NURS 12
1. Traditions- truths or beliefs based on
Nursing Research
WEEK 2: Nursing Research, Historical
Development, and Nurses’ Roles
Nursing Research
• A systematic inquiry which uses a
disciplined method to answer questions
and solve problem – Polit & Beck (2004)
• a systematic objective process of
analyzing phenomena of importance to
nursing profession, including Nursing
practice, nursing education,
administration, and informatics" -
Nieswiadomy, & Bailey (2018)
• a scientific process that validates and
refines existing knowledge and generates
new knowledge that directly or indirectly
influences the delivery of evidenced-based
nursing practice " - Grove, Burns, and
Gray (2013)
Etiology
o Greek word “cerchier” meaning to search
or to seek.
Historical Developments
• The research culture in Nursing has
evolved in the last 150 years, beginning
with Nightingale’s work in the Mid-1850s
and culminating of the National Institute of
Nursing Research and National Institute of
Health . Stolley, et.al. (2000)
• 1850-1950 Nightingale used an
epidemiological process to describe the
morbidity and mortality of sick and injured
soldiers. Her pioneering epidemiological
research and statistical methodology was
the hallmark of scientific investigation in
nursing.
• 1950- 20th Century – nursing practice
underwent clinical revolution in response
to societal, medical, scientific and
technologies advancement
• 1990 – there is an increase interest in
multiple modes of inquiry (qualitative and
quantitative) for a practice discipline which
is addressing complex human
phenomena.
Nursing Era
1. Intuitive Period
2. Apprentice Period
3. Educative Period
4. Contemporary Period
Sources of Knowledge
customs and trends
2. Experts and Professionals – person in
authority who are specialized in a given
area than others do
3. Intuition – an insight into or an
understanding of a situation or event as a
whole that cannot be explained logically
4. Experiences- an approach with unknown
outcomes that is used in situations of
uncertainty in which and when no other
sources of knowledge is available
5. Borrowing – appropriation and use of
knowledge from other disciplines which
can guide the Nursing practice
6. Role modelling – learned by imitating the
actions/ roles of an expert
7. Reasoning - the processing and
organizing ideas in order to reach a
conclusion.
8. Evidence based research - may enable
nurses to manage the explosion of new
literature and technology and ultimately
may result in improved patient outcomes
Purposes of Nursing Research
1. To generate new knowledge
2. Using knowledge to solve immediate
problems
3. To develop, refine and test theories
Roles of Nurses in Research
• Primary investigator
• Data interpreter
• Participant in the research study
• Evaluator of research findings
• Identifier of research problem
• Advocates of patients
Nursing Research Priorities:
1. Health and Illness
2. Delivery of Care Services
Characteristics of a Nurse Researcher:
1. Intellectual curiosity – The nurse
researcher undertakes inquiry and serious
thinking about situations and problems
affecting nurses and nursing.
2. Creative thinking – Coupled with the
ability to go beyond what already exist and
develop various ways of doing things.
3. Critical thinking – Clinical expertise and
a working knowledge of the scientific
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 problem-solving technique help to a great
extent in formalizing the study.
4. Ability to relate their study to known
theory – Through scholarly thinking and to
articulate this in precise and organized
manner.
5. Patience and discipline to see the study.
6. Intellectual honesty – Researchers are
honest in collecting, analyzing, and
reporting data.
Characteristics of Nursing Research:
1. It involves the gathering of new and
existing data from new sources or first-
hand information.
2. It is directed toward the solution of the
problem.
3. It is analytical. It is characterized by
carefully designed procedures in collecting
data and rigorous analysis in interpreting
them.
4. It emphasizes the development of
generalizations, principles, and theories
that may be helpful in predicting future
occurrence.
5. It requires expertise. The researcher must
be adequately prepared to undertake such
behavior.
6. It is empirical. It is based on direct
experience and demands accurate
observation and description of what is
being studied.
7. It strives to be logical, applying every
possible test to validate the procedures
being employed so that the researcher
has confidence in the results.
8. It is honest and characterized by patient
and unhurried activities.
9. It can be replicated to enable the
researcher to achieve valid and
comprehensive results.
10. It requires innovative approaches.
11. It is carefully recorded and reported.
WEEK 3: Purposes and Sources of Research
Knowledge and Problems
Purposes of Nursing Research:
1. Provide a scientific basis for the nursing
profession.
2. Develop and evaluate new techniques for
delivering patient care that is vital to
patient’s health needs.
3. Develop tools for assessing the
effectiveness of nursing interventions.
4. Provide solutions to problems concerning
health maintenance, health delivery and
health care.
5. Help determine the areas of need relative
