Critical Research Appraisal Assignment

Critical Research Appraisal Assignment NUR501: Philosophical & Theoretical, Evidence-Based Research Dr. Corzo-Sanchez June 24, 2022

Critical Research Appraisal Assignment

Nursing research uncovers new knowledge to help build the foundation of clinical practice. Research can help prevent diseases and disabilities, help manage symptoms, establish new treatment plans and improve nursing skills. This is why nurses need to be able to participate in and analyze research, as this can bring positive outcomes to their careers and the health of their patients. There are two different types of research, quantitative and qualitative, that provide information and data. For this assignment, I chose one qualitative research that focuses on the stress and burnout experienced by nursing professionals and one quantitative analysis that explores nurses’ knowledge regarding hand hygiene. Each study will be evaluated thoroughly and analyzed.

Qualitative Research

The definition of qualitative research can be challenging. Qualitative research involves collecting and analyzing non-numerical data to understand concepts, opinions, or experiences (Morgan et al., 2021). This form of research explores deeper insights into real-world problems in an emergent and holistic way. Qualitative data can be collected using various methods such as interviews, focus groups, observations, and documentation analysis (Hoover, 2021). Qualitative research has been used in nursing for many years, but it was not the first method used in nursing. Before quantitative research, philosophical methods such as hermeneutics and phenomenology were the only options for professional inquiry (Butts & Rich, 2017). However, it was changed to qualitative research because its ways were incompatible with science. There are three major approaches to qualitative research, (1) ethnography, based on anthropology, (2) phenomenology, drawn from philosophy; and (3) grounded theory, drawn from sociology (Morgan et al., 2021). The use of qualitative studies is common due to its many strengths, such as providing multiple methods of data collection, more detailed information, and how it can refine and strengthen quantitative research. However, some of the limitations of this form of research are difficulty analyzing and collecting data while being more time-consuming.

Evaluating and Analyzing a Selected Qualitative Study

For the example of the qualitative study, I chose Luis M. Dos Santos's study, which focused on the effects of stress, burnout, and low self-efficacy in nursing professionals. The quantitative research aimed to understand and explore how social and environmental factors influence nursing professionals’ self-efficacy. In the study, the Social Cognitive Theory was used to define how each subject was affected based on their thoughts, behaviors, feeling, and personal beliefs (Dos Santos, 2020). For this research study, the phenomenological approach and analysis were used thought the survey to collect and analyze the data. This approach allows researchers to understand and explore experiences based on a group of individuals to manage a broader perspective. In the study, sixty nursing professionals from different fields of nursing were invited to participate in the survey, with all having at least ten years of clinical nursing experience. For the analysis, the snowball sampling tool was used, where researchers asked the first set of participants to refer to a nursing professional with a similar background, which eventually led to a total of sixty professionals willing to join the study. The researchers conducted face-to-face interviews by asking questions and allowing the participants to share their experiences, self-efficacy, and reasons why they have experienced stress or burnout in their field. Some examples of interview questions used for the research include asking if they enjoyed being a nurse and explaining their answer, what were their hardest thing or things they faced as a nurse and if they felt stress or burnout, and what situations made them feel this way. The study showed that workplace bullying and family stress were the primary sources of self-efficacy reduction (Dos Santos, 2020). Overall, the study was well conducted but lacked some aspects. For example, how they selected the participants limited the participant’s pool to be more diverse since each participant recruited one another.

Quantitative Research

Unlike qualitative research, which focuses on experiences, quantitative studies collect and analyze numerical data to make patterns and predictions and test the relationships between concepts (Grand Canyon University, 2021). This analysis is widely used in natural and social sciences, such as chemistry, biology, psychology, and economics. There are two study designs associated with quantitative research, observational and interventional. Observational study designs, also known as epidemiologic study designs, address causation in exposure-outcome relationships, which are beneficial in developing and applying preventative methods (Grand Canyon University, 2021). On the other hand, interventional studies evaluate the direct impact of treatment and preventive measures associated with specific diseases (Grand Canyon University, 2021). Some of the strengths associated with quantitative are that it allows for easy data analysis, and the data can be consistent, precise, and reliable. But some of its limitations are that it can be challenging to understand the phenomenon being studied, and the data may not be strong enough to be explained.

Evaluating and Analyzing a Selected Quantitative Study

For an example of a quantitative study, I chose a research article that focused on analyzing the nurse’s knowledge of hand hygiene and its individual and organizational predictors. The purpose of the cross-sectional study was to determine the ability of hand hygiene in neonatal units. According to the World Health Organization, about 1.4 million people suffer from complications associated with hospital-acquired infections (Asadollahi et al., 2015). For this research, nurses working in neonatal units or NICUs were invited to participate in the study using a census sampling method. The requirements to participate in this study included a willingness to participate in the research and have at least three months of work experience as a nurse in the neonatal unit. The study sample consisted of 150 nurses, and each one participated in the q questionnaire and was divided into two categories. The first part was a demographics checklist, while the second part asked fifteen multiple-choice questions regarding hand-hygiene knowledge. These questions addressed subjects such as hand hygiene situations, infection control, antiseptic solutions, and the definition of hand hygiene (Asadollahi et al., 2015). Then each score was divided into three levels of knowledge based on the scores: low, moderate, and high. Two concepts important in all quantitative research are validity and reliability. Validity is the extent to which the results measure what it is supposed to measure. At the same time, reliability is the extent to which the results can be reproduced when the same study is conducted again (Butts & Rich, 2017). Ten academic members from nursing and medicine approved the validity of these questionnaires. The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed after a pilot study of three nurses was conducted by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (0.81). The collected data was analyzed using SPSS software version 13, where mean, standard deviation, frequency, and percentage were calculated and measured. The study showed that the general knowledge regarding hand hygiene was high amongst nurses, but 68% of the participants reported they needed more education regarding hand hygiene (Asadollahi et al., 2015). Some changes I would make to this study include incorporating more questions into the questionnaire. Also, the participant's pool should be more diverse and divided into groups based on years of experience to analyze if the nursing experience is related to knowledge of the importance of hand hygiene. The participants were also all females, which should be considered, and male nurses should have been incorporated into the study.

Asadollahi, M., Arshadi Bostanabad, M., Jebraili, M., Mahallei, M., Seyyed Rasooli, A., & Abdolalipour, M. (2015). Nurses’ knowledge regarding hand hygiene and its individual and organizational predictors. Journal of Caring Sciences; EISSN 2251-9920. https://doi.org/10.5681/jcs.2015.005 Grand Canyon University. (2021, October 10). Quantitative research design methods for writing dissertations. GCU. https://www.gcu.edu/blog/doctoral-journey/quantitative-research-design-methods-writing-dissertations Morgan, M. C., Dyer, J., Abril, A., Christmas, A., Mahapatra, T., Das, A., & Walker, D. M. (2021). Qualitative study. BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 18(1), 420. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-018-2059-8