Chapter 11 Selecting a Quantitative Research Design

Question 1

Analytic epidemiological studies

Answer 1

Studies concerned with testing hypotheses to determine if specific exposures are related to the presence or absence of specific diseases.

Question 2

Control

Answer 2

1. Elements built into a design to reduce or eliminate interpretations of the cause of the results. These elements include the use of randomization, manipulation of experimental conditions, and use of comparison groups.
2. The essence of an experimental design.

Question 3

Control group

Answer 3

The group that does not receive the experimental treatment in an experiment or intervention.

Question 4

Descriptive study

Answer 4

A study designed to describe the meaning of existing phenomena.

Question 5

Descriptive correlational study

Answer 5

A study used to describe and explain the nature and magnitude of existing relationships.

Question 6

Descriptive epidemiological studies

Answer 6

Studies concerned with the distribution and patterns of disease or disability in a population.

Question 7

Double-blinded study

Answer 7

Treatment assignment (to either experimental or control group) is unknown to patients and healthcare providers. Sometimes referred to as patient-provider masking.

Question 8

Experimental group

Answer 8

The group that receives the “new” treatment in an experiment.

Question 9

External validity

Answer 9

The extent to which the results of a study can be generalized from the study sample to the target population.

Question 10

Extraneous variable

Answer 10

1. Any variable that is not directly related to the purpose of the study but that may affect the dependent variable; sometimes termed “intervening” or “confounding variables.”
2. Can be external factors emerging from the environment and the experiment or internal factors that represent personal characteristics of the subjects of the study.

Question 11

Internal validity

Answer 11

Refers to whether the independent variable made a difference.

Question 12

Paradigm

Answer 12

Organizing framework that contains a set of assumptions or values that underlie how scientists view reality, truth, and research.

Question 13

Qualitative research

Answer 13

1. Research directed at the discovery of meaning and underlying philosophical inquiry or psychological and sociological underpinnings.
2. Research involving the use of language, concepts, and words rather than numbers to represent evidence from research, with a focus on processes.
3. Focus is on an individual’s perspective in a social context, social and thinking processes, discovery of information, participatory involvement of researcher as a means of data collection, and description of happenings. The design is highly flexible.

Question 14

Quantitative research

Answer 14

1. Research directed at the discovery of relationships and cause and effect. Methods used are based on the scientific method of inquiry.
2. Research concerned with the measurement and analysis of relationships between and among variables at a particular point in time, with a focus on outcomes.
3. Focus is on measurement, testing, explanations, verification of facts, testing of theoretical relationships, statistical significance, internal validity, and prediction of events.

Question 15

Randomized clinical trial (RCT)

Answer 15

1. A prospective study evaluating the effectiveness of an intervention/treatment in a large sample of patients. Essential features of a clinical trial include use of an experimental and control group, randomization, masking of patients and health-care providers, and sufficient sample sizes.
2. The gold standard for evaluating the effectiveness of an intervention on a sample.

Question 16

Research design

Answer 16

1. Set of guidelines by which a researcher obtains answers to questions.
2. An overall plan or blueprint that outlines aspects of sample collection and analyses based on specific research questions and/or hypotheses.
3. Purpose: Answer questions or test hypotheses; forms the link between the researcher’s framework and research questions with the resultant data.
4. Characteristics: Provides methodological direction (sampling, random assignment); a general, nonspecific approach to a study or question; guides the researcher’s specific plan.

Question 17

Single-blinded study

Answer 17

Treatment assignment (to either experimental or control group) is unknown to patients.

Question 18

Experimental vs. quasi-experimental research designs

Answer 18

1. Experimental: Offers the greatest amount of control over independent variables, and involves control, random assignment, and manipulation.
2. Quasi-experimental: Involves manipulation of an independent variable, but lacks randomization or a control group.

Question 19

Factors guiding the choice of a research design

Answer 19

1. The topic of interest under investigation.
2. The purpose of the study.
3. The amount of knowledge on the topic.
4. The individual’s philosophy or paradigm.