to nursing practices such as patient-
teaching and nurse-patient relationships.
6. Develop and evaluate alternative
approaches to nursing education that
would enable that student to gain broad
knowledge and specialized skills for safe
practice.
7. To prepare oneself to be a diligent
practitioner of research.
Sources of Research Problems:
1. Social Issues
a. poverty, health, economic social
2. Ideas from external Sources
a. auditors, quality assurance and
assessments
3. Research Priorities
a. research agenda, thrusts, and
reforms
4. Clinical Exposure and Experiences
a. rotations, affiliations, confinement,
consumer of services
5. Personal Experiences
a. personal observations
6. Consumer’s feedback
a. patients’ feedback and satisfaction
7. Nursing Literature
a. theory, knowledge, and evidence
8. Performance Improvement Activities
a. process, output, impact studies
WEEK 4: Evidence-based Nursing, Research
and Level of Evidences
Evidence-Based Research
• an approach where people involved in the
profession, use their best , most
appropriate , most suitable methods to
treat patient - Stolley, J. , Buckwalter, K.,
Garand, L. ( 2000)
• An ongoing process by which evidence,
nursing theory and the practitioners’
clinical expertise are critically evaluated
and considered
• is the integration of clinical expertise/
expert opinion
Evidence - are the best available information
gathered from the scientific literature (external
evidence) and from data and observations
collected from individual client (internal evidence).
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Evidence-based Nursing - Effectiveness of
treatment is only one part of the clinical decision-
making process: in deciding on therapeutic
interventions, acceptability to the patient and
cost-effectiveness are considered
Evidence-based Nursing - approach that may
enable nurses to manage the explosion of new
literature and technology and ultimately may
result in improved patient outcomes
Levels of Evidences in Research
1. Animal Research - a laboratory
experiment using animals to study the
development and progression of diseases.
Animal studies also test how safe and
effective new treatments are before they
are tested in people.
• In Vitro Research – outside the
body; in the laboratory
• In Vivo – inside the body
• Opinion – a belief or conclusion
held with confidence but not
substantiated by positive
knowledge or proof.
2. Editorial – work consisting of a statement
of the opinions, beliefs, and policy of the
editor or publisher of a journal, usually on
current matters of medical or scientific
significance to the medical community or
society at large
• Case Study - investigation of a
single subject or a single unit,
which could be a small number of
individuals who seem to be
representative of a larger group or
very different from it.
• Case Series - group or series of
case reports involving patients who
were given similar treatment.
3. Case Control Study - observational
epidemiologic study of persons with the
disease of interest and a suitable control
group of persons without the disease;
comparison, relationship
4. Cohort Study - clinical research study in
which people who presently have a certain
condition or receive a particular treatment
are followed over time and compared with
another group of people who are not
affected by the condition.
5. Controlled Clinical Trial – a type of
clinical trial comparing the effectiveness of
one medication or treatment with the
effectiveness of another medication or
treatment.
6. Randomized Controlled Trial – a
controlled clinical trial that randomly (by
chance) assigns participants to two or
more groups.
7. Meta-Analysis
• work consisting of studies using a
quantitative method of combining
the results of independent studies
(usually drawn from the published
literature) and synthesizing
summaries and conclusions which
may be used to evaluate
therapeutic effectiveness, plan new
studies, etc.
• It is often an overview of clinical
trials.
• It is usually called a meta-analysis
by the author or sponsoring body
and should be differentiated from
reviews of literature.
8. Systematic Review
• summary of the clinical literature.
• a critical assessment and
evaluation of all research studies
that address a particular clinical
issue.
• The researchers use an organized
method of locating, assembling,
and evaluating a body of literature
on a particular topic using a set of
specific criteria.
• A systematic review typically
includes a description of the
findings of the collection of
research studies.
Level Evidence from a systematic review or meta-
I analysis of all relevant RCTs (randomized
controlled trial) or evidence-based clinical
practice guidelines based on systematic
reviews of RCTs or 3 or more RCTs of
good quality that have similar results.
Level Evidence obtained from at least one well
II designed RCT (eg large multi-site RCT).
Level Evidence obtained from well-designed
III controlled trials without randomization (ie
quasi-experimental).
Level Evidence from well-designed case-control
IV or cohort studies.
Level Evidence from systematic reviews of
V descriptive and qualitative studies (meta-
synthesis).
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 Level Evidence from a single descriptive or
VI qualitative study.

