Types of research studies Flashcards
what is research?
- a systematic activity that follows a clear process.
- a critical investigation that aims to answer questions.
what is EBP?
- Evidence based practice
what components make up EBP?
- best research available
- patient preferences and values
- clinical experience & expertise
what is a systematic review?
- a systematic review examines data and findings of OTHER authors, relative to a specific research question
- a type of research methodology
what is QUANTitative research?
- concerned with an AMOUNT
- regards questions that can be answered with numerical data
- looks for relationships/associations between different variables
- can sometimes show causation
What is QUALitative research?
- concerned with WHY
- regards questions that can be answered with NON-numerical data
- interested in people’s throughts/feelings/experiences
what is a synonym?
when two different words share the same or similair meaning, i.e., beautiful and pretty
what is truncation?
the action of cutting something short, i.e, if searching about sunshine, sun, sunny, sunlight- you could search sun alone, as all of the above share the same meaning roughly
what are research studies commonly called?
Studies or Papers
what are academic journals?
collections of lots of different papers on the same topic, reagrding the same field of study, e.g., Nurse Education Today, or BJN
what are academic databases?
large directories of content suhc as including articles, reports and scientific papers. e.g., CINAHL.
what is an abstract?
a breif summary of the entire paper
what are keywords?
keywords help your searc for relevant studies to your topics.
e.g., when searching for the elderly, relevant key words may be; dehydtration, falls risks, ageing population, etc.
what is an astericks and how can it be used to aid searches?
- an asterisk is a “*”
- it can be used as the end of words to find varations of that words in relevant studies, e.g.,
‘nurse*’ would search for articles containing the words; nurse, nursing, nurses, etc.
what is a variable? & examples
- something that can be measured in some way
e.g., people/places/things/phenomenons
what is an independent variable?
a variable that stands alone and cannot be changed by other variables also being measured, e.g., someone’s AGE
what is a dependent variable?
a variable which does depend on other variables being measured. dependent variables are EXPECTED to change as a result of the experimental manipulation of the independent variable(s).
E.g., test scores, as these could be changed depending on several factors; amount of sleep students got beforehand, how much you studied, exam conditions/enviroment
what is causation?
causation means when one variable is dependent on the other. this is also known as cause and effect.
e.g., ‘does hot weather cause sunburns?’ - this question is asking if the hot weather is RESPONSIBLE for causing sunburns, NOT includuing other factors. Is hot weather THE CAUSATIVE AGENT?
does quantitative research look for relationships BETWEEN variables?
Yes
- Does excessive alcohol consumption LEAD to increased anxiety?
- What DOSE of a BP drug causes a significant fall in BP?
what is bias? and in research?
the inclincation of prejudice against one grouo or person, especially in a way considered to be unfair.
- in research; the trend or deviation from the truth {in data collection, data analysis, interpretation and publication}, which can cause false accusations
what does a study’s design refer to?
- the particular way a study has been conducted
- simply the blueprint/plan the researcher(s) will use to guide their research conduction
what is a sample?
a specific portion of people from the population
examples of ‘hard to reach groups’
- drug users
- homeless people
- people who work full time/have young children (not a lot of time)
- teen pregnant people
what are probability sampling methods?
- a sampling method that uses random selection methods. this means that everyone in a population has an equal chance of selection
- these methods aim to increase the representativness of the sample, to enable generalisation of results
- aim is to reduce bias and make samples as representative of population as possible
what are the four approaches to probability sampling?
- simple random; each member of the population has an equal probability of being chosen, e.g., picking names out a hat
- cluster random
- systematic random
- stratified random
what is convenience sampling?
refers to people becoming participants in a research study simply because they are convenient sources of data for the researchers
a pro & con of conveience sampling?
PRO; easy access and collection of data
CON; high degree of bias as this sample neglects representation
what is data?
data is the information collected in research
what does it mean if a research study has ‘PROTOCOL’ in the title?
- this is not the reearcher’s actual study, but a layout of what they intend on doing in future for their research
- DO NOT USE THESE IN YOUR ESSAY
when in-text citing, what should you remember to do?
use ‘Name’ and colleagues NOT et al. - this is more professional
what is a case-report? - CANNOT USE IN ESSAY
- detailed reports of an individual patient
- written for numerous reasons, often to highlight something out of the ordinary
- they are NOT RESEARCH as they are anecdotal (not necessarily true/reliable, but based on personal accounts)
- no systematic process has been followed
what is a case series? - CANNOT USE IN ESSAY
- collection of case reports
- descriptive and contain no comparison group
- usually contain patients given similair treatment
- can lead to significant breakthroughs
what is expert opinion? - CANNOT USE IN ESSAY
- a vague term
- e.g., in editorials
- contain little robust research evidence
what are protocols? CANNOT BE USED IN ESSAYS
- these detail research that is yet to occur
- will explain how researchers intend on perfroming their research but will obviously therefore lack conclusions
Key advice for essay
- state what has happened
- state your opinion (back up with reference
- show RELEVANCE
difference between population and sample?
population; the entire group you want to draw conclusions from
sample; the specific group of individuals that researchers will collect data from
what is non-probability sampling?
- where samples are selected based on subjective judgement, rather than random selection (like with probability sampling)
- unlike in probability sampling, where everybody in a population has a chance of being selected, in non-prob, not all population members can participate
- non-prob sampling is used when its not possible to draw a random sample due to cost and time
