NUR390: The Class: Research Design & Sampling: Research Problems: Lesson

Lesson: Research Problems and Literature Review.

Research problems identify the reason for the study. They may be stated as a question or a declarative statement. The following steps may be useful in defining your research problem

1. Research problems begin with an idea. For example, you may come up with the ideas that stress develops in caregivers when caring for a chronically ill family member.

2. Once an idea has been formulating, you can then brainstorm about this idea. For example, is this stress positive or negative? Does the amount of support, financial, social, religious have any effect?

3. The next step is to review the literature. Read about what has already been studied on the topic. Identify issues present in the studies you review. List all variables studied (length of illness, financial situation, caregiver gender, caregiver employment status.

4. You are now ready to formulate the research problem. Write the problem based on what has been learned thus far.

5. Finally, you can decide if the is significant. Discuss significance in light of: a)potential benefit to society, b) results applicable to nursing practice, education, administration, c) findings will support untested theoretical assumption, clarify theory, etc, and d)alteration in practice could result

Here are some ways that research problems are formulated.

1. Problem statement
   

   Presents a question that can be in either declarative or interrogative form. The statement that follows has been posed as a interrogative and declarative

   Physical symptoms of pregnancy and maternal-fetal attachment

   Question
   

   Is there a relationship between the physical symptoms of pregnancy and maternal-fetal attachment in primigravidas?
   

   Declarative
   

   The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the physical symptoms of pregnancy and maternal-fetal attachment.

2. Hypothesis
   

   Converts the research question posed into a declarative statement that predicts an expected outcome. Identifies a predicted relationship between two or more variables.

   Null Hypothesis	states that there is no relationship between the variables
   Research Hypothesis	consists of a statement about the expected relationship between the variables

   Directional Hypothesis	direction of the relationship is specified: greater than, less than, positively, negatively
   Nondirectional Hypothesis	a relationship is specified, but the direction is not specified

   The statement that follows has been written as a research hyopothesis and a null hypothesis

   Aggressiveness of nursing care and DNR orders

   Research hypothesis:	Aggressive nursing care is reduced when caring for a patient with a DNR order.
   Null hypothesis:	There is no difference in the aggressiveness of nursing care when caring for a patient with a DNR order as compared to a patient with no DNR order.

Complete the exercise below. For each of the statements you see, create a research question, a directional hypothesis, a non-directional hyposthesis and a null hypothesis

1. The use of cathode ray terminals (CRT) and the incidence of birth defects

   Research Question:

   Directional Hypothesis:

   Nondirectional Hypothesis:

   Null Hypothesis:

2. The moderate consumption of white wine and serum cholesterol levels

   Research Question:

   Directional Hypothesis:

   Nondirectional Hypothesis:

   Null Hypothesis:

3. Nurses and Physician views and the advanced practice role for nurses

   Research Question:

   Directional Hypothesis:

   Nondirectional Hypothesis:

   Null Hypothesis:

4. Variables

   The research question or hypothesis will contain the varaibles for study.

   Independent - has the presumed effect on the outcome; what you do; the intervention(s) used; what is manipulated

   Dependent - the consequence of the intervention , the response that will be measured

Identify the independent and dependent variables is the following exercise.

The use of CRTs increases the incidence of birth defects



Independent variable
Dependent variable


What is the relationship between daily moderate consumption of white wine and serum cholesterol levels?



Independent variable
Dependent variable



Problem oriented recording leads to more effective patient care than narrative recording



Independent variable
Dependent variable



Nurses and physicians differ in the way they view the advanced practice role for nurses



Independent variable
Dependent variable

5. Population

   Define a study group keeping in mind the ethical issues

   Is this group available to you

   Do you have means of accessing this population

6. Testability
   

   Is the problem testable?

   Can you measure stress?

   What instruments would you use?

Places the research problem in the context of its knowledge base.

1. Purpose for a literature search

   Determines what is known about a subject

   Identifies possible gaps

   Identifies unanswered questions

   Describes methodologies, instruments,

   Generates useful questions

2. Necessary for all steps of the research process

   Development of a theoretical framework

   Allows for refinement of the research problem

   Assists in developing the design and method of the study

   Helpful in discussion of the results as you can make comparison to other studies

3. Types of sources for literature review

   Conceptual literature

   Reviews concepts developed in other studies. May be found in articles, book, video tapes

   Data-based literature

   Published studies that report data from studies conducted. May be in found journal articles, abstracts of theses, etc.. Journal articles may be in refereed or nonrefereed journals. Referred journals use a panel of experts to review materials and in nonrefereed journals, materials are selected by editors.

4. Primary and Secondary sources

   Primary sources reports materials from study directly. Inother words, the author(s) report the findings of theor research study. These sources are more reliable because they are less subject to someone else's interpretation. Secondary sources are written by someone other than the person who did the original work. They may include a critique, a summary, etc.

   Use primary sources whenever possible. Not always possible because of lack of access to the primary source because the primary source is out of print or written in another language

5. Library sources

   Print indexes	end of year journals will print listing of all materials
   CINAHL	Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health - uses nursing terminology
   MEDLINE	Medical literature analysis and retrieval system on Line uses medical terminology
   ERIC	Educational Resources Information Center - educational materials
   PSYCHLIT	Psychology literature - may be helpful in some psych problems

Once you have read this lesson, you should go to Assignment 1.