Research Article Appraisal - Problem And Purpose - Research Report Assessment Answer
Assessment Task:

Instructions: A major skill that is learned in this course is how to critically read and appraise nursing research articles. The purpose of appraising an article is to evaluate the research process followed by the author(s) of the assigned article. This information-intensive, time-intensive process is not learned overnight. To demonstrate your skill at appraising an article, you will complete this open-book short answer assignment.

Question #1: Introduction

a) What are the qualifications of the researchers?
b) Discuss the clarity of the title (type of study, variables and population are identified).

c) Discuss the quality of the abstract. (includes purpose, design, sample, intervention and key results)

Question #2: Research Problem And Purpose

a) What is the problem statement(s)? Please quote this directly from the article and cite it appropriately.

b) What is the purpose statement(s)? Please quote this directly from the article and cite it appropriately.

c) What is the significance and relevance of the study to nursing?

d) Is the study feasible to conduct? Include three of the following: time commitment, money commitment, researcher expertise, availability of subjects, facilities, and equipment, a cooperation of others, ethical considerations.

Question #3: Review of the Literature

a) List three major topics discussed in the review of the literature (ROL).

b) Are any theories or models identified in the ROL.

c) Does the ROL describe the current knowledge of the research problem? Briefly explain how.

d) Briefly explain how the studies reviewed in the ROL are summarized.

Question #4: Study Framework

a) How do the authors describe the study’s framework? Is it implicit or explicit?

b) List the important concepts found in the framework.

c) Does the framework present the relationships among the concepts? (yes / no) If yes, give one example of a relationship between two concepts. If there a map or model provided in the article, give the page number.

Question #5. Research objectives, questions, or hypothesis

a) Does this article have objectives, questions, or hypotheses? Be specific and say which one of these three it has.

b) List the article’s objectives, questions or hypotheses. Be specific and say which one of these three it has. Quote this directly from the article and cite it appropriately.

Question #6. Variables

a) List the major study variables.

b) Are the major study variables independent, dependent, or research variables?

c) What are the conceptual definitions of the major variables (Hint: from the review of literature)?

d) What are the operational definitions of the major variables? (Hint: you may find this information in the ROL or in the “Methods” section of the article).

e) Did the author identify any extraneous variables? If so, briefly describe.

f) List the demographic variables that are identified in the study. (Do not describe the sample characteristics here).

Question #7. Research Design

a) Is the design type descriptive, correlational, quasi-experimental, or experimental.

b) Explain how the design type that you picked in a) (above) match the study’s objectives, questions, or hypotheses?

c) Explain how the design type that you picked in a) (above) provides a means to examine the study’s purpose?

d) Does the study include a treatment or intervention? If so, briefly describe. (Hint: you may find this information in the ROL or in the “Methods” section of the article).

e) Were pilot study findings used to design the major study?

Question #8 Strengths and Weaknesses

a) Identify two strengths of the study

b) Identify two weaknesses of the study

Question #9: Sample

a) What sampling method was used by the authors in this study?

b) What are the potential biases of this sampling method?

c) What was the final sample size and what was the acceptance rate?

d) Was a power analysis conducted? If so, describe it here.

e) Describe the inclusion and exclusion of sample criteria.

f) Calculate the refusal rate.

g) Calculate the attrition rate.

h) Is the sampling method going to produce a sample that is representative of the study population? Explain your answer.

i) Briefly discuss the institutional review board approval and informed consent obtained for this study.

j) Briefly describe the setting and indicate whether it was appropriate for conducting this study.

Question #10: Measurement Methods

a) List and briefly describe the measures/instruments/ tools used in the study.

b) Who administers each measurement/instrument/ tool?

c) How do the subjects complete each measurement/instrument tool?

d) How is each measurement / instrument/tool scored?

e) How do the authors describe the PAST reliability of each measurement /instrument/tool?

f) How do the authors describe the reliability of each measurement/instrument/ tool for THIS STUDY?

g) How do the authors describe the PAST validity of each measurement /instrument/tool?

h) How do the authors describe the validity of each measurement/instrument/tool for THIS STUDY?

i) Did the authors develop a measurement/instrument/ tool for this study? If so, describe the development process.

j) Did the authors use any physiological measurements in this study? If so, how did they describe the methods for collecting and recording the data?

Question #11: Collection and Managing Data

a) Briefly, describe the data collection process used in this study.

b) Is there more than one data collector for the study? If so, describe what the authors did to train the data collectors. Do you think there was adequate training to ensure inter-rater reliability (IRR)?

Question #12: Data Analysis

a) What descriptive statistics are used in this study?
b) What inferential statistics are used to examine the data obtained from the subjects?

c) What is the level of significance set at for this study?

d) Are tables or figures used to present the results of the data analysis? List and briefly explain the content of each table or figure.

Question #13. Researchers Interpretation of the Findings

a) What are the key findings from this study (as stated by the authors)? In parentheses next to each finding, indicate whether the finding is significant, non-significant, or unpredicted / serendipity.

b) Which of the key findings that you listed in 13a were consistent with what the authors were expecting?

c) Which of the key findings from this study were identified by the authors as being clinically significant / clinically important?

d) List the study’s limitations as described by the authors. Did you find any other limitations not mentioned by the authors?

e) Do the authors generalize the findings to other populations? If so, who are they? Is this appropriate?

f) What implications do the findings have for nursing practice?

g) What suggestions have the authors made for future studies?

Question #14 Strengths and Weaknesses

a) Identify one strength of the study related to the content in this assignment (find the strengths in the sample, measurement methods, data collection, or data analysis)

b) Identify one weakness of the study related to the content in this (find the weaknesses in the sample, measurement methods, data collection, or data analysis)

Question #15 Evaluation

Pick two of the guidelines and provide an answer (your choice).

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  • Uploaded By : Mitchell Lee
  • Posted on : October 23rd, 2018

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