The Role of Research in Nursing

Question 1

A key step to the development of nursing research was
a. the endowment of nursing research chairs.
b. universities offering baccalaureate nursing programs.
c. a baccalaureate degree becoming the entry to practice.
d. the Canadian Nurses Association developing a research mandate.

Answer 1

ANS: B

B. Universities offering baccalaureate nursing programs provided an introduction to
research within the BScN programs and led to further nursing education at the
MSN and PhD levels.

Question 2

How is nursing research significant to the profession of nursing?
a. Responsibility is more specifically defined.
b. Liability within the practice of nursing is decreased.
c. A specialized body of knowledge is generated for use in the delivery of health
care.
d. The scope of nursing practice is expanded into areas formerly reserved for other
disciplines.

Answer 2

ANS: C

C. Theory-based nursing research provides a foundation for evidence-informed nursing care

Question 3

Why are nursing practice–oriented scientific investigations valuable?
a. They validate the effectiveness of particular nursing interventions.
b. They encourage consumers to question the quality of health care.
c. They limit the theory base for clinical decision making.
d. They mandate health care reform.

Answer 3

ANS: A

A. Practice-focused research supports the effectiveness of nursing interventions and
reinforces quality of nursing care

Question 4

When a change in nursing practice results in decreased cost of care, what additional factor
must be considered before general implementation of this change?
a. Ensuring compliance of the change by nurses with diverse educational
backgrounds
b. Maintaining or improving the quality of care resulting from the change in practice
c. Encouraging patients to be active partners in their health care decisions
d. Disseminating the change beyond the discipline of nursing
ANS: B

Answer 4

ANS: B

Nurses are accountable to maintain quality patient care despite cost-cutting measures

Question 5

Why do nurses who do not conduct research need to understand the nursing research process?
a. To identify potential participants for clinical research studies
b. To assist in collecting accurate data for clinical research studies
c. To teach patients and families about the usefulness of participation in research
d. To be able to evaluate nursing research reports for relevance to their own clinical
practice

Answer 5

ANS: D

Nurses should be able to understand the research process by reading research
reports and determining if they should modify their practice based on research
evidence.

Question 6

How are nursing theory and nursing research related?
a. Nursing theory and nursing research are independent of each other and have no
direct relationship.
b. Without nursing theory, research conducted by nurses would not have an impact
on nursing practice.
c. Nursing research drives the direction and specific content of nursing theory.
d. Both advance the knowledge base of nursing

Answer 6

ANS: D

Theory and nursing research both influence how nursing practice is conducted.

Question 7

Which action demonstrates the role of an intelligent consumer of nursing research?
a. Designing a research study
b. Analyzing data to determine outcomes
c. Evaluating the credibility of the research findings
d. Replicate the study in another setting to confirm the findings

Answer 7

ANS: C

A consumer of nursing research needs to understand the research process to
determine the merit and relevance of evidence for research studies.

Question 8

In designating research functions to nursing staff, which of the following functions would you designate to a staff registered nurse?
a. Protecting human participants by promoting the ethical principles of research
b. Providing expert consultation about the way in which clinical services are
delivered
c. Developing methods to monitor the quality of nursing practice in the clinical
setting
d. Providing leadership by assisting others in applying scientific knowledge in
nursing practice

Answer 8

ANS: A

All nurses are responsible for protecting human participants in research.

Question 9

Which of the following statements regarding the role of the nurse in research is true?
a. Nurses must be prepared at the baccalaureate level or higher to have any role in
nursing research.
b. Master’s-prepared nurses (those with MSN, MN, or MS degrees) are primarily
responsible for using the findings of nursing research in clinical practice.
c. One role of the registered nurse is to identify issues in clinical practice that are
suitable for research.
d. Regardless of nursing education, the only nurse who should interpret research
findings is the one who has the most comprehensive understanding of statistical
analysis methods.

Answer 9

ANS: C

Nurses should have an awareness of the relevance of nursing research and ask clinical questions.

Question 10

Which of Florence Nightingale’s actions formed the foundation for modern-day nursing
research methods?
a. Establishing the St. Thomas Hospital School of Nursing in England
b. Writing the curricula for the nineteenth–century nurse training programs
c. Lobbying the British parliament to enact changes in law for better health care
d. Collecting data systematically on the health status of British soldiers during the
Crimean War

Answer 10

ANS: D

Systematic, objective data collection during the Crimean War formed the basis
for modern-day nursing research methods.

Question 11

What was the focus of most nursing research studies conducted during the first half of the
twentieth century?
a. Nursing education methods and outcomes
b. Effects of sanitation on health promotion and disease prevention
c. Use of epidemiology as a method of identifying risk for specific illnesses
d. Identification of the most effective means to disseminate positive findings from
nursing research

Answer 11

ANS: A

Nursing education has been documented to have been the focus of nursing
research in the early twentieth century.