Level Evidence from the opinion of authorities

VII and/or reports of expert committees.

Sources of Evidences in Research

1. Data Bases - academic tools we use to
find practice guidelines, systematic
reviews, research articles, and other
information related to evidence-based
practice.
a. CINAHL (Cumulative Index of
Nursing and Allied Health
Literature)
2. Nursing Practice Guidelines -
systematically developed statements to
assist practitioner and patient decisions
about appropriate health care for specific
clinical circumstances
3. Critically Appraised Studies - assess
the scientific merit of individual research
studies.

WEEK 5: The Nursing Research Process and

The Nursing Research Problem and Purposes

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WEEK 6: Phases of Nursing Research Process
– Quantitative Research

Phase 1: The Conceptual Phase

The 1st phase consists of the ff steps:
1. Formulating and Delimiting the Problem -
in developing research questions, nurse
researcher must attend to substantive
issues (What kind of new evidence is
needed)
2. Reviewing the Literature - to find out what
evidence already exists in the chosen
research area.
3. Undertaking clinical fieldwork –provide
perspectives on recent clinical trends,
current diagnostic procedures and
relevant health care delivery models; it
also helps researchers better understand
client and settings in which care is
provided
4. Defining the Framework and Developing
Conceptual Definitions - Theory is the
ultimate aim of science: it transcends the
specifics of a particular time, place, and
group of people and aims to identify
regularities in the relationships among
variables
5. Formulating Hypotheses - statement of the
researcher’s expectations about
relationships between the variables under

