, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/capella/detail.action?docID=822493. Created from capella on 2017-10-07 08:35:19. 34 Research for Evidence-Based Practice in Healthcare Copyright © 2011. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Two different approaches to knowledge Writers about epistemology (the study of the nature of knowledge) like to talk about deductive and inductive approaches to knowledge as representing two broad approaches to its generation. Nursing Research Questions, Frameworks, and Models Assignment. Although there has been debate about whether these two terms are truly separate, the distinction is certainly current in science. Basically, deductive investigation is said to proceed from a general standpoint (such as a known theory) and examine specific instances which confirm or disconfirm that general view. Nursing Research Questions, Frameworks, and Models Assignment

By contrast, inductive investigation is supposed to involve starting with specific instances and deriving a general conclusion from them. These are sometimes described as top-down and bottom-up approaches, respectively. For example, investigating the general concept of habituation (the tendency to cease to respond to repeatedly presented stimuli) by conducting a series of experiments in which students were submitted to sudden, loud noises, and recording variations in their heart rates on successive presentations is an example of deductive research. Asking students about their experiences of such loud noises and seeking to find commonalities in their responses which might lead us to theorise about the nature of that common experience is inductive. As we noted above, there is debate about the independence of these forms of inquiry. For example, the philosopher John Stuart Mill, in his discussion of deduction, regards induction as part of the process. Part of the issue here is that different writers use these terms in slightly different ways, and this has affected the way in which we talk about the distinction between induction and deduction.

A detailed discussion of the relationship between deductive and inductive reasoning is beyond the scope of this book. However, many people are familiar with the deductions of Sherlock Holmes, and a very readable and enjoyable account of inductive and deductive reasoning using Holmes as an example is available at http://www.bun.kyotou.ac.jp/∼suchii/holmes 1.html. Different broad methodological approaches and their appropriateness In research, there has been a tendency to associate inductive reasoning with qualitative research and theory building, and deductive reasoning with quantitative research and theory testing. However, this is not a hard and fast rule. For example, a small survey might possibly be a reasonable way of generating ideas which would then lead to some general hypotheses about the world which would be tested in larger studies. Here, a quantitative method is proceeding from the specific Newell, Robert, and Philip Burnard. Research for Evidence-Based Practice in Healthcare, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/capella/detail.action?docID=822493. Created from capella on 2017-10-07 08:35:19. Copyright © 2011. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Choosing Methodological Approaches 35 to the general. Nursing Research Questions, Frameworks, and Models Assignment

Likewise, many qualitative studies end up by referring back to existing theories, although whether they could justifiably be called tests of such theories is another matter. Finally, mixed methods studies seek to combine qualitative and quantitative approaches, but do not necessarily combine theory building and theory testing. Nevertheless, the broad alignment of qualitative research with inductive reasoning and quantitative with deductive is probably a useful rule of thumb. For the researcher, it may be most useful to combine such ideas with an examination of the researcher’s goals for the project. These will almost always be framed as research questions. Looked at in this way, our grounds for choosing qualitative versus quantitative methods are clearer. Broadly speaking, qualitative methods are better employed at the beginning of the life of a research question, when little is known about the subject. You can see that this is tied to the idea of theory building. By its nature, a problem we know little about is often unlikely to be associated with major existing theories.

However, one thing which the novice should beware of is assuming that this is the case. For example, imagine we are examining the information needs of people who have experienced surgery which has caused a change in their facial appearance. As it happens, there is comparatively little research into this area. Nevertheless, there are any number of theories which are relevant and might bear testing in this group. We do not necessarily have to assume that a new series of qualitative studies using inductive methods is necessary to build new theory. However, it may still be the case that we will want to do some initial qualitative work to get an idea of these people’s experiences. Quantitative approaches, by contrast, are best used when quite a lot is known about a topic area. Often, quantitative approaches, particularly treatment comparisons, come at a stage when a research question has been under examination for some considerable time, and is well integrated with a particular theory. Indeed, there may actually be competing accounts of what factors impact on the question, and these may be associated with different theories. Quantitative approa … Nursing Research Questions, Frameworks, and Models Assignment