NHS-FPX4000 Assessment 2: Applying Research Skills
Capella University
NHS-FPX4000: Developing a Health Care Perspective
Dr Kalie Griffy
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Email Tutor: emilytutors01@gmail.com
NHS-FPX4000 Assessment 2: Applying Research Skills
Applying Research Skills
The ability to research in academia and professional practice is a fundamental capacity
that underpins every information collector, evaluator, and user. In the course of NHSFPX4000, students will be required to know how to locate scholarly resources, determine
source credibility, and attain a deeper understanding of complex healthcare issues. This
essay will describe how one identifies academic peer-reviewed journal articles, evaluates
the credibility and relevance of the sources of information, and lessons learned regarding
building an annotated bibliography.
Identifying Academic Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Probably the most important thing that one learns in research is how to find academic
peer-reviewed journal articles. This class of articles is written by experts in particular
fields and is always subjected to some sort of evaluation by other scholars before
publication. The peer review itself assures that the research undertaken is reliable and
authentic, hence making a worthy contribution to the academic world. By this, students
and professionals can elaborate on their scholarly work from a foundation built on such
peer-reviewed articles since they can rely on the quality of the research.
These articles are usually identified with the help of databases such as PubMed,
CINAHL, and Google Scholar. The platforms provide integrated access to peer-reviewed
journals across diverse fields. This is performed by typing specific keywords regarding
the topic to be researched. Using, for instance, a study of how effective telemedicine
would be in terms of improvement in patient outcomes, the key words could include
"telemedicine", "patient outcomes", and "effectiveness." In the case of refining this kind
of query, Boolean operators such as "AND" or "OR" are used to combine terms or
exclude them. For example, "telemedicine AND patient outcomes" will return articles
discussing both topics, whereas "telemedicine OR e-health" may provide a broader search
by finding related areas. Most databases include features for filtering search results so
that search results are limited to peer-reviewed sources. This becomes very effective in
removing those researches which have been conducted poorly. Ensuring only such peerreviewed articles are considered will provide a student opportunity to write papers based
on sound and complete research and hence could develop a strong case of arguments and
conclusions.
Assessing Credibility and Relevance of Information Sources
After the identification of potential sources, credibility and relevance are necessary
evaluative aspects in research. Credibility relates to information that is verified and
evidence-based, that any work revolving around academia or professionalism bases its
quality and accuracy. In establishing the credibility of sources, a researcher needs to
consider the qualifications of the authors, affiliations, and publication history. More
authoritative are authors from high reputation universities or research institutions and/or
highly cited in the field. Similarly, publication date is a factor-research published within
the last five years is more relevant; for areas that change rapidly like health sciences. It
also matters in terms of reputation-whether the journal or the publisher is from a robust
peer-reviewed journal with a high impact factor.
Equally important is the relevance of the source to the research question. A source might
be credible and yet irrelevant if it does not address the focus of the study directly. For
instance, an article that discusses the theoretical benefits of telemedicine would not be
applicable to a project that requires empirical data regarding the outcomes of patients. It
has to be a source that gives evidence or analysis matching the research objectives for it
to be helpful. In this respect, both credibility and relevance become important features in
assessing and selecting high-quality sources meaningfully contributing to the research
effort and ensuring findings that are accurate and pertinent.
Annotated Bibliography
An annotated bibliography can be viewed as a tool needed in research organization and
an assurance of quality for sources used in scholarly writing. It includes citations,
formatted in APA style, with the inclusion of a short annotation that summarizes the
content, credibilities, and relevance of each source. This helps a researcher to trace
sources and compare various research works effectively.
For example:
Smith, J. A., & Johnson, P. L. (2021). Telemedicine in healthcare: A review of patient
outcomes. Journal of Healthcare Research, 35(2), 45-60.
The article provides a good review of the effects of telemedicine on patient outcomes
drawn from a number of studies. The authors indicate empirical results that show that
telemedicine greatly improves patient satisfaction and accessibility.
Learnings from the Research
The ability to identify credible sources and compile an annotated bibliography shows
some very valuable insights. Again, the knowledge of where and how to find peerreviewed articles solidifies the core foundation for academic research. Critical evaluation
for credibility and relevance enhances better understanding of the subject. These will be
essential skills for the healthcare professional in applying evidence-based knowledge to
practice.
References
Smith, J. A., & Johnson, P. L. (2021). Telemedicine in healthcare: A review of patient
outcomes. Journal of Healthcare Research, 35(2), 45-60.
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