1. Introduction to Research

2. Sources of Knowledge Tradition Authorities Personal experience
Trial and error
Intuition
Disciplined research

3. Purposes of Research Identification Description Exploration
Explanation
Prediction & Control

4. Methods for Research Research methods
are the techniques used by researchers to structure a study and to gather and analyze information relevant to the research question

5. Methods for Nursing Research
Quantitative
The study of phenomena that lend themselves to precise measurement and quantification, often involving a rigorous and controlled design
Qualitative
The investigation of phenomena, typically in an in-depth and holistic fashion, through the collection of rich narrative material using a flexible research design

6. Quantitative Research - Scientific Approach - Positivist Paradigm
Uses orderly, disciplined procedures to acquire information
Uses deductive reasoning (developing specific predictions from general principles) to generate hunches that are tested
Uses mechanisms to control the study (minimizes biases, maximizes validity)
Gathers empirical evidence (evidence that is rooted in objective reality and gathered directly or indirectly through the senses versus guessing or feelings)
Formalized instruments are used to gather information
Data is usually in numeral form
Want results to be generalizable

7. Qualitative Research - Naturalistic Approach - Naturalistic Paradigm
Deals with issues of human complexity
Explores human issues
Attempts to understand experience as it is lived
Collects and analyzes information through narrative and subjective material
Takes place in the field
Collection and analysis of information occurs concurrently
Uses inductive reasoning (process of developing conclusions and generalizations from specific observations)
Not usually generalizable

8. Basic and Applied Research
Basic Research
Purpose is to:
Accumulate information
Extend knowledge
Formulate a theory
Applied Research
Purpose is to:
Find an immediate solution to a current problem

9. Research Terminology – The study
An investigation or research project

10. Research Terminology
Study participants or subjects (quantitative & qualitative studies)
The people being studied
Study informants (qualitative studies)
The people providing the information for the study
Researchers or investigator
Person performing the research

11. Research Terminology Concepts (what is being investigated)
An abstraction based on observations of certain behaviors or characteristics; an image or symbolic representation of an abstract idea
An explanatory variable or principle in a scientific system

12. Research Terminology Phenomena
The abstract concept under investigation in a qualitative study, used instead of the term variable
Theory
An abstract generalization that presents a systematic explanation about the relationships among phenomena
A reasoned explanation of known facts or phenomena that serves as a basis of investigation by which to reach the truth, to explain some aspect of the world

13. Research Terminology Variables (quantitative research)
Is any quality of a person, group, or situation that varies or takes on different values
Can be manipulated and measured in research
Is something that varies
Usually refers, in quantitative studies, to the concepts
i.e. B/P, weight, pain – varies from one person to the next
Quantitative research seeks to understand how or why things vary and to learn how differences in one variable affect another

14. Research Terminology Dependent & Independent Variables
Presumed cause (an intervention)
Dependent variables
Presumed effect of an intervention

15. Research Terminology Dependent & Independent Variables
Variation in the dependent variable is presumed to depend on variation of the independent variable
The dependent variable (outcome variable) is the variable the researcher is interested in understanding, explaining or predicting

16. Research Terminology Dependent & Independent Variables
Variables are independent or dependent depending on the role the variable plays in a particular study
Variables need to be defined in each study – operational definition, operations that the researcher must perform to collect the required information

17. Research Terminology
Data: are the pieces of information obtained in a study - “collected data”
Quantitative – numeric information
Qualitative – narrative descriptions

18. Research Terminology Relationships in quantitative research
Cause and effect relationships
Functional or associative relationships
More than, less than
Relationships in qualitative research
Seeks patterns of association, interconnected themes

19. Research Terminology Literature review: Hypothesis (quantitative):
A critical summary of research on a topic of interest
Builds on existing theory or research
Hypothesis (quantitative):
A prediction about relationships between variables
What the researcher expects to find

20. Research Terminology Research design: Population:
Is the overall plan for obtaining answers to the questions being studied
Population:
Is an aggregate of all individuals or objects with some common, defining characteristic

21. Research Terminology Sample: Pilot study: A subset of the population
A small-scale trial run of the study

22. Reference
Loiselle, C. G., Profetto-McGrath, J., Polit, D. F., & Beck, C. T. (2011). Canadian essentials of nursing research. (3rd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.