Question 20

If little is known about a particular topic, a _ research design is used.

Answer 20

Descriptive or exploratory.

Question 21

If a particular phenomenon is well defined and measured, a more structured design, such as an _ research design, may be appropriate.

Answer 21

Experimental or quasi-experimental.

Question 22

_ designs develop from a strong theoretical base, emerge from questions regarding explanation and relationships between and among variables, and generally derive from evolving knowledge in the area of inquiry.

Answer 22

Quantitative.

Question 23

_ designs emerge from a strong research tradition and perhaps theoretical base, evolve from questions about understanding and description of phenomena, and generally emerge from evolving knowledge.

Answer 23

Qualitative.

Question 24

Random assignment

Answer 24

Allocation of subjects to either an experimental or a control group.

Question 25

Manipulation

Answer 25

The ability for the researcher to determine what form/action an independent variable will take.

Question 26

Randomized pretest-posttest control group design

Answer 26

Experimental design in which random assignment is used; pretesting provides information about the similarity of experimental and control groups on measures of the dependent variable before the independent variable is introduced.

Question 27

Randomized posttest-only control group

Answer 27

1. Experimental design in which random assignment is used, but only a posttest is administered.
2. Example: Post-operative pain - there is no reason to ask the person about pain before they have the surgery.

Question 28

One-group pretest-posttest design

Answer 28

Weak experimental (quasi-experimental) design in which both pretesting and posttesting are conducted, but only an experimental group is used.

Question 29

Nonequivalent control group design

Answer 29

1. The most common type of quasi-experimental design; also called a comparison group. Involves two groups and a pretest/posttest design, but subjects are not randomly assigned to one of the two groups.
2. Common in nursing research - baseline data are collected from both groups; one group receives an intervention while the other does not; data are collected again.

Question 30

Three identifying properties of a true experimental design

Answer 30

1. Randomization or random assignment.
2. Control.
3. Manipulation.

Question 31

_ may be impaired due to the use of a quasi-experimental design.

Answer 31

Internal validity. (It is difficult to make cause-and-effect statements.)

Question 32

Threats to internal validity

Answer 32

1. History (another event may have an effect on dependent variable).
2. Maturation (developmental, biological, or psychological processes).
3. Testing (pretest and posttest).
4. Instrumentation (reliability of measurement).
5. Mortality (may involve the death of subjects but it actually refers to attrition - loss of subjects for any reason).

Question 33

True experiments are designed primarily to _

Answer 33

Determine causal connections.

Question 34

Non-experimental design

Answer 34

Primarily exploratory and involves independent variables that naturally occur and are not manipulated; random assignment is not used.

Question 35

Descriptive design

Answer 35

1. Goal is to describe and document aspects of a phenomenon. Provides a better understanding of something when little is known about a phenomenon.
2. The researcher observes, describes, and documents various aspects of a phenomenon (the manner in which something exists, the frequency with which it occurs).
3. No manipulation of variables, but the results can be used to develop future hypotheses.

Question 36

Descriptive comparative design

Answer 36

1. Describes differences in variables that occur naturally between two or more groups; usually the researcher has a hypothesis about the differences in variables among different units.
2. No manipulation of the independent variable; no cause and effect.

Question 37

Correlational design

Answer 37

1. Describes, predicts, or tests the relationship between two or more variables - as one variable changes, does a related change occur in another variable?
2. The independent variable is not manipulated and causation is not proven.
3. Example: Is there a relationship between the frequency of turning an immobile patient and the development of skin breakdown?

Question 38

Secondary analysis

Answer 38

1. Research method (not an actual design) of collecting and analyzing data for the purpose of exploring new relationships and creating new insights.
2. The researcher obtains data that has already been collected for a different study and analyzes that data to answer research questions that are different from the original study.

Question 39

Meta-analysis

Answer 39

Research that combines findings from several other studies and performs statistical analyses on the combined findings.