Goal:

You will critically appraise a research design

Content Requirements: 

You will select one research report with a qualitative design and one with quantitative design and answer the following questions regarding the following categories:

  

1. Discuss what is meant by the term Qualitative Research

o Briefly, describe the characteristics of qualitative research and identify nursing issues/phenomena that lend themselves to a qualitative research approach.

o Compare and contrast three different qualitative research methodologies.

o Briefly, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative research evidence for informing nursing practice.

o Communicate how this research design used in research.

2. The study, sampling, data collection, analysis, rigor, findings and limitations

o Identify the purpose of the study.

o Briefly, describe the design of the study and explain why you think it is either appropriate or inappropriate to meet the purpose.

o Identify ethical issues related to the study and how they were/were not addressed.

o Identify the sampling method and recruitment strategy that was used.

o Discuss whether sampling and recruitment were appropriate to the aims of the research.

o Identify the data collection method(s) and discuss whether the method(s) is/are appropriate to the aims of the study.

o Identify how the data was analyzed and discuss whether the method(s) of analysis is/are appropriate to the aims of the study.

o Identify four (4) criteria by which the rigor of a qualitative project can be judged.

o Discuss the rigor of this study using the four criteria. 

o Briefly, describe the findings of the study and identify any limitations.

o Use the information that you have gained from your critique of the study to discuss the trustworthiness and applicability of the study. Include in your discussion any implications for the discipline of nursing.

3. Discuss what you understand by the term Quantitative Research – Use the following dot points to guide your discussion (give reasons for your argument and support with references):

o Describe the characteristics of quantitative research.

o Identify nursing issues/phenomena that lend themselves to a quantitative research approach

o Differentiate between observational and interventional research designs and also between experimental and quasi-experimental designs.

o Briefly, outline the difference between inferential and descriptive statistics and their relationship to levels of measurement.

o Communicate how this research design used in research.

4. Critique the Quantitative Research Report – Use the following headings to guide your critique (in all discussions and explanations give reasons for your argument and support with references):

o The study

§ Identify the purpose and design of the study.

§ Explain what is meant by ‘blinding’ and ‘randomization’ and discuss how these were addressed in the design of the study.

§ Identify ethical issues related to the study and how they were/were not addressed.

o  Sampling

§ Explain the sampling method and recruitment strategy that was used.

§ Discuss how the sample size was determined – include in your discussion an explanation of terms used.

o Data collection

§ Briefly, outline how the data was collected and identify any data collection instrument(s).

§ Define the terms validity and reliability and discuss how the validity & reliability of the instruments were/were not addressed in this study and why this is important.

o Data analysis

§ Outline how the data were analyzed.

§ Identify the statistics used and the level of measurement of the data described by each statistical test – include in your discussion an explanation of terms used.

o Findings and limitations

§ Briefly, outline the findings and identify any limitations of the study

§ Use the information that you have gained from your critique of the study to briefly discuss the trustworthiness and applicability of the study. Include in your discussion an explanation of the term statistical significance and name the tests of statistical significance used in this study.


Critical Research Appraisal Assignment

Goal:

You will critically appraise a research design

Content Requirements: 

You will select one research report with a qualitative design and one with quantitative design and answer the following questions regarding the following categories:

1. Discuss what is meant by the term Qualitative Research

· Briefly, describe the characteristics of qualitative research and identify nursing issues/phenomena that lend themselves to a qualitative research approach.

· Compare and contrast three different qualitative research methodologies.

· Briefly, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative research evidence for informing nursing practice.

· Communicate how this research design used in research.

2. The study, sampling, data collection, analysis, rigor, findings and limitations

· Identify the purpose of the study.

· Briefly, describe the design of the study and explain why you think it is either appropriate or inappropriate to meet the purpose.

· Identify ethical issues related to the study and how they were/were not addressed.

· Identify the sampling method and recruitment strategy that was used.

· Discuss whether sampling and recruitment were appropriate to the aims of the research.

· Identify the data collection method(s) and discuss whether the method(s) is/are appropriate to the aims of the study.

· Identify how the data was analyzed and discuss whether the method(s) of analysis is/are appropriate to the aims of the study.

· Identify four (4) criteria by which the rigor of a qualitative project can be judged.

· Discuss the rigor of this study using the four criteria. 

· Briefly, describe the findings of the study and identify any limitations.

· Use the information that you have gained from your critique of the study to discuss the trustworthiness and applicability of the study. Include in your discussion any implications for the discipline of nursing.

3. Discuss what you understand by the term Quantitative Research – Use the following dot points to guide your discussion (give reasons for your argument and support with references):

· Describe the characteristics of quantitative research.

· Identify nursing issues/phenomena that lend themselves to a quantitative research approach

· Differentiate between observational and interventional research designs and also between experimental and quasi-experimental designs.

· Briefly, outline the difference between inferential and descriptive statistics and their relationship to levels of measurement.

· Communicate how this research design used in research.

4. Critique the Quantitative Research Report – Use the following headings to guide your critique (in all discussions and explanations give r

Critical Research Appraisal Assignment

NUR501: Philosophical & Theoretical, Evidence-Based Research
Dr. Corzo-Sanchez
June 24, 2022

Critical Research Appraisal Assignment

Nursing research uncovers new knowledge to help build the foundation of clinical practice. Research can help prevent diseases and disabilities, help manage symptoms, establish new treatment plans and improve nursing skills. This is why nurses need to be able to participate in and analyze research, as this can bring positive outcomes to their careers and the health of their patients. There are two different types of research, quantitative and qualitative, that provide information and data. For this assignment, I chose one qualitative research that focuses on the stress and burnout experienced by nursing professionals and one quantitative analysis that explores nurses’ knowledge regarding hand hygiene. Each study will be evaluated thoroughly and analyzed.

Qualitative Research

The definition of qualitative research can be challenging. Qualitative research involves collecting and analyzing non-numerical data to understand concepts, opinions, or experiences (Morgan et al., 2021). This form of research explores deeper insights into real-world problems in an emergent and holistic way. Qualitative data can be collected using various methods such as interviews, focus groups, observations, and documentation analysis (Hoover, 2021). Qualitative research has been used in nursing for many years, but it was not the first method used in nursing. Before quantitative research, philosophical methods such as hermeneutics and phenomenology were the only options for professional inquiry (Butts & Rich, 2017). However, it was changed to qualitative research because its ways were incompatible with science. There are three major approaches to qualitative research, (1) ethnography, based on anthropology, (2) phenomenology, drawn from philosophy; and (3) grounded theory, drawn from sociology (Morgan et al., 2021). The use of qualitative studies is common due to its many strengths, such as providing multiple methods of data collection, more detailed information, and how it can refine and strengthen quantitative research. However, some of the limitations of this form of research are difficulty analyzing and collecting data while being more time-consuming.

Evaluating and Analyzing a Selected Qualitative Study

For the example of the qualitative study, I chose Luis M. Dos Santos’s study, which focused on the effects of stress, burnout, and low self-efficacy in nursing professionals. The quantitative research aimed to understand and explore how social and environmental factors influence nursing professionals’ self-efficacy. In the study, the Social Cognitive Theory was used to define how each subject was affected based on their thoughts, behaviors, feeling, and personal beliefs (Dos Santos, 2020). F