Final Exam - 3 Flashcards
Why would a nurse researcher decide to include a refereed journal as part of the literature review?
The articles are critiqued by a panel of internal and external reviewers.
The nurse researcher is designing a research study and is considering an experimental design. Which research activity can be expected to increase the control of a study with an experimental design?
Establishing strict subject selection criteria
How could a nurse researcher’s use of a homogeneous population of subjects in a research study weaken that study?
Decreased generalizabilty of the findings
Which title is most indicative of a longitudinal study?
Change in self-esteem over time among women participating in a weight-loss support group
A nurse researcher wants to study the effect of a nutritional educational intervention on weight loss in obese adolescents. The researcher designs a study including a homogeneous sample, randomization, and consistent data-collection procedures. Which variable should these approaches protect from interference?
Weight loss
Why would a nurse researcher choose to use a correlational study of multiple variables?
To examine relationships between or among variables
A nurse researcher is designing a quantitative research study involving a specific group of patients admitted to local hospitals and is assessing the feasibility of the study. Which factor negatively affects the feasibility of this study?
Potential study subjects represent less than 1% of hospital admissions during the year previous to the study.
In a study to help people quit smoking cigarettes, a group of participants received one supportive phone call 10 days after attending a program on strategies to resist smoking. A second group received a supportive phone call every week for 6 weeks after attending the program, and a third group received no supportive phone calls after attending the program. What is the dependent variable in this study?
Reduction or elimination of cigarette smoking
Why would a nurse researcher choose to assign randomly the subjects in a study?
To ensure that all groups within a study are representative of the larger population
Why would a nurse researcher decide to use a retrospective or ex post facto study?
The dependent variable has already been affected by the independent variable.
Why would a nurse researcher prefer quasi-experimental studies over experimental studies?
They are more adaptable to real-world settings
Which statement about the threats to internal validity present in a quasi-experimental study using a nonequivalent control group design is most accurate?
The study can be strengthened by identifying and controlling threats to internal validity.
Which study title is most indicative of a cross-sectional design?
Women’s appraisal of the diagnosis of breast cancer within the first 48 hours after initial cancer diagnosis
How would a nurse researcher ensure that the sample used in a research study is homogeneous?
Restrict eligibility criteria to limit extraneous variables relevant to the study.
What technique could best control for antecedent variables in a study using true or classic experimental design?
Random assignment
Why would a nurse researcher decide to use secondary sources in a review of the literature?
They supplement the body of nursing knowledge in a specific area of practice.
Which factor would be considered a mediating variable among potential subjects in a study to determine whether use of high doses of vitamin C are helpful in reducing susceptibility to influenza?
Subject’s use of influenza vaccines
Why would a nurse researcher want to limit or eliminate extraneous variables in a study?
Extraneous variables compete with the independent variable as an explanation of the study’s outcome.
The nurse researcher designed a study examining anxiety among elementary school children. If a widely publicized murder of a child occurred in the city during the time frame of the study, what type of threat to internal validity would the murder represent?
Historical
Which situation represents a threat to internal validity in an experimental study measuring the effect of a videotape of home-going instructions for patients being discharged after coronary artery bypass graft surgery?
Patients in the experimental group discussed aspects of the tapes with patients in the control group.
The nurse is critiquing a research study that used an experimental design. How can the nurse determine if the study’s results are able to infer causality?
The relationship between independent and dependent variables must not be explainable by any other variable.
The experimental treatment initiated by a researcher can be described as what kind of variable?
Independent
Why would a nurse researcher choose to use research studies that examine the associations or relationships between variables?
There is application in clinical settings and a foundation for future experimental studies.
A nurse researcher would choose to use a correlational study of multiple variables for which purpose?
To examine relationships between or among variables
What terms means a summation and assessment of research studies found in the literature based on a clearly focused question?
Systematic review
How should a nurse researcher expect a sample to differ from a population?
A sample is a representative segment of a defined population.
What can a nurse researcher use to restrict the study population to homogeneous groups of subjects?
Eligibility criteria
The nurse researcher is planning a research study that will use human subjects and their choice to participate in a specific treatment. The ethical principle guiding the research study that describes the nurse researcher’s obligation to benefit others is what?
Beneficence
A patient newly diagnosed with breast cancer is asked to participate in a clinical trial for a new chemotherapy agent. This patient’s freedom to participate or not participate in the study exercises protection of which of her human rights?
Right to self-determination
Which data collection method would be most appropriate in studying bullying behavior in elementary school–aged girls?
Concealment of the researcher without intervention in children’s behavior
