BIOSTAT 1A-RESP

One post written in response to fellow learners’ post and are each between 100-150 words. Responses are substantive insightful and contain at least one reference.

A research problem is a difficulty that needs to be addressed, which needs improvement, a troubling issue, or an area of concern that needs to be examined through research. A research problem exists in theory, established literature, or clinical practice highlighting the need for adequate understanding and relevant inquiry (Thelwall & Mas-Bleda, 2020). A research problem can be identified from a research study whose topic focuses on a problematic area. A research problem can also be viewed as a research question based on the topic of the involved area. On the other hand, a research purpose is a reason for conducting the research. A research purpose usually identifies the activities used during research to advance knowledge (Pallant, 2020). These include gathering information, exploring, discovering new data, describing, testing, and explaining causal relations, analyzing evidence, performing tests, and evaluating or examining phenomena, among others (Sylvia & Terhaar, 2018). The research purpose is considered the study's goal or research, for instance, to identify differences between phenomena.       It is vital to elucidate that both the research problem statement and study purpose statement are critical in research. A research problem statement introduces the reader to the research problem and outlines the study's problem (Miles, 2019). The problem statement considers what is already known while precisely capturing what the research intends to learn. The problem statement can also demonstrate the appropriateness, importance, relevance, or significance of the problem (Ratan et al., 2019). Conversely, a purpose statement captures the goals of the research, the scope, and the direction of the research (Pallant, 2020). The purpose statement enables the reader to have a precise and concrete understanding of the research focus or what the research covers and what the reader can gain from it.       A real-life example of a research problem and purpose is obtained from a research study conducted by Dyrbye et al. (2019). In the research, Dyrbye et al. (2019) conducted a cross-sectional study exploring the relationship between nurse burnout, absenteeism, and job performance. The research problem is the increased prevalence of nurse burnout. The analysis introduces the problem of nurse burnout among U.S nurses at an alarming rate of 35-45%. The article also captures what has already been established through research. For instance, previous research has shown that nurse burnout is associated with poor quality of patient care, reduced patient satisfaction, and increased patient mortality (Dyrbye et al., 2019). However, the study notes that despite increased research on the area, there is limited knowledge on how nurse burnout affects absenteeism and job performance. Thus, this is the research gap that influences the research problem and purpose. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to generate evidence about the relationship between nurse burnout and absenteeism and job performance.

 

References 

Dyrbye, L. N., Shanafelt, T. D., Johnson, P. O., Johnson, L. A., Satele, D., & West, C. P. (2019). A cross-sectional study exploring the relationship between burnout, absenteeism, and job performance among American nurses. BMC Nursing, 18(57), 57. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-019-0382-7

Miles, D. A. (2019). (PDF) ARTICLE: “Research Methods and Strategies: Problem Statement Development: How to Write a Problem Statement in A Dissertation.” ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333648926_ARTICLE_Research_Methods_and_Strategies_Problem_Statement_Development_How_to_Write_a_Problem_Statement_in_A_Dissertation

Pallant, J. (2020). SPSS survival manual: A step by step guide to data analysis using IBM SPSS (p.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003117452

Ratan, S., Anand, T., & Ratan, J. (2019). Formulation of research question – Stepwise approach. Journal of Indian Association of Pediatric Surgeons, 24(1), 15. https://doi.org/10.4103/jiaps.jiaps_76_18

Stolley, J. M., Buckwalter, K. C., & Garand, L. (2000). The Evolution of Nursing Research. Journal of the Neuromusculoskeletal System: JNMS: A Journal of the American Chiropractic Association, Inc, 8(1), 10–15. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6739074/

Sylvia, M. L., & Terhaar, M. F. (2018). Clinical analytics and data management for the DNP. In www.springerpub.com (2nd ed.). Springer Publishing Company. https://www.springerpub.com/clinical-analytics-and-data-management-for-the-dnp-9780826142771.html

Thelwall, M., & Mas-Bleda, A. (2020). How Common are Explicit Research Questions in Journal Articles? Quantitative Science Studies, 1(2), 730–748. https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00041