Research in Nursing
Dr.Wafa A.K.Abbas
Defining Variables
•A study, two types of definitions are required: conceptual and
operational definitions.
•The conceptual definition is the broad, abstract meaning of a
variable (concept). This definition is derived from the theorist's
definition of a concept or is developed by the researcher.
Conceptual definitions of variables provide the basis for
formulating operational definitions. An example of a conceptual
definition of "Health care activities," is: Health care activities
included participation in a regular exercise program or being a
nonsmoker.
An operational definition is a way of defining a variable to make it
measurable in the real world. An operational definition is
developed so that a variable can be measured in a concrete
situation and the knowledge gained from studying the variable
will increase the understanding of the theoretical concept that
variable represents. An example of an operational definition of
"Health care activities," is: Health Care Activity Scales.
Relationships among the Variables
•A relationship among or between variables refers to the
association of the variables. (The word 'among' is used when
speaking of more than two variables, the word 'between' is used
when speaking of only two variables.)
A relationship means that when one variable moves in a certain
direction -positive or negative -the other variable moves in a
certain direction. These relationships are often are stated in such
terms as 'greater than' or 'less than.' Or the direction of the
relationship of the variables may not be known and it would be
stated in such terms as 'there is a difference.'
An example of a relationship between variables which has a
direction is: Patients who receive reconditioning have less bladder
dysfunction after indwelling catheter removal than patients who
receive no conditioning.
An example of a relationship between variables which does not
have a direction is: There is a difference in bladder dysfunction
after indwelling catheter removal in patients who receive
reconditioning and patients who receive no conditioning.
•The way the relationship is stated depends on the knowledge
available which would allow the researcher to make a prediction
that the outcome would be one way or another.
Population to be Studied
Population is the total group that meets the criteria for a study. A
population may be people, objects or events. The population in
the examples above is: all patients who have indwelling catheters
removed.
•Setting of the Study
•The setting of the study is the place that the subjects will be
found, For example, an outpatient clinic, a large hospital, or the
community.
Development of Sub problems: In Class Project -Small Group
Work
Directions: Using your own nursing knowledge and the Types of
Research Sub problems and the Components of a Sub problem,
formulate a research objective, a question and a hypothesis for
each of the research purposes listed below.
RESEARCH PURPOSES:
•1. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship
between the prematurity of an infant and the pre-natal care
received by the mother.
•2. This study sought to determine if the nutritional status of
children was related to their age and sex.
•3. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of
preoperative exercises on postoperative ambulation in patients
having abdominal surgery
TYPES OF RESEARCH DESIGNS
•The choice of an overall research design is one of the major
decisions that must be made in conducting a research study.
There are many designs that can be chosen and the researcher
must use good judgment in selecting the best one.
Experimental Designs
•The strength of the true experiment over other methods lies in
the fact that the experimenter can achieve greater confidence in
the token fineness’ and interpretability of relationships because
they are observed under carefully controlled conditions.
•The controlled experiment is considered by many to be the ideal
of science. Except for purely descriptive research, the aim of
scientific research is to understand the nature of relationships
among phenomena called Variables in the research study). For
example, does a certain drug cause the cure of a certain disease?
Or, do certain nursing techniques produce a decrease in Patient
anxiety?
Characteristics of Experimental Designs
•A true experiment is a scientific investigation characterized |>y
rhefollowing three properties:
•• manipulation—the experimenter does something to at least
some of the subjects in the study
•• control—the experimenter introduces one or more controls
over the experimental situation, including the use of a control
group
•• randomization—the experimenter assigns subjects to a control
or experimental group on a random basis
Manipulation
•Manipulation involves doing something to at least one group of
subjects. The introduction of that "something" (often referred to
as the experimental treatment or experimental intervention)
constitutes the independent variable.
The experimenter manipulates the independent variable by
administering a treatment to some subjects and withholding it
from others (or by administering some other treatment, such as a
placebo). The experimenter, in other words, consciously varies
the independent variable and observes the effect that the
manipulation has on the dependent variable of interest.
For example, let us say we have hypothesized what the color for
pediatric nurse's uniform affects the degree to which children
display positive effective behaviors such as smiling and laughing
during hospitalization. The independent r presumed causative
variable in this example is uniform color, which could be
manipulated by assigning some nurses white uniforms (for
instance) and the nurses brightly colored uniforms, thus, in his
study eight compare, 4 hours after hospitalization, the affective
behaviors (the dependent variables) of two groups of children; 1)
those are do white-uniformed nurses and (2) those cared for by
nurses in colored uniforms.
Control
•Control in an experimental study actually summarizes all of the
major experimental activities: control is acquired by manipulating,
randomizing, carefully preparing the experimental protocols, and
by using a control group.
The term control group refers to a group of subjects whose
performance on a dependent variable is used as a basis for
evaluating the performance of the experimental group (the group
that receives the treatment of interest to the researcher) on the
same dependent variable. In some research, the experimenter
administers the treatment of interest experimental group while
the control group receives no treatment at all and is merely
observed with respect to behavior on the dependent variable.
This kind of situation probably is not possible for many nursing
research rejects because t ay e impossible o isolate a control
group and do nothing to those subjects
For example, if we wanted to evaluate the effectiveness of some
nursing intervention on hospital patients, it would be unlikely that
we would devise an experiment in which the control group of
patients received no nursing care at all. We would have to
evaluate our new intervention not against the total absence of
care but, rather, against a control group receiving conventional
methods of care.
Randomization
•Randomization involves the assignment of subjects to groups on
a random basis. "Random" essentially means that every subject
has an equal chance of being assigned to any group. If subjects
are placed in groups randomly, there is no systematic bias in the
groups in the expects of attributes that may affect the dependent
variable under investigation.
•Randomization is the preferred scientific method for equalizing
groups; however, there is no guarantee that they will be equal. In
an extreme example; subjects who are quite alike may end up in
one of the groups and no subjects like them in the other group.
Despite this possibility, randomization remains the most trust
worthy and acceptable method of equalizing groups.