5.3 Discussion: Writing Exercise #4 - Sampling & Methodology

The growing popularity of Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) necessitates the need to educate medical specialists, which is rapidly being done through e-learning and hybrid learning techniques. Because the majority of nurses lack MIS expertise and training, a laparoscopic collaborative learning course for nurses has been developed. The major goal of such a study would be to validate the online conceptual component of such a course to assess learner satisfaction level, as well as friendliness and usefulness metrics and nurses' enthusiasm in collaborative learning (Ortega-Morán et al., 2020). Participants were given a web link that included guidance for performing the validation tests as well as access to the course registration form. A defined validation methodology was used to gather information via sociability (relational statistical data and checklist), usability (Web Analytics), and perception and satisfaction (questionnaire) assessments under quasi conditions after the nurses who were participants in the investigation completed the online module of the laparoscopic training course for nursing within a maximum of ten days without supervision.

The measurement technique majorly applied in the gathering of information is the administration of questionnaires. Experts assisted in the development of questionnaires, ensuring their validity, determining their duration, and spotting potential flaws. From these questionnaires sociability, as well as perception and satisfaction validation was performed through a 5-point Likert scale ((1 – completely disagree, 5 – completely agree) (Ortega-Morán et al., 2020). In my opinion, the measurement strategy used by the authors was great. The fact that consistent and systematic measurement procedures were applied throughout the study on all participants is a plus. The weakness posed is that the measurement should have been carried across more participants as the study's generalizability was hindered by the small participant sample size. The measurement scale needed to incorporate national or perhaps international considerations on other important measures to provide additional proof to the study. The author did however not mention other measurement choices they could have considered but I think the incorporation of random sampling in choosing participants as opposed to participants volunteering would have led to obtaining better measures.

In the above study, the variables considered while designing the questionnaire are sociability, usability, as well as perception, and satisfaction validation. Two other variables I feel could have been considered in the design are face-to-face training ratings and suggested tools (for interactive discussions) The face-to-face consideration is important as it would be important to understand participants' sentiments on face-to-face versus online learning. Participants suggesting different tools that can increase student engagement and commitment by facilitating productive socialization in online forums is important (Caballé & Conesa, 2018). An internal social constraint is that the participants in the study volunteered to take part and were not selected randomly which could lead to biasness. An external social constraint is the existence of national and international scales in the nursing lane could adversely affect criteria for collecting measurements.

Sampling has advantages ranging from low costs, high accuracy in data collected, less than consumption, and suitable where the research has limited resources. However, there are several limitations associated with sampling ("Survey: Sampling issues," 2017). The significant drawback of sampling is that it may include biased selection, resulting in incorrect results. Bias occurs when the sample selection procedure used is flawed. Relatively small samples that are carefully chosen may be far more dependable than big samples that are badly chosen. The results are dependable and accurate when a properly representative sample of the population is chosen. When the events under study are of a complicated character, selecting a truly fair representation is difficult. It's challenging to pick decent samples. When it comes to sampling, the toughest part is selecting an adequate sample size whose results truly reflect those of the population under study.

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