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 investigation. Hypotheses are the
predicted outcomes.
Phase 2: The Design and Planning Phase
Methodological decisions have crucial
implications for the validity and reliability of the
study findings
1. Selecting a research design
• the overall plan for obtaining answers
to the questions
• e highly structured with tight controls
over extraneous variables
• indicates what types of comparisons
will be made and where the study will
take place
• the architectural backbone of the
study
2. Developing intervention protocols
• In experimental research, researchers
actively intervene and create the
independent variable, which means
that people in the sample will be
exposed to different treatments or
conditions.
3. Identifying the population
4. Designing the sampling plan
• sample of subject who are a subset (a
set whose members are members of
another set) of the population.
• It is practical and less costly to collect
data from a sample than from an
entire
• specifies how the sample will be
selected and recruited and how many
subjects there will be
• The most sophisticated methods are
probability sampling methods,
which use random procedures for
selecting subjects
5. Specifying methods to measure research
variables
• Quantitative researchers must
develop methods to observe or
measure the research variables as
accurately as possible
• Biophysiologic measurements often
play an important role in clinical
research
6. Developing methods to safeguard subjects
• procedures need to be developed to
ensure that the study adheres to
ethical principles.
• Each aspect of the study plan needs
to be reviewed to determine whether
the rights of subjects have been
adequately protected.
• Often the review involves a formal
presentation to an external committee
7. Finalizing the research plan
• check the readability of written
materials or may pre-test the tool
Phase 3: The Empirical Phase
The empirical phase is one of the most time-
consuming parts of the investigation, the amount
of time spent collecting data varies from one
study to the next
1. Collection of Data
• Data collection requires several
weeks or even months of work.
• The researcher´s plan specifies
procedures for the actual collection of
data (where & when the data will be
gathered), for describing the study to
participants and for recording
information.
• Suitable system of maintaining
confidentiality of information has been
implemented
2. Preparing the data for Analysis
• Coding involves the translation of
verbal data into numeric form
according to a specified plan.
• Quantitative data gathered in the
empirical phase are not reported in
raw form. They are subjected to
analysis and interpretation which
occurs in the fourth major phase of a
project.
Phase 4: The Analytic Phase
1. Data Analysis
• Statistical analysis cover a broad
range of techniques from simple
procedures to complex methods,
some methods are computationally
formidable
2. Interpreting the Results
• Interpretation is the process of making
a sense and of examining their
implications.
• The process of interpretation begins
with an attempt to explain the findings
within the context of the theoretical
framework, prior empirical knowledge
and clinical experience
Phase 5: The Dissemination Phase
1. Communicating the Findings
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 • A study cannot contribute evidence to
nursing practice if the results are not
communicated.
• Final task of a research project is the
preparation of a research report that
can be shared with others
2. Utilizing the Findings in Practice
• The concluding step of a high-quality
study is to plan for its utilization in
practice settings.
• Research recommendations
WEEK 7: Phases of Nursing Research Process
– Qualitative Research
Qualitative research
• a scientific method of observation to
gather non-numerical data.
• a process of naturalistic inquiry that seeks
in- depth understanding of social
phenomena within their natural setting
• involves a fairly linear progression of tasks
• In this approach, the progression is closer
to a circle than a straight line.
• Has flexible approach
1. Planning the Study
• Identifying the research problem
• Doing ROL
• Selecting & gaining entree into
research sites
• Developing an overall approach
• Developing methods to safeguard
participants
• Developing Data Collection Strategies
• Decide what type & how to gather data
• Decide from whom to collect •Decide
how to enhance trustworthiness
• Disseminating research findings to
validate perspectives (experts,
reviewers, participants)
2. Developing Data Collection Strategies
Gathering & Analyzing Data
• Collecting, Organizing & Analyzing
Data
• Evaluating data: make modifications
in data collection strategies if needed
• Evaluating Data: determining if
saturation has been achieved
3. Disseminating Findings
• Communicating findings
• Utilizing /recommend findings in
practice & future research
Main Steps in research Process:
1. Selection of Research Problem
2. Extensive Literature Survey / RRL
3. Making Hypothesis
4. Preparing the Research Design
5. Sampling
6. Data collection
7. Data Analysis
8. Hypothesis Testing
9. Generalization and Interpretation
10. Preparation of Report
11. Communicating the research finding
WEEK 8: The Nursing Research Variable
Variable- are qualities, properties, characteristics
of persons, things, or situations that change or
vary and are manipulated or measured in
research (Burns and Grove, 2013).
Research variables- are the qualities, properties
or characteristics identified in the research
purpose and objectives or questions that are
observed or measured in a study (Burns and
Grove, 2013).
Concrete variables: temperature, weight, body
mass index
Abstract variables: resilience, creativity,
empathy, pain
A variable is operationalized in a study by the
development of conceptual or operational
definitions.
Conceptual definition provides the
theoretical meaning of a variable which are often
derived from the theorist’s definition of a related
concept.
Operational definition is derived from a
set of procedures or, progressive acts that a
researcher performs to receive sensory
impressions that indicate an impression or degree
of existence of a variable.
Types of Variables:
1. Independent variable
• is a stimulus or activity that is
manipulated or varied by the
researcher to create an effect on the
dependent variable.
• also called as the treatment or
experimental variable.
2. Dependent variable is the outcome
variable or response that the research
wants to predict or explain.
3. Extraneous variable
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 • are variables that exists in all studies
and can affect the measurement of
study variables and the relationship
among these variables.
• the influence of extraneous variables
can be decreased through sample
selection and the use of defined
research settings.
4. Compounding variables – variables that
cannot be controlled, they may be
recognized before the study is initiated or
may not be recognized until the study is in
proved.
5. Intervening variables – intervene in
between the independent and dependent
variables; those that can affect the cause-
and-effect relationships
• Age, healing Process, Immunity
6. Environmental variables - type of
extraneous variable composing the setting
in which a study is conducted.

Qualitative research is more abstract,

subjective and holistic than quantitative research
and involves the investigation of the research
concepts versus research variables. Research
concepts are the ideas, experiences, situations,
or events that are investigated in qualitative
research. Qualitative studies are theoretical ones,
which can be studied with different populations or
in a variety of sites, or the questions could be
focused on a particular population or setting

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