Question 12

What was the outcome of the 1932 Weir report?
a. Recognition of research as part of the roles and responsibilities of the registered
nurse
b. Recommendation of changes to improve standards of education and practice
c. Establishment of multiple entry levels to the nursing profession
d. Publication of the Canadian Journal of Nursing

Answer 12

ANS: B

The Weir report identified serious problems in nursing education that affected
nursing practice.

Question 13

What action or strategy can limit the depth of nursing research?
a. Addressing physiological and psychological responses to actual or potential health
problems
b. Employing both qualitative methods and quantitative methods in the same study
c. Developing programs of research that build on prior investigations
d. Using singular measures to assess phenomena

Answer 13

ANS: D

Using a single measure will not allow a researcher to examine the complexity of
human phenomena.

Question 14

Which of the following is the overall value of developing evidence-informed nursing
practice?
a. Demonstration of how nursing makes a difference in patient outcomes
b. Implementation of the most cost-effective nursing practice patterns
c. Separation of nursing research from the research of other disciplines
d. Development of new nursing theories

Answer 14

ANS: B

Implementation of more cost-effective nursing interventions may occur based on
evidence, but it is not the overall value of developing evidence-informed nursing
practice.

Question 15

How does an international research perspective contribute to the discipline and science of
nursing?
a. By unifying the definition of the term health
b. By increasing the dissemination potential of research findings
c. By emphasizing the cultural aspects of nursing care
d. By testing innovative and cost-effective patient care delivery models

Answer 15

ANS: D

An international research perspective can lead to the formation of a global
research community

Question 16

Which of the following is the identified priority for future nursing research efforts?
a. Improvement in patient quality of life
b. Cost containment of health care delivery
c. Promotion of excellence in nursing science
d. Promotion of advanced education in nursing

Answer 16

ANS: C

Nursing is rising to the challenge of developing the science to improve health care. Advancing nursing science is therefore a priority.

Question 17

Review the information from four abstracts below and identify which study is an example of
outcome-based research.
a. This study used a school-based community sample (N = 920) to examine
trajectories of depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and expressed anger in the
critical years of emerging adulthood (ages 18 to 25).
b. To identify reasons for lower organ donation rates by knowledge and attitudes
about brain death, donation, and transplantation and trust in the health care system
were examined.
c. An exploratory study was undertaken with a racially diverse group of custodial
grandfathers to fill a gap in the literature about the vulnerability for elder abuse,
exploitation, and neglect as expressed by older Indigenous, Caucasian, and South
Asian custodial grandfathers.
d. A multicentre, international clinical trial was conducted in 3,500 patients with
documented coronary heart disease to determine whether a brief education and
counselling intervention delivered by a nurse can reduce prehospital delay in the
face of symptoms.

Answer 17

ANS: D

Outcomes research examines how nursing interventions affect patient outcomes.
This study examines the effectiveness of nursing interventions.

Question 18

Why should a nursing research study that demonstrates a positive outcome for a specific
intervention be replicated before the intervention can be accepted for implementation?
a. Findings that are reproducible in a series of replicated studies increase the
generalizability of the results.
b. Being able to replicate existing studies increases the opportunity for nurses to be
involved in nursing research.
c. Replicated studies provide more data for statistical analysis and measurement of
reliability.
d. If a high level of significance is associated with the study results, replication is unnecessary

Answer 18

ANS: A

Studies that can be replicated in and generalized to many settings demonstrate
the reliability of the study results.

Question 19

How is using multiple measures to assess a clinical phenomenon useful to nursing research or
practice?
a. When multiple measures are used, qualitative data and quantitative data are always
obtained.
b. Using multiple measures reduces the number of participants needed in a sample
size to reach statistical significance.
c. Comparison of various methods of measurement may reduce the need to use
invasive methods in measuring physical parameters in future studies.
d. The results of studies using multiple measures to assess a clinical phenomenon are more likely to be published in journals other than nursing journals as well.

Answer 19

ANS: C

Qualitative data help provide essential descriptive data on how patients
experience a particular phenomenon.

Question 20

Taking into account the future priorities of nursing research, which of the following studies
would most likely be funded by the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation
(CHSRF)? A study to
a. examine trajectories of depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and expressed anger in
the critical years of emerging adulthood (ages 18 to 25).
b. identify reasons for lower organ donation rates
c. fill a gap in the literature about the vulnerability for elder abuse, exploitation, and
neglect as expressed by older Indigenous, Caucasian, and South Asian custodial grandfathers.
d. determine whether a brief education and counselling intervention delivered by a
nurse can reduce prehospital delay in the face of symptoms.

Answer 20

ANS: D

Intervention studies that examine ways to improve service and health among
those suffering with chronic illness are of the highest priority to CHSRF.