Introduction

Question 1

What are the five ‘A’s’ strategy to ensure the use of research evidence in practice?

Answer 1

Ask - a clinical question
Acquire - information that may answer the question
Appraise - the evidence for its quality and applicability
Apply - the evidence in the care of the patient
Assess - whether the application resulted in the expected outcomes

Question 2

What are the beliefs underpinning qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods research?

Answer 2

Qualitative - constructivism/interpretivism
Quantitative - positivism
Mixed-methods - pragmatism

Question 3

List some advantages and disadvantages of qualitative research

Answer 3

Advantages:
- flexibility in thinking
- flexibility in the research process
- rich description
- compensation
- validity
Disadvantages:
- observer bias
- lack of consensus
- lack of focus
- lack of generalisability
- poor replication
- cost

Question 4

List some advantages and disadvantages of quantitative research

Answer 4

Advantages:
- measurement
- rigour
- internal validity
- generalisability
- replicability
Disadvantages:
- the social world is different from the natural world and cannot be studied objectively in the same way
- measures used by positivist researchers are artificial
- measure responses at a single point in time
- positivist methods are less effective at determining why people act as they do

Question 5

List some values of ethical conduct in research

Answer 5

• respect for human beings
• research merit and integrity
• justice
• beneficence

Question 6

How is the principle of justice considered in the ethics of a research endeavour?

Answer 6

Check that:
- process of recruiting participants is fair
- that there is no unfair burden of participation in research on particular groups
- that there is fair distribution of the benefits of participation on research
- that there is no exploitation of participants in the conduct of the research
- there is fair access to benefits of research

Question 7

How is the principle of beneficence considered in the ethics of a research endeavour?

Answer 7

The researchers are responsible for:
- designing the research to minimise the risks of harm or discomfort to participants
- clarifying for participants the potential benefits and risks of the research
- the welfare of the participants in the research context

Question 8

List and briefly explain the three different types of basic mixed-methods designs.

Answer 8

1. sequential explanatory - quantitative methods are followed by qualitative methods
2. sequential exploratory - qualitative methods are followed by quantitative methods
3. convergent/simultaneous/concurrent triangulation - using both qualitative and quantitative methods simultaneously to capture greater complexity in one study while focusing on different aspects

Question 9

List some qualitative research designs

Answer 9

-in-depth interviews
- focus groups
- narrative research
- ethnography
- grounded theory
- phenomenology

Question 10

What are the cyclical stages of a research project?

Answer 10

1. identifying research problem
2. developing research questions
3. reviewing literature and theoretical framework
4. selecting research methodology/method
5. selecting research participants
6. addressing ethical issues
7. collecting data
8. analysing and interpreting data
9. writing up and disseminating research findings
10. incorporating findings into evidence-based practice

Question 11

What is the aim of observational studies, and what are the two most common types?

Answer 11

Aim to collect data about health outcomes that naturally occur within the population

• cross sectional
• longitudinal

Question 12

What are cross sectional studies, and what are some advantages of this study design?

Answer 12

• conducted at a single point of time or over a limited time period

Advantages:
- relatively inexpensive and takes up little time to conduct
- can estimate prevalence of outcome of interest because sample is usually taken from the whole population
- many outcomes and risk factors can be assessed at the same time
- useful for public health planning, understanding disease aetiology and for the generation of hypothesis
- there is no loss to follow-up

Question 13

What are the advantages of cohort studies:

Answer 13

• the temporal dimension, whereby exposure is seen to occur before outcome, gives some indication of causality
• can be used to study more than outcome
• well suited for the study of rare exposures
• can measure the change in exposure and outcome over time
• incidence of outcome can be measure

Question 14

What are the types of variables?

Answer 14

• numeric
• categorical

Question 15

What are types of numeric variables?

Answer 15

• discrete: whole numbers/units
• continuous: present some values between units

Question 16

What are types of categorical variables?

Answer 16

• nominal: no natural order
• ordinal: rank-ordered and the values for describing the variable are sequentially assigned to represent the logical ordering of the categories

Question 17

Compare interval and ratio scales of measurement

Answer 17

• variables on an interval scale represent values for which the interval between the values has meaning, and the distance between the different values in the scale is standard.
• variables in a ratio scale have the same characteristics as above, but additionally have a true zero point representing the absence of the variable measured

Question 18

What are the four most common methods for drawing random sampling (i.e. probability sampling)?

Answer 18

• random sampling
• stratified random sampling
• disproportionate sampling
• cluster sampling

Question 19

What are the four most common non-probability sample methods?

Answer 19

• convenience sampling
• quota sampling
• purposive sampling
• snowball sampling

Question 20

What are some of the ground rules around sample size in quantitative research?

Answer 20

• the larger the sample size, the less the sampling error
• samples of diverse populations need to be larger than samples of homogeneous populations
• if only a few variables are examined, a smaller sample will be sufficient

Question 21

What are some important skills to develop in interviewing?

Answer 21

• mindfulness
• cultivating a middle ground
• empathetic neutrality
• dynamic systems

Question 22

What are some factors to consider when verifying the trustworthiness of data?

Answer 22

1. credibility
2. dependability
3. confirmability
4. transferability

Question 23

What are some examples of enhancing rigour?

Answer 23

• reflexivity
• member checking
• peer review
• triangulation

Question 24

What are some techniques to help facilitate optimal information-gathering from qualitative interviews?

Answer 24

• use open-ended questions
• be an active listener
• monitor your linguistic choices
• monitor the use of jargon
• assume that you do not know and act like you really do not
• pay attended to a participant’s silence
• avoid ‘testing’ the interviewee
• avoid leading questions
• avoid dichotomies
• ask ‘why’ but frame it right
• engage by using non-questioning responses

Question 25

List the three different qualitative data analysis methods, and describe them briefly.

Answer 25

1. Content analysis - applied to the content to identify concepts and categories, taking into consideration their frequency
2. Thematic analysis - 6 steps: becoming familiar with the data, generating codes, generating themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes and locating exemplars
3. Framework analysis - classifying and organising data according to key themes and concepts

Question 26

How to ensure rigour in qualitative data?

Answer 26

• truth value
• consistency
• applicability
• confirmability

Question 27

What are the three main aspects of distribution that are of interest

Answer 27

• location of variability
• spread of variability
• shape